Missouri §285.055 bars cities like St. Louis from setting a minimum wage above the state floor, ending the city's 2017 $10/hour ordinance and limiting living-wage rules to public contracts and subsidies.
St. Louis enacted a $10/hour minimum wage in 2017, but the Missouri General Assembly responded by passing §285.055, which preempts any local minimum wage above the state rate. The Missouri Supreme Court allowed the preemption to take effect, ending the higher city floor and leaving private employers on the state minimum wage (which Missouri voters have separately raised through Proposition B and successor measures). St. Louis's surviving wage rules attach to city contracts and subsidies through the Living Wage Ordinance — those survive preemption because the city acts as contractor, not labor regulator. Federal FLSA still sets a floor of $7.25.
Local employers must pay at least Missouri's voter-set minimum wage; underpayment is enforced by the Missouri Department of Labor and the federal Department of Labor under FLSA.
See how St. Louis's minimum wage preemption rules stack up against other locations.
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