Minimum Wage in France (SMIC) in 2026: Hourly and Monthly Amounts Gross and Net

The minimum wage in France, the SMIC (salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance), is 12.31 euros gross an hour since June 1, 2026. For a full-time week of 35 hours that makes 1,867.02 euros gross a month, or 1,477.93 euros net of employee social contributions, as the Ministry of Labor and service-public state. The amount was set by an order of May 22, 2026, published in the Journal officiel on May 24, after an automatic mid-year rise. This guide gives every amount, gross and net, in euros and in dollars, who is owed it, what counts toward it, how it rises, and where it turns up in a visa file.

The French Minimum Wage in 2026 at a Glance

Source: service-public F2300, page verified June 1, 2026, and the order of May 22, 2026 for Mayotte.

Three things to read in that table:

• The SMIC is an hourly rate. The law sets it by the hour; the monthly figure is that rate on the legal working week of 35 hours. Someone on a part-time contract is owed 12.31 euros gross for each hour, not the monthly amount.
• The gross amount is the legal one. Service-public defines the SMIC as the minimum gross hourly amount and gives the net amounts for information only. The net is what is left after the employee’s social contributions are taken off the payslip.
• Compare gross with gross. The SMIC is a gross amount, and so is the base on which overtime premiums are worked out. Set an offer’s gross pay against 12.31 euros an hour, not its net.

The Minimum Wage in France in US Dollars

At the European Central Bank’s reference rate of November 6, 2026, 1 euro was worth 1.1165 US dollars. The ECB publishes that rate for information only, and the dollar figures below move with it.

Source: ECB reference rates of November 6, 2026, and the US Department of Labor, read November 7, 2026.

The Department of Labor states that the federal minimum wage is 7.25 dollars an hour, in effect since July 24, 2009, and that many states have their own minimum wage laws; where a state sets a higher one, the employer must comply with both. France has no such layer: the SMIC is the same in Paris as in a village, and the only territory with a different amount is Mayotte.

Who Is Owed the SMIC

The Ministry of Labor puts the rule in one sentence: every private-sector employee aged 18 or over must be paid at least the SMIC, and so must public-sector employees hired under private-law conditions. It applies whatever the form of pay: by the hour, by output, by the task, by the piece, on commission or in tips. It applies in mainland France, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, La Réunion, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, and Mayotte has its own amount.

Lower rates exist for a few cases only:

Source: service-public F2300 and the Ministry of Labor, read November 7, 2026.

Nationality plays no part. An American hired in France with a status that allows work is owed the same SMIC as anyone else, and our guide to the work visa explains how a French employer hires someone who lives in the US.

The SMIC is a rule for employees. It does not apply to a business owner paying themselves: someone registered as a micro-entrepreneur earns what the business brings in.

What Counts Toward the SMIC and What Does Not

To check that a salary reaches the SMIC, the Ministry of Labor counts some items and leaves others out. This matters when an offer quotes a total package rather than a base salary.

Source: Ministry of Labor, “Assiette de vérification du SMIC”, page updated May 28, 2026.

The SMIC is not the same thing as the “minimum garanti”, a separate figure of 4.35 euros since June 1, 2026 that serves to value some benefits in kind and allowances. It is not a wage.

A Floor Below the Collective Agreement

The SMIC is the national floor. Above it, most jobs fall under a collective agreement (convention collective) for the sector, which generally sets its own minimum wage by job level:

• If the agreement’s minimum is lower than the SMIC, the employer pays a top-up so that the employee reaches the SMIC.
• If the agreement’s minimum is higher, the employer pays what the agreement sets.

The Code du travail numérique, the ministry’s own site, lets you find the minimum of your agreement by name: the page answers for 45 agreements, among them hotels, cafés and restaurants, retail, consulting firms and home help. When an offer names its agreement, read the minimum for your level there before you compare.

Overtime and Part-Time Hours

The monthly SMIC assumes the legal week of 35 hours. Hours worked beyond it at the employer’s request are overtime, and service-public (verified June 8, 2026) gives the premiums that apply when no agreement sets others:

• 25% more for the first 8 overtime hours of a week, from the 36th to the 43rd hour
• 50% more from the 44th hour.

An agreement can set other rates, but never below 10%. Overtime premiums are not counted when checking the SMIC, so a base rate below 12.31 euros cannot be made up with overtime. For the rest of a French contract (the yearly overtime quota, rest days, paid leave, sick pay, how a job ends), see French employment law for Americans; for where offers are posted, finding a job in France as an American.

How the SMIC Rises

The Labor Code sets three ways, in articles L3231-4 to L3231-11:

1. Every January 1. The SMIC is set each year with effect on January 1 (article L3231-6). The ministry explains the formula: the change in consumer prices for the 20% of households with the lowest incomes, plus half of the gain in purchasing power of the average hourly wage of blue- and white-collar workers. A group of experts gives its opinion each year before the decree.
2. In the middle of the year, automatically. When the consumer price index is up at least 2% on the index used for the last setting, the SMIC rises by the same proportion from the first day of the month after that index is published (article L3231-5).
3. At any time, by decision. The government can raise the SMIC above what the index requires (article L3231-10). The ministry recalls that it did so on November 1, 2024, bringing forward the rise planned for January 2025.

2026 used the first two:

Source: the two texts on Legifrance and the ministry’s press release of May 13, 2026, read November 7, 2026.

The ministry’s press release gives the effect of the June rise: 43.99 euros gross more a month, and a net monthly SMIC up from 1,443.11 to 1,477.93 euros. The 2% threshold was crossed on May 13, 2026.

What comes next. The next scheduled rise is January 1, 2027. Its amount is set by a decree in December, as the 2026 one was on December 17, 2025, and it was not published when this guide was written. Until then the amount in force is 12.31 euros, and service-public’s SMIC page is where a new one shows first.

The SMIC Over the Last Years

Source: Ministry of Labor, table of the gross hourly SMIC from 2005 to 2026.

Six of those twelve dates are not a January 1. Seen from a plan to move, that is the practical point: a figure you read in January can be out of date by June.

How the SMIC Compares With Other French Salaries

INSEE, the national statistics institute, measured private-sector pay for 2025 in a study published October 22, 2026, in full-time equivalent:

Source: INSEE Première no. 2132, “Les salaires dans le secteur privé en 2025”.

Set against those figures, the net SMIC of 1,477.93 euros a month sits close to the lowest tenth of full-time pay, and the median is about one and a half times it. A salary of 3,000 euros net a month is above the private-sector average; 3,000 euros gross is below the average gross of 3,693 euros. Ask which of the two an offer means.

Internships and Student Jobs

Three situations that Americans ask about do not work like a regular job:

• Interns (stagiaires) are not employees and receive no salary. Service-public states that an internship of more than 2 consecutive months in the same school or university year, or from the 309th hour, carries a gratification of at least 4.50 euros an hour, paid monthly from the first day (page verified January 1, 2026). Some sectors set more in their agreement.
• Au pairs live with a French family under a status of their own, with its own pocket money rules: see au pair in France for Americans.
• Students who take a job are employees and are owed the SMIC like anyone else. The limit is on hours: a foreign student can work up to 964 hours a year, 60% of the legal annual working time, without a work authorization (service-public F2713, verified October 7, 2025). See working on a French student visa.

The SMIC in a Visa or Residence File

The SMIC is also the yardstick for the money some residence statuses ask you to prove, and the gross or net version is not the same from one status to the next:

Source: the pages linked in each row, read November 7, 2026.

Because those figures follow the SMIC, they change when it does. Our guide to the France entrepreneur visa gives its threshold in detail, and the one on the France digital nomad visa, which France does not have, gives the threshold of each status a remote worker can use.

What Happens When an Employer Pays Less

Paying an employee below the SMIC is an offence. The Ministry of Labor states that the employer faces a fine of 1,500 euros for each employee paid that way, that a repeat offence within a year is also punished, and service-public adds that the employer can be ordered to pay the employee damages. The labor ministry’s services in each region answer questions from employees of the private sector.

FAQ

What is the minimum wage in France in 2026?

12.31 euros gross an hour since June 1, 2026, or 1,867.02 euros gross a month for 35 hours a week and 22,404.20 euros a year. From January 1 to May 31, 2026, it was 12.02 euros an hour.

What is the minimum wage in France per month after deductions?

1,477.93 euros net a month for a full-time job, after the employee’s social contributions. Service-public gives the net amounts for information only: the legal minimum is the gross one.

What is the minimum wage in France in US dollars?

About 13.74 dollars an hour, 2,084.53 dollars a month gross for full time, and 25,014.29 dollars a year, at the ECB reference rate of November 6, 2026 (1 euro = 1.1165 dollars). The US federal minimum wage is 7.25 dollars an hour.

Is the minimum wage higher in Paris?

No. The SMIC is the same across mainland France and the overseas departments; only Mayotte has a different amount, 9.56 euros gross an hour. A collective agreement can set more for a given job, wherever it is.

When will the French minimum wage increase next?

The SMIC is revalued every January 1, so the next scheduled rise is January 1, 2027, by a decree published in December. A rise can also come earlier: automatically when prices are up 2% since the last setting, or by a government decision.

Is 3,000 euros a month a good salary in France?

INSEE puts the median private-sector salary at 2,238 euros net a month in 2025 and the average at 2,797 euros net, 3,693 euros gross, in full-time equivalent. So 3,000 euros net is above the average, and 3,000 euros gross is below the average gross.

What is the minimum wage in France for international students?

The same as for everyone: a student who works as an employee is owed at least 12.31 euros gross an hour, for up to 964 hours a year without a work authorization. An internship is different: it is not a job, and the minimum gratification is 4.50 euros an hour once the internship passes 2 months.

Do tips count toward the minimum wage in France?

The SMIC applies whatever the form of pay, tips included, and the Ministry of Labor lists tips among the items counted when checking that the SMIC is reached. The legal rate stays 12.31 euros gross an hour.

Conclusion

The French minimum wage is one figure for the whole country, revalued every January 1 and sooner when prices rise fast: 12.31 euros gross an hour since June 1, 2026, 1,867.02 euros gross and 1,477.93 euros net a month for 35 hours. It is owed to every employee aged 18 or over, whatever the nationality, and a collective agreement often sets more.

If you are planning a job in France, the SMIC is the floor, not the offer: read the agreement that covers the job and compare gross with gross. If you are building a visa file, it is the yardstick of the resources you prove, and it changes with each revaluation. For the whole sequence of a move, see how to move to France from the US.