Hundreds of thousands of people will be getting a raise soon after voters in a handful of states approved minimum wage hikes.
Voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota all voted to raise their minimum wages Tuesday. Voters in San Francisco and Oakland also opted for minimum wage hikes. Together, that means that hundreds of thousands of workers (at least) across America will be getting pay raises as these measures roll out.
These changes are a big deal because, among other things, they now mean that several red states are going to have among the most progressive minimum wage policies in the U.S.
Right now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Scroll down to see what kinds of increases voters approved Tuesday.
California: San Francisco and Oakland voted to raise their minimum wages to among the highest in the country.
California's minimum wage increases were not state-wide, but are probably the most noteworthy for how many people they impact, and for how high they go.
In San Francisco, voters passed Proposition J Tuesday, which incrementally raises the city's minimum wage to $15 by 2018. Minimum wage in San Francisco current sits at $10.74 an hour. The newly-approved increases will put the city on par with Seattle, which approved a $15 minimum wage earlier this year.
Neighboring Oakland also voted Tuesday to raise the minimum to $12.25 per hour.
A study by the University of California, Berkeley, estimated that roughly 142,000 people — or, nearly a quarter of the city's workforce — in San Francisco alone will get a pay raise as result of the measure. United Way also argued that wages in the Bay area have not kept up with increases in the cost of living.
Arkansas: Issue 5 will increase the state's minimum wage to $8.50 an hour by 2017.
Thanks to Issue 5 — which voters overwhelming approved Tuesday — Arkansas' minimum wage will jump up to $7.50 per hour in January, and then will increase by 50 cents for the next two years until it hits $8.50 in 2017. The state's current minimum wage is $6.25 an hour, which means that the higher federal minimum wage applies in the state.
South Dakota: Measure 18 increases the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour.
With about 80% of precincts reporting, Measure 18 appeared poised to pass early Wednesday morning by a margin of 54% to 46%, the Argus Leader reported.
Measure 18 goes into effect on Jan. 1. After the initial bump up to $8.50 — the state has no current minimum wage minimum wage so the federal laws apply there — the measure requires South Dakota to make annual adjustments for "any increase in the cost of living."
Nebraska: The minimum wage will increase to $9 an hour by January 2016.
Nebraska's initiative starts increasing the minimum wage in January, with a jump from the current $7.25 an hour to $8 an hour. One year later, it increases again to $9 an hour.
Nebraskans voted 62% to 38% to approve the initiative.
Alaska: An initiative would increase the minimum wage to $9.75 per hour by 2016.
Election results for Alaska weren't immediately available early Wednesday morning, but the initiative to raise the minimum wage enjoyed a wide lead in polls leading up to Tuesday.
If passed, Alaska's new minimum wage law will go into effect in January. In 2016, it would jump again to $9.75 per hour — one of the highest in the U.S.
Alaska's minimum wage is currently $7.75 an hour.
The initiative also requires the state to adjust the minimum wage for inflation to that it stays a dollar above the federal minimum.