(FSB Magazine) -- EIGHTEEN STATES now offer more generous minimum wages than the federal rate. So do roughly 140 cities and counties, from Albuquerque ($6.75 an hour), to Oxnard, Calif. ($12.88). The latest: Ventura, Calif. ($9.75). Like many such laws, Ventura's applies only to certain city employees and contractors. But Robert Pollin, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, says that the new watchword for localities considering hiking their minimum wages is "wider coverage": that is, applying the wage to all workers.

[THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT APPEARS WITHIN A DIAGRAM]

WASH. $7.63[4]

MINN. $6.15[*][3]

WIS. $5.70[2]

ILL. $6.50[3]

N.Y. $6.75[**][3]

Vermont $7.25[4]

Maine $6.50[3]

Massachusetts $6.75[3]

Rhode Island $7.10[4]

Connecticut $7.40[**][4]

New Jersey $7.15[4]

Delaware $6.15[3]

Maryland $6.15[3]

FLA. $6.40[3]

CALIF. $6.75[3]

ORE. $7.50[4]

Alaska $7.15[4]

Hawaii $6.75[**][3]

[*] Only applies to businesses with annual receipts of more than $625,000.

[**] Connecticut, Hawaii, and New York have passed further increases effective 1/1/2007.

Key: State Minimum Wage

[1] Federal minimum wage ($5.15)

[2] $5.16-$5.99

[3] $6-$6.99

[4] $7-$7.99

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor