Minimum wage for servers/bartenders/other tipped employees has remained stagnant since 1991.
The federal government raised the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour in 2009. Some states have raised theirs above that amount, to as much as $9.04, in Washington state.
But since 1966, a sub-section of the minimum wage has existed for people who work for gratuities, known as the "tipped minimum wage," which Congress last bumped to $2.13 per hour in 1991. Some states have increased the tipped minimum wage on their own as well -- and Washington, like six other states, has no tipped minimum wage at all, so servers earn a full $9.04 before gratuities. About half of all states, however, continue to allow restaurants to pay servers $2.13.