Non-Compete Salary Thresholds by State (2026): The Pay Floor Below Which Your Non-Compete Is Void

The top of the chart is mostly states that index the floor to inflation, so these numbers climb every year. The bottom group ties the line to the poverty level or the minimum wage, which protects lower-paid workers but rarely reaches salaried professionals.

Oregon's floor went from $100,533 in 2022 to $119,541 in 2026. A worker who cleared the line comfortably when they signed can find their raise has not kept up.

Washington's employee threshold rose every year to $126,858.83 in 2026. The yearly climb ends when the near-total ban takes over on June 30, 2027.

DC started at $150,000 in 2022 and reached $162,164 in 2026. It remains the highest general floor in the country.

Illinois uses fixed steps instead of yearly indexing. The floor moves to $80,000 on January 1, 2027, so check which amount applied on the date you signed.

How each state with a pay floor sets it, and the 2026 figure

Source: DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Wage-Hour, District of Columbia Prohibition on Non-Compete Clauses, Public Notice (2026); Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, 2026 Publication and Yearly Calculation of Adjusted Labor Compensation (PAY CALC) Order, 7 CCR 1103-14; Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. (Daniel R. Levy, Gianna Dano), Raising the Cost of Noncompetes: 2026 State Noncompete Salary Threshold Changes; Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Non-Compete Agreements (earnings thresholds, RCW 49.62); Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, Noncompetition Agreements (minimum salary and commission requirements by year); Oregon Revised Statutes (via oregon.public.law), ORS 653.295 Noncompetition agreements; Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, Notice of the Average Weekly Wage for 2026; Code of Virginia (Virginia Legislative Information System), Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:8 Covenants not to compete prohibited; low-wage employees and health care professionals; Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Illinois Enacts Restrictions on the Use of Non-Compete Agreements: What Employers Need to Know; State of Tennessee, Secretary of State (Acts of the 114th General Assembly), Public Chapter No. 934 (House Bill No. 1034), covenants not to compete; Maine Legislature, Maine Revised Statutes, 26 M.R.S. § 599-A Restrictions on noncompete agreements; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE, Poverty Guidelines (2026); Maryland General Assembly, Md. Code, Labor and Employment § 3-716; Maryland Department of Labor, Employment Standards Service, Maryland Minimum Wage and Overtime Law; New Hampshire General Court bill text (via NH Liberty Alliance bill archive), SB 197 (2019), Chapter 201, final version: noncompete agreements for low-wage employees (RSA 275:70-a); Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Massachusetts Passes New Law Governing Non-Competition Agreements (Act Now Advisory); Fisher Phillips, Nevada Bans Noncompetition Agreements for Hourly Workers; U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Earnings thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption; Fair Competition Law blog, chart by Beck Reed Riden LLP, Updated Restrictive Covenant Low-Wage Threshold Criteria Chart (January 21, 2026). Download as image

Non-compete law changes in 2026 and their status as of October 18, 2026

Source: State of Tennessee, Secretary of State (Acts of the 114th General Assembly), Public Chapter No. 934 (House Bill No. 1034), covenants not to compete; Covington & Burling LLP, Inside Jobs blog, Non-Compete Roundup Summer 2026: New Limitations on Restrictive Covenants; Mayer Brown, Recent Developments in US Noncompete Law; Washington State Legislature, HB 1155 (2025-26): Prohibiting noncompetition agreements and clarifying nonsolicitation agreements, bill summary; BillTrack50, CT HB05492 (2026) bill detail; JD Supra (law firm article), Pending Non-Compete Bans and Wage Thresholds: 2026 Legislative Developments; New Hampshire General Court bill text (via NH Liberty Alliance bill archive), HB 1188 (2026) as introduced: relative to noncompete agreements for low-wage employees; PolicyRisk state bill tracker, IN SB 132 (2026) bill page; Citizens Count (New Hampshire), HB 1188 (2026). Download as image

Non-compete pay floor (2026) by state

• 4Banned for nearly all employees at any pay
• 11Void below a dollar pay floor
• 2Void for hourly or non-exempt workers only
• 2Other statutory limit, no pay floor
• 32No statewide pay floor

What is a non-compete salary threshold?

It is the minimum pay a worker must earn before a state lets an employer enforce a non-compete against them. Lawmakers added these floors because non-competes were showing up in contracts for cashiers, warehouse staff and junior office workers who had no trade secrets to protect and no real power to refuse.

States set the line in different ways. DC, Colorado, Washington and Oregon tie it to inflation or a yearly state order, which is why their figures change each year. Illinois and Tennessee use fixed dollar amounts. Maine and Rhode Island use multiples of the federal poverty level. Maryland and New Hampshire use multiples of a minimum wage, so their floors are hourly rates. Virginia uses the state's average weekly wage, $1,507.01 a week in 2026.

A few states skip the dollar figure entirely. Massachusetts protects FLSA non-exempt employees, and Nevada protects employees paid solely by the hour. At the other end, California, Minnesota, North Dakota and Oklahoma ban employee non-competes at any pay, so a salary threshold never comes into it.

Is my non-compete void if I earn less than the threshold?

In the states with a floor, generally yes, as long as your pay is under the line that applied when the agreement was made. Colorado also checks your pay again when the employer tries to enforce it. Picture a marketing coordinator in Oregon who signs a non-compete in 2026 with a salary well under $119,541, the state's 2026 figure. The restriction fails the pay test before a court even looks at how broad it is.

Now take a product manager in Colorado whose salary sits comfortably above $130,014. She clears the threshold, but Colorado also requires the covenant to protect trade secrets. Earning enough is only the first gate, not the last one.

Watch the wording each state uses. DC protects employees earning less than $162,164. Oregon's salary must exceed its figure. Illinois voids non-competes for anyone earning $75,000 or less. Someone paid exactly the threshold amount can land on different sides depending on the state.

What counts as pay for the threshold?

This is where a lot of disputes start. Some states count base salary plus commission. Oregon, for example, refers to annual salary and commission. Others look at total earnings or annualized compensation. Tennessee converts hourly pay by multiplying the rate by 40 hours and 52 weeks, so an hourly employee is measured on that annualized figure.

Bonuses, equity and benefits are the gray zone. A sign-on bonus might push your first-year pay over the line on paper while your regular salary sits below it. If your pay is close to the floor, look at the statute's exact wording, or ask an employment lawyer which pieces count in your state.

Which states changed their non-compete rules in 2026?

Tennessee added a $70,000 floor for agreements from July 1, 2026. Virginia, from the same date, made non-competes unenforceable against employees fired without cause unless severance is paid. Washington signed a near-total ban on March 23, 2026 that takes effect June 30, 2027, replacing its salary threshold. Maine added a ban for health care practitioners who are not part owners.

Other proposals stalled. Connecticut's bill to void non-competes below twice the minimum wage died, and New Hampshire's bill to raise its floor did not become law. Rhode Island, Ohio, New York and New Jersey had bills in motion with no enactment found as of October 2026. If you work in those states, treat the current rule as the rule until a new law actually passes.

Which state's threshold applies if I work remotely or move?

Usually the law of the state where you live and work carries the most weight, but your contract may say otherwise. Many employers add a choice-of-law clause naming their home state, often one with no pay floor, and a venue clause sending any fight to their local courts.

Some states push back on that. California, for example, will not let an employer use another state's law to enforce a non-compete against someone working there. Other states are less clear, and the answer can depend on where you were living when you signed.

If you move after signing, keep a copy of the agreement and note the date and your pay at the time. Those facts (the state, the date and your pay) decide most threshold questions. A move from a state with no floor into Oregon or Illinois does not necessarily void an older agreement, so it is worth getting a lawyer's view before you accept a competing offer.

What to do before you sign a non-compete

• Find your state's floor in the table above and compare it to your guaranteed base pay, not your hoped-for bonus.
• Check the date. Many floors change on January 1, and Illinois steps up to $80,000 on January 1, 2027.
• Look for a non-solicit clause too. Illinois uses a separate $45,000 floor for non-solicits, and Colorado uses 60% of its threshold for customer non-solicits.
• If you are a contractor, read the contract anyway. Washington applies a separate $317,147.09 threshold to independent contractors.
• If your pay is under the line, ask the employer to remove the clause rather than relying on it being void later. A short written change costs them nothing.
• If you earn above the floor, negotiate the scope: a shorter term, a narrower list of competitors and a defined geography.

What employers and small businesses should check

If you hire across state lines, one template non-compete will not fit. A clause that may hold up for a senior engineer in Texas, which has no pay floor, is void for an engineer on the same salary in DC if that salary is under $162,164. Several states also penalize employers who put unlawful non-competes in front of workers, so keeping a void clause in the template is not harmless.

Review your offer letters each January when the indexed floors reset. For roles near the line, a confidentiality agreement and a narrow customer non-solicit often protect what you actually care about without the enforcement risk.

Sources and method

Every number on this page comes from the sources below, each opened and read on or before October 18, 2026. A second, independent review checked every figure against its source and corrected anything that did not match. 51 of 51 state entries were confirmed; any that could not be are marked "Not yet confirmed" and left out of every count and chart.

1. DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Wage-Hour, District of Columbia Prohibition on Non-Compete Clauses, Public Notice (2026) (January 2026 (2026 notice))
2. DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Wage-Hour, District of Columbia Prohibition on Non-Compete Clauses, Public Notice (2025, updated) (2025 notice)
3. DC Department of Employment Services, Office of Wage-Hour, Non-Compete Clause Public Notice (FY 2024) (2024 notice)
4. Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, 2026 Publication and Yearly Calculation of Adjusted Labor Compensation (PAY CALC) Order, 7 CCR 1103-14 (Adopted December 8, 2025; effective February 1, 2026)
5. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (reproducing Colorado DLSS rule), 7 CCR 1103-14-1 [Effective 1/1/2025] Statement of Purpose, Requirements, and Calculations (2025 PAY CALC Order) (Version effective January 1, 2025)
6. Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Non-Compete Agreements (earnings thresholds, RCW 49.62) (2026 thresholds table (page undated; read 2026-10-18))
7. Washington State Legislature, HB 1155 (2025-26): Prohibiting noncompetition agreements and clarifying nonsolicitation agreements, bill summary (Status as of October 18, 2026 (C 149 L 26))
8. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, Noncompetition Agreements (minimum salary and commission requirements by year) (2026 table (page undated; read 2026-10-18))
9. Oregon Revised Statutes (via oregon.public.law), ORS 653.295 Noncompetition agreements (Current text as read 2026-10-18)
10. State of Tennessee, Secretary of State (Acts of the 114th General Assembly), Public Chapter No. 934 (House Bill No. 1034), covenants not to compete (Passed April 20, 2026; effective July 1, 2026)
11. Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, Notice of the Average Weekly Wage for 2026 (January 6, 2026)
12. Code of Virginia (Virginia Legislative Information System), Va. Code § 40.1-28.7:8 Covenants not to compete prohibited; low-wage employees and health care professionals (Current text as read 2026-10-18)
13. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Illinois Enacts Restrictions on the Use of Non-Compete Agreements: What Employers Need to Know (August 30, 2021)
14. Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, Frequently Asked Questions About the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (June 9, 2021)
15. Illinois Legal Aid Online, Can my employer make me sign a non-compete agreement? (Last revised May 20, 2025)
16. Maine Legislature, Maine Revised Statutes, 26 M.R.S. § 599-A Restrictions on noncompete agreements (Current text as read 2026-10-18 (through PL 2025, c. 718))
17. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ASPE, Poverty Guidelines (2026) (2026 guidelines (Federal Register, January 15, 2026))
18. Maryland General Assembly, Md. Code, Labor and Employment § 3-716 (Current text as read 2026-10-18)
19. Maryland Department of Labor, Employment Standards Service, Maryland Minimum Wage and Overtime Law (Read 2026-10-18)
20. New Hampshire General Court bill text (via NH Liberty Alliance bill archive), SB 197 (2019), Chapter 201, final version: noncompete agreements for low-wage employees (RSA 275:70-a) (2019 (Chapter 201, Laws of 2019))
21. New Hampshire General Court bill text (via NH Liberty Alliance bill archive), HB 1188 (2026) as introduced: relative to noncompete agreements for low-wage employees (2026 session, as introduced)
22. Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. (Daniel R. Levy, Gianna Dano), Raising the Cost of Noncompetes: 2026 State Noncompete Salary Threshold Changes (January 28, 2026)
23. Fair Competition Law blog, chart by Beck Reed Riden LLP, Updated Restrictive Covenant Low-Wage Threshold Criteria Chart (January 21, 2026) (January 21, 2026)
24. Covington & Burling LLP, Inside Jobs blog, Non-Compete Roundup Summer 2026: New Limitations on Restrictive Covenants (July 31, 2026)
25. Mayer Brown, Recent Developments in US Noncompete Law (October 2026)
26. Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C., Attention Employers: 2026 Restrictive Covenant Roundup (May 13, 2026)
27. JD Supra (law firm article), Pending Non-Compete Bans and Wage Thresholds: 2026 Legislative Developments (April 9, 2026)
28. BillTrack50, CT HB05492 (2026) bill detail (Status: dead as of May 6, 2026)
29. Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., Massachusetts Passes New Law Governing Non-Competition Agreements (Act Now Advisory) (September 10, 2018)
30. Fisher Phillips, Nevada Bans Noncompetition Agreements for Hourly Workers (August 9, 2021)
31. The Florida Senate, Florida Statutes § 542.43 (CHOICE Act definitions) (2025 Florida Statutes)
32. Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Minn. Stat. § 181.988 Covenants not to compete void in employment agreements (Current text as read 2026-10-18)
33. North Dakota Legislative Branch, Century Code chapter 9-08, N.D.C.C. § 9-08-06 In restraint of business void - Exceptions (Current chapter PDF as read 2026-10-18)
34. California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Bonta Reminds Employers and Workers That Noncompete Agreements Are Unlawful (March 15, 2022)
35. Pactlio, Non-Compete Law by State: The 2026 Complete Guide (June 17, 2026 (updated September 22, 2026))
36. Wyoming Legislature, Enrolled Act No. 87 (SF0107), W.S. 1-23-108 (2025 General Session)
37. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Earnings thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption (Read 2026-10-18)
38. PolicyRisk state bill tracker, IN SB 132 (2026) bill page (Status: Failed; last committee action 1/5/2026 (read 2026-10-18))
39. Citizens Count (New Hampshire), HB 1188 (2026) (Status: died, did not become law (read 2026-10-18))