Exempt Salary Threshold: Federal Amounts and the 2024 Rule
The federal salary level for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions is $684 a week ($35,568 a year) on the Department of Labor’s earnings thresholds page and in 29 CFR 541.600 in the eCFR (up to date as of October 29, 2026); the 2024 rule that set higher amounts was vacated by federal courts, and the Federal Register republished the earlier text effective May 15, 2026.
Maintained by Archie Chang · Sources checked against Department of Labor, eCFR and Federal Register text on November 2, 2026 · Methodology & sources
Federal salary level checker
Enter a salary to compare it with the federal standard salary level of $684 a week.
Salary alone does not make a job exempt. The salary level is one of three tests: the salary basis test and the duties test also apply, and the job title does not decide the result. Some employees (for example outside sales employees) have no salary test, and a state can set a higher amount.
The checker compares an amount with the standard salary level in 29 CFR 541.600 for the pay period you pick, using the equivalents the regulation and the Department of Labor print. It does not apply the highly compensated employee test, the computer employee hourly rate, the special amounts for the territories or the motion picture industry, or any state amount.
Federal amounts
“The Department’s regulations require executive, administrative, and professional employees to be paid at least a minimum salary amount to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime requirements under section 13(a)(1).”
| Amount | As the DOL page prints it |
|---|---|
| Standard Salary Level | $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary) |
| Total Annual Compensation Requirement for Highly Compensated Employees | $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis |
| Special Salary Level for Employees in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands | $455 per week (equivalent to a $23,660 annual salary) |
| Special Salary Level for Employees in American Samoa | $380 per week (equivalent to a $19,760 annual salary) |
| Special Base Rate for Employees in the Motion Picture Industry | $1,043 per week (or a proportionate amount based on the number of days worked) |
| Compensation Required for Computer Employees Paid on an Hourly Basis | $27.63 per hour |
29 CFR 541.600(a) in the eCFR (up to date as of October 29, 2026) prints the same $684 per week, and 29 CFR 541.601(a)(1) prints the same $107,432. We found no difference between the Department of Labor page and the CFR text. The exempt vs non-exempt page explains the three tests these amounts belong to.
“To qualify as an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee under section 13(a)(1) of the Act, an employee must be compensated on a salary basis at a rate of not less than $684 per week (or $455 per week if employed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands by employers other than the Federal Government, or $380 per week if employed in American Samoa by employers other than the Federal Government), exclusive of board, lodging or other facilities. Administrative and professional employees may also be paid on a fee basis, as defined in § 541.605.”
Pay-period equivalents
| Pay period | Standard salary level |
|---|---|
| Weekly | $684 |
| Biweekly | $1,368 |
| Semimonthly | $1,482 |
| Monthly | $2,964 |
| Annual (DOL earnings thresholds page) | $35,568 |
“The required amount of compensation per week may be translated into equivalent amounts for periods longer than one week. For example, the $684-per-week requirement will be met if the employee is compensated biweekly on a salary basis of not less than $1,368, semimonthly on a salary basis of not less than $1,482, or monthly on a salary basis of not less than $2,964. However, the shortest period of payment that will meet this compensation requirement is one week.”
Salary basis
“An employee will be considered to be paid on a “salary basis” within the meaning of this part if the employee regularly receives each pay period on a weekly, or less frequent basis, a predetermined amount constituting all or part of the employee's compensation, which amount is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of the work performed.”
The regulation also lets some bonus pay count toward the salary level, with limits:
“Up to ten percent of the salary amount required by § 541.600(a) may be satisfied by the payment of nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions, that are paid annually or more frequently. The employer may utilize any 52-week period as the year, such as a calendar year, a fiscal year, or an anniversary of hire year. If the employer does not identify some other year period in advance, the calendar year will apply. This provision does not apply to highly compensated employees under § 541.601.”
The same section allows a catch-up payment:
“If by the last pay period of the 52-week period the sum of the employee's weekly salary plus nondiscretionary bonus, incentive, and commission payments received is less than 52 times the weekly salary amount required by § 541.600(a), the employer may make one final payment sufficient to achieve the required level no later than the next pay period after the end of the year. Any such final payment made after the end of the 52-week period may count only toward the prior year's salary amount and not toward the salary amount in the year it was paid.”
What happened to the 2024 rule
The salary level was raised by a rule published on September 27, 2019 and in effect from January 1, 2020, and by a second rule published on April 26, 2024. The Federal Register describes both:
“As relevant here, that rule raised the salary level from $455 per week to $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year for a full-year worker).”
“The 2024 rule featured two increases to the standard salary level and the HCE total annual compensation threshold, with the salary level slated to increase to $844 per week on July 1, 2024, further rise to $1,128 per week on January 1, 2025, and the HCE total annual compensated level to increase to $132,964 and $151,164 on these respective dates.”
“The 2024 rule took effect on July 1, 2024 (except as applied to the State of Texas in its capacity as an employer).”
Federal courts then vacated the 2024 rule:
“On November 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order vacating the 2024 rule in Texas v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, 756 F. Supp. 3d 361 (E.D. Tex. 2024). On December 30, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas likewise issued an order vacating the 2024 rule in Flint Avenue, LLC v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, No. 5:24-cv-00130-C, Dkt. No. 62.”
“These orders remain final judgments following the dismissal of the appeal in each case by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 5 and 7, 2026, respectively.”
On May 15, 2026 the Department published a technical amendment, Federal Register 91 FR 27833, to bring the CFR in line with those judgments:
“Through this technical amendment, the Department is removing from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) the regulatory text from the now-vacated 2024 rule and republishing in its place the regulatory text as it existed prior to the effective date of that rule.”
“This rule is effective May 15, 2026.”
The same document says which version of the regulations the Department has been enforcing:
“In light of these judgments, the operative version of the Department's part 541 regulations is the version of these regulations that was in place on June 30, 2024, prior to the effective date of the 2024 rule, and which the Department has been enforcing.”
Sections 541.100, 541.200, 541.300, 541.400 and 541.600 end with the amendment citation 91 FR 27835, May 15, 2026, in the eCFR text we copied on November 2, 2026. Sections 541.601, 541.602 and 541.604 end with 91 FR 27836, May 15, 2026. Section 541.600 prints $684 per week. The Department of Labor’s earnings thresholds page does not itself describe the 2024 rule; the vacatur status above comes from the Federal Register document. The $844 and $1,128 amounts and the highly compensated employee amounts of $132,964 and $151,164 belong to the vacated rule and are not amounts in the CFR text.
Who the salary level does not cover
“Note: These earnings thresholds do not apply to certain types of employees, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees.”
“The requirements of subpart G (salary requirements) of this part do not apply to the outside sales employees described in this section.”
“In the case of professional employees, the compensation requirements in this section shall not apply to employees engaged as teachers (see § 541.303); employees who hold a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of law or medicine or any of their branches and are actually engaged in the practice thereof (see § 541.304); or to employees who hold the requisite academic degree for the general practice of medicine and are engaged in an internship or resident program pursuant to the practice of the profession (see § 541.304). In the case of medical occupations, the exception from the salary or fee requirement does not apply to pharmacists, nurses, therapists, technologists, sanitarians, dietitians, social workers, psychologists, psychometrists, or other professions which service the medical profession.”
Highly compensated and computer employees
Highly compensated employees have a separate test with a higher annual amount:
“Beginning on January 1, 2020, an employee with total annual compensation of at least $107,432 is deemed exempt under section 13(a)(1) of the Act if the employee customarily and regularly performs any one or more of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an executive, administrative or professional employee as identified in subparts B, C or D of this part.”
“This section applies only to employees whose primary duty includes performing office or non-manual work.”
Computer employees have two routes: a salary or fee basis at the weekly amount ($684 per week) or an hourly basis ($27.63 an hour), and in both cases the primary duty requirements apply:
“Computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers or other similarly skilled workers in the computer field are eligible for exemption as professionals under section 13(a)(1) of the Act and under section 13(a)(17) of the Act. Because job titles vary widely and change quickly in the computer industry, job titles are not determinative of the applicability of this exemption.
The section 13(a)(1) exemption applies to any computer employee who is compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of not less than $684 per week (or $455 per week if employed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands by employers other than the Federal government, or $380 per week if employed in American Samoa by employers other than the Federal government), exclusive of board, lodging, or other facilities. The section 13(a)(17) exemption applies to any computer employee compensated on an hourly basis at a rate of not less than $27.63 an hour. In addition, under either section 13(a)(1) or section 13(a)(17) of the Act, the exemptions apply only to computer employees whose primary duty consists of:
(1) The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
(2) The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
(3) The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
(4) A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.”
State exempt salary amounts
Some states set their own amounts. The table lists the states whose labor agency pages we read and copied on November 2, 2026; it is not a list of every state, and other states have their own rules. Each agency’s own page is the authority for its state.
| State | 2026 | 2027 | Applies to | Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $70,304 a year | $72,384 a year | Twice the state minimum wage for full-time employment, one part of the exemption test | California Department of Industrial Relations (Labor Commissioner’s Office) |
| New York | $1,199.10 a week (rest of the state); $1,275.00 a week (New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties) | No 2027 amount on the page we read | Administrative and executive employees | New York State Department of Labor |
| Washington | $1,541.70 a week ($80,168.40 a year), all employers | $1,773.00 a week ($92,196.00 a year) for employers with 51 or more employees; $1,595.70 a week ($82,976.40 a year) for employers with up to 50 | Executive, administrative and professional workers | Washington State Department of Labor & Industries |
“As of January 1, 2026, employees in California must earn an annual salary of at least $70,304 to meet this threshold.”
“Beginning January 1, 2027, an employee must earn an annual salary of at least $72,384 to meet the salary threshold for exemption. Employees must also satisfy the duties and other requirements applicable to the specific exemption.”
“On January 1, 2026, the state minimum weekly salary for administrative and executive employees will range from $1,199.10 per week for employees in New York State, to $1,275.00 per week for employees who work in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties and in New York City for any size employer and Fast Food Establishments.”
“For 2026, all employers must pay overtime-exempt workers at least 2.25 times the minimum wage. That means to be exempt an employee must be paid at least $1,541.70 a week ($80,168.40 a year).”
“That means an employee must earn at least $1,773.00 a week ($92,196.00 a year) to be exempt from receiving overtime pay.”
“That means an exempt employee must earn at least $1,595.70 a week ($82,976.40 a year) for an employer to avoid paying the worker overtime.”
On which amount applies where federal and state rules both cover an employee:
“Where an employee is subject to both the state and Federal overtime laws, the employee is entitled to overtime according to the higher standard (i.e., the standard that will provide the higher rate of pay).”
“In general, employers who are covered by both state and federal laws must pay employees the higher rate, whether it is the minimum wage or the weekly minimum salary.”
“When state and federal thresholds conflict, businesses must meet the threshold most favorable to employees.”
Frequently asked questions
What is the federal exempt salary threshold?
The Department of Labor’s earnings thresholds page lists a standard salary level of $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary), and 29 CFR 541.600(a) prints $684 per week for executive, administrative and professional employees (eCFR, up to date as of October 29, 2026).
Is the 2024 DOL overtime rule in effect?
No. The 2024 rule took effect on July 1, 2024 (except as applied to the State of Texas in its capacity as an employer). On November 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated it, and the Federal Register’s technical amendment effective May 15, 2026 (91 FR 27833) removed its text from the Code of Federal Regulations and republished the earlier text.
What were the 2024 rule amounts?
The Federal Register describes the 2024 rule as slated to raise the standard salary level to $844 per week on July 1, 2024 and to $1,128 per week on January 1, 2025, with highly compensated employee amounts of $132,964 and $151,164 on those dates. The rule was vacated on November 15, 2024, before the January 1, 2025 date, and those amounts are not the amounts in the CFR text.
What is the highly compensated employee amount?
The Department of Labor’s page lists total annual compensation of $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis. 29 CFR 541.601 also requires that the employee customarily and regularly performs one or more exempt duties, and that the employee’s primary duty includes office or non-manual work.
Is there a different amount for computer employees paid by the hour?
Yes. The Department of Labor’s page lists $27.63 per hour for computer employees paid on an hourly basis, and 29 CFR 541.400(b) says the section 13(a)(17) exemption applies to a computer employee compensated on an hourly basis at that rate, if the primary duty requirements are met.
Does the salary level apply to every exempt employee?
No. The Department of Labor’s page says the thresholds do not apply to doctors, lawyers, teachers and outside sales employees, and 29 CFR 541.500(c) says the salary requirements of subpart G do not apply to outside sales employees.
What counts toward the salary level?
29 CFR 541.602(a)(3) says up to ten percent of the salary amount required by § 541.600(a) may be satisfied by nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions that are paid annually or more frequently, and that this provision does not apply to highly compensated employees under § 541.601.
Does meeting the salary level make a job exempt?
No. The salary level is one of three tests. Salary alone does not make a job exempt: the salary basis test and the duties test also apply, and Fact Sheet #17A says job titles do not determine exempt status.
Related pages
Sources (checked November 2, 2026): U.S. DOL Wage and Hour Division: earnings thresholds for the executive, administrative and professional exemption · DOL Fact Sheet #17A: Exemption for executive, administrative, professional, computer and outside sales employees · DOL Fact Sheet #17B: Executive employees · DOL Fact Sheet #17G: Salary basis requirement · DOL Fact Sheet #17H: Highly compensated employees · DOL Fact Sheet #23: Overtime pay requirements of the FLSA · DOL Wage and Hour Division: Overtime Pay · DOL Wage and Hour Division: Questions and answers about the FLSA · 29 CFR part 541 in the eCFR (up to date as of October 29, 2026) · Federal Register 91 FR 27833 (May 15, 2026): Implementation of Federal Court Judgments · California DIR news release 2025-118 · California DIR news release 2026-66 · New York State Department of Labor: Minimum Wage FAQs · Washington L&I: Overtime & Exemptions · Washington L&I: Changes made to Washington’s overtime rules · Washington L&I news release #25-36 · Washington L&I news release #26-17