In 2020, Denver became the first local government in Colorado to implement its own minimum wage. City Council based it on Denver’s high cost of living, and because the minimum wage increases annually, our city’s lowest-wage workers don’t get left behind as inflation rises.
The law has been a resounding success. Wages have risen, business has grown, and our local economy outperforms other cities and counties. We’re more competitive than ever.
For example, bar and restaurant workers have seen their average weekly earnings increase from $503 in 2019 to $756 in 2024. These facts are inspiring and significant, especially because the restaurant industry is allowed to pay tipped workers a sub-minimum wage that is $3.02 less than the Denver minimum wage. While other employers pay $18.81 per hour in 2025, bars and restaurants get to pay only $15.79.
Best of all, business hasn’t suffered. Although the restaurant industry claims businesses are closing in droves, the data doesn’t support it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the beginning of 2019 there were 2,114 food and drink service establishments in Denver; by 2024, even after enduring the worst pandemic stages, there were 2,343. Denver’s restaurant scene has grown faster than the United States as a whole. That growth has matched the state overall, and Denver performed as well or better than Arapahoe, Jefferson, Boulder, and Larimer counties.
Our city has more restaurants per 1,000 people than any other large county in the state.
But now, a proposal by Denver Representatives Steven Woodrow and Alex Valdez and Boulder Sen. Judy Amabile threatens this progress. House Bill 1208 would gut Denver’s tipped minimum wage, increase economic insecurity, and override Denver’s democratic process. For tens of thousands of workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, this law would make it harder to pay rent, stay ahead of bills, and purchase food, formula, transportation, and all the other necessities of life.
Here’s how it works: This bill would force City Council to pass a new law cutting the tipped minimum wage for food and beverage workers from $15.79 to $11.79 per hour. Overnight, this would slash earnings. A full-time employee will earn $160 less per week, $640 less per month, and $8,320 less per year.
In 2023, the Bell Policy Center reported that one adult and one child in Denver require a monthly living wage of $6,605. Very few people could absorb an $8,320 pay cut, especially as the cost of living increases in Denver. This is especially true in the restaurant industry, where most people do not earn much. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows in May 2023 average annual earnings in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area were modest for bartenders ($39,350), fast food and counter workers ($35,260), and waiters and waitresses ($39,170).
These workers are not getting rich. Worse, they struggle to receive the money they earned. Minimum wage violations are common in the restaurant industry–and they always have been. According to research I commissioned, food and drink service establishments are the second-most likely type of business to break minimum wage laws. From 2007 to 2022, between 12.7% and 16.3% of workers in this industry suffered minimum wage violations. They disproportionately were women and people of color. Last year alone, my office recovered almost $200,000 for wage theft in this industry.
Food and beverage workers deserve a wage that allows them to support themselves and their families, enjoy the benefits of a shared economy, and plan for the future.
Instead, many live paycheck to paycheck, and have felt the pain of a housing crisis, high inflation, and an increasingly unrealistic American Dream.
This law would make that Dream more unattainable than ever. It would gut the minimum wage for tens of thousands of workers and override City Council’s careful process. At a time when many are afraid of what the future holds, leaders should be working to improve people’s lives, not slash wages and reject progress.
Timothy M. O’Brien is the City of Denver auditor.
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