The short answer
- The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the federal minimum wage and overtime. It says "wages required by the FLSA are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered" (DOL Handy Reference Guide to the FLSA, revised November 2023). The guide does not name a weekly, biweekly or monthly schedule.
- Pay frequency comes from state law. The U.S. Department of Labor keeps one table of all state rules. It was last revised January 1, 2023, and it tells readers to check the state labor office for official information (DOL, read October 21, 2026).
- Weekly pay is the main rule for many workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont, and for manual workers in New York. Massachusetts requires weekly or biweekly pay for hourly workers, and New Hampshire requires weekly or biweekly pay (DOL table, footnotes 4, 9, 15, 17, 19, 23).
- Monthly is the only frequency the DOL table marks for Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. Employers in those states may still pay more often.
If your state only requires monthly pay and you need money sooner, see jobs that pay weekly and how earned wage access works and what it costs.
Pay frequency rules in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico
How to read the table: the middle column lists the payday columns the DOL marks for each state. "Semimonthly" means twice a month. "Biweekly" means every two weeks. When the DOL marks several columns, the rule depends on the type of job or employer, and the footnote says how. The footnote column repeats the DOL's own wording. Every row comes from the U.S. DOL State Payday Requirements table, last revised January 1, 2023, read October 21, 2026, unless another source is named. Laws change. Check your state labor office before you act on a row.
Scroll horizontally to view every column.
| State | Columns marked on the DOL table | DOL footnote |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | None (not in the table) | Footnote 1: "No regulations or not specified." |
| Alaska | Semimonthly, monthly | None |
| Arizona | Semimonthly (footnote 3) | "Payday two or more days in a month, not more than 16 days apart." |
| Arkansas | Semimonthly | None |
| California | Weekly and biweekly (footnote 10), semimonthly, monthly | "The frequency of payday depends on the occupation. In California, wages, with some exceptions, must be paid at least twice during each calendar month on the days designated in advance as regular paydays." |
| Colorado | Monthly | None |
| Connecticut | Weekly (footnote 4) | "Longer intervals (up to monthly) are permitted if approved by the labor commissioner." |
| Delaware | Monthly | None |
| District of Columbia | Semimonthly | None |
| Florida | None (not in the table) | Footnote 1: "No regulations or not specified." |
| Georgia | Semimonthly | None |
| Hawaii | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 5) | "Employees may choose to be paid on a monthly basis under special election procedure. Director of labor and industrial relations also may grant exceptions to the general semi-monthly payday requirement. The payday requirement applies only to private sector employment." |
| Idaho | Monthly | None |
| Illinois | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 2) | "Monthly payday requirements for Executive, Administrative, and Professional personnel." |
| Indiana | Biweekly, semimonthly | None |
| Iowa | Weekly, biweekly (footnote 6), semimonthly, monthly | "Employers are required to pay most employees via a regular payday at least biweekly, semimonthly or monthly. Any predictable and reliable pay schedule is permitted as long as employees get paid at least monthly and no later than 12 days (excluding Sundays and legal holidays) from the end of the period when the wages were earned. This can be waived by written agreement; employees on commission have different requirements." |
| Kansas | Monthly | None |
| Kentucky | Semimonthly | None |
| Louisiana | Biweekly, semimonthly (footnote 7) | "Applicable to entities employing 10 or more employees that are engaged in manufacturing, mining, or boring for oil, and to every public service corporation. Payment is required no less than twice during each calendar month." |
| Maine | Semimonthly (footnote 8) | "Payment is due at regular intervals not to exceed 16 days." |
| Maryland | Biweekly, semimonthly | None |
| Massachusetts | Weekly, biweekly (footnote 9) | "Hourly employees must be paid either weekly or biweekly. Employers may pay salaried employees semi-monthly. Note: Salaried employees can also be paid monthly if an employee voluntarily agrees." |
| Michigan | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly (footnote 10) | "The frequency of payday depends on the occupation." |
| Minnesota | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 11) | "Under Minnesota statute, employers are required to pay their employees for all wages including salary, earnings and gratuities at least once every 31 days, and all commissions earned by an employee at least once every three months on a regular payday. Employees engaged in transitory employment must be paid at intervals of not more than 15 days." Public service corporations must pay at least semimonthly. |
| Mississippi | Biweekly, semimonthly (footnote 12) | "Applicable to every entity engaged in manufacturing of any kind in the State employing 50 or more employees and employing public labor, and to every public service corporation doing business in the State. Payment is required once every two weeks or twice during each calendar month." |
| Missouri | Semimonthly | None |
| Montana | None (footnote 13) | "If there is not an established time period or time when wages are due and payable, the pay period is presumed to be semimonthly in length." |
| Nebraska | None (footnote 14) | "Payday designated by the employer." |
| Nevada | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 2) | "Monthly payday requirements for Executive, Administrative, and Professional personnel." |
| New Hampshire | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly (footnote 15) | "Weekly or Bi-weekly payment of wages is required. Semi-monthly or monthly payments of wages are available upon written permission of the NHDOL." |
| New Jersey | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 16) | "Employers may pay bona fide executive, supervisory and other special classifications of employees once per month." |
| New Mexico | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 2) | "Monthly payday requirements for Executive, Administrative, and Professional personnel." |
| New York | Weekly, semimonthly (footnote 17) | "Weekly payday for manual workers. Semi-monthly payday upon approval for manual workers and for clerical and other workers." Also: manual workers must be paid "not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which the wages are earned," and New York DOL treats workers who spend more than 25% of working time on physical labor as manual workers (NY DOL Frequency of Pay FAQ). NY DOL publishes a list of employers allowed to pay manual workers biweekly, updated August 3, 2026 (NY DOL Frequency of Pay page). |
| North Carolina | None (footnote 18) | "None specified, pay periods may be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly or monthly." |
| North Dakota | Monthly | None |
| Ohio | Semimonthly | None |
| Oklahoma | Semimonthly | None |
| Oregon | Monthly | None |
| Pennsylvania | None | No DOL footnote. Pennsylvania law: wages are due on "regular paydays designated in advance by the employer," within the time set in a written contract, or the time customary in the trade, or "within 15 days from the end of such pay period" (Wage Payment and Collection Law, Section 3). |
| Puerto Rico | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly | None |
| Rhode Island | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly (footnote 19) | "Most Rhode Island employers are required to pay employees weekly. Childcare providers shall have the option to be paid every two weeks." Since January 1, 2014, qualifying employers may petition the state Department of Labor and Training to pay less often than weekly, "but must pay wages at least twice a month." |
| South Carolina | None (footnote 20) | "Employers with 5 or more employees are required to give written notice at the time of hiring to all employees advising them of their wages agreed upon, and the time and place of payment along with their expected hours of work. The employer must pay on the normal time and at the place of payment established by the employer." |
| South Dakota | Monthly | None |
| Tennessee | Semimonthly | None |
| Texas | Biweekly (footnote 21), semimonthly, monthly (footnote 21) | "Each employee who is exempt from the overtime provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) must be paid at least once a month; others must be paid at least twice a month. Semi-monthly pay periods must contain as nearly as possible an equal number of days." |
| Utah | Semimonthly, monthly (footnote 22) | "Employees on a yearly salary can be paid on a monthly basis." |
| Vermont | Weekly; biweekly and semimonthly (footnote 23) | "Employers may implement bi-weekly and semi-monthly paydays with written notice." |
| Virginia | Weekly, biweekly, semimonthly (footnote 24); monthly (footnote 2) | "Employees whose weekly wages total more than 150 percent of the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth may be paid monthly, upon agreement of each affected employee." Footnote 2 also allows monthly pay for executive, administrative and professional personnel. |
| Washington | Monthly | None |
| West Virginia | Biweekly | None |
| Wisconsin | Monthly (footnote 25) | "Most employers must pay workers all wages earned at least monthly, with no longer than 31 days between pay periods." Exceptions in the footnote: logging and farm labor (at least quarterly), unclassified UW system employees, part-time firefighters and EMTs (at least annually), school employees who ask to be paid over 12 months, and workers under a union contract that sets a different schedule. |
| Wyoming | Semimonthly | None |
Source for every row: U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, State Payday Requirements, "last revised January 1, 2023," read October 21, 2026. New York and Pennsylvania notes add the state sources named in the row.
What the law does and does not require
The state rule is a floor, not a promise. If your state says "semimonthly", your employer must pay you at least twice a month. It can pay weekly if it wants. FedEx, UPS and Amazon, for example, pay hourly warehouse workers weekly. See jobs that pay weekly.
The rule covers wages you already earned. It does not force an employer to pay you the same day you work. Some states also set a lag between the end of the pay period and payday. New York gives manual workers up to 7 calendar days (NY DOL). Pennsylvania allows up to 15 days unless a written contract or trade custom sets the time (PA Wage Payment and Collection Law). Iowa allows 12 days, not counting Sundays and legal holidays (DOL footnote 6).
Federal law adds overtime, not timing. Nonexempt workers must get at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek (DOL Handy Reference Guide, November 2023). The FLSA does not require pay stubs (DOL FLSA FAQ). Check your state labor office for pay stub rules.
"Pay frequency" is not the same as "early pay". Apps like DailyPay and Amazon Anytime Pay let you take part of your earned pay before payday. They do not change the legal payday. Some charge a fee. We explain the costs in earned wage access explained.
What to do if you are paid late
- Check your pay period and payday. Your offer letter, handbook or first pay stub should show them. In South Carolina, employers with 5 or more employees must tell you the time and place of payment at hiring (DOL footnote 20). Pennsylvania employers must tell you the time and place of payment at hiring or post it at work (PA Wage Payment and Collection Law, Section 4).
- Compare with your state row above. If the employer is inside the legal window, it is not late under state law, even if it feels late.
- Ask payroll in writing. Keep the message. Give the dates you worked and the date you expected pay.
- File a wage claim with your state labor office. The DOL keeps a list of every state labor office with phone numbers (DOL State Labor Offices). Pennsylvania, for example, has an online wage payment complaint form (PA Department of Labor & Industry).
- For minimum wage or overtime that was never paid, you can also call the U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243. The division says complaints are confidential (DOL WHD, How to File a Complaint).
- Ask your state labor office about final-pay rules before you quit. The DOL payday table does not cover them.
This page is not legal advice. Deadlines for wage claims vary. Check your state labor department.
Pay frequency and your budget
Weekly pay means 52 paychecks a year. Biweekly means 26. Semimonthly means 24. Monthly means 12. The yearly total is the same at the same hourly rate. What changes is how long you wait for the first check and how you line up rent. A posting that says "$20/hr, paid weekly" and one that says "$20/hr, paid semimonthly" pay the same over a year. Use the pay benchmarks to compare the rate itself, and how to read pay on a job posting to spot "up to" and tip-based rates.
Employers whose postings we checked on October 21, 2026 that pay weekly include FedEx, UPS and Amazon. Browse warehouse jobs with weekly pay, warehouse jobs and general labor jobs. In New York, manual workers must be paid weekly by law, while clerical and other workers must be paid at least twice a month (NY DOL); see customer service jobs in New York. In Massachusetts hourly workers must be paid weekly or biweekly (DOL footnote 9); see healthcare jobs in Boston.
Looking for a higher rate rather than a faster one? See jobs that pay $20 an hour or more without a degree.
Current openings
See warehouse jobs with weekly pay, all warehouse jobs and general labor jobs. By city: customer service jobs in New York and healthcare jobs in Boston.
More general labor openings
Current source-linked listings could not be confirmed in this sample. Check the category search and each original posting for availability.
How to verify a listing
Every opening on JobPin links to its source posting. Open the source, check the posting date, and confirm the pay rate and pay frequency on the employer's own site before you give personal information. If a posting promises "daily pay", ask whether that is the legal payday or an app with a fee. Real employers never ask you to pay to apply. Freshness labels come from provider timestamps; see how to read "hiring now" labels. How we check listings: how JobPin verifies listings.
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