ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Kathy Hochul is laying out her initiatives for 2024 starting with income.

Hochul spoke at a Christian cultural center in Brooklyn where she discussed the minimum wage increase, which will reach $15 per hour starting across New York State on Jan. 1, 2024.

The minimum wage in Upstate New York is currently $14.20 per hour but it reached $15 per hour in the New York City area and Long Island back in 2019. The governor also says the state will be indexing the minimum wage, meaning future increases will correlate with inflation.

“If the cost of everything from diapers to formula for new parents and the cost of sneakers and the backpacks and your eggs and your bread are all going up, you’re not getting ahead. That’s what we’re trying to solve here, help people get ahead,” Hochul said.

The minimum wage has gone up 70 cents each year for non-fast food workers. For fast food employees, they have already reached $15 per hour. The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 where it has remained since 2009.