As you may recall, until last summer, eleven states and Washington, D.C. had adopted minimum-compensation thresholds and other criteria that must be satisfied before a worker can have a noncompete or certain other restrictive covenants.
Last year, Florida adopted a wage threshold as well (effective July 1, 2025). But, unlike the others, Florida’s approach does not restrict noncompetes below a certain wage level or based on other criteria; instead, it sets a floor above which there is enhanced enforcement.
Well, this year, Tennessee and Louisiana both joined the ranks of states limiting who can have a noncompete based on salary or other job-level-related criteria, bringing the number up to 14 jurisdictions. Effective July 1, 2026, employees earning under $70,000 will not be permitted to have a noncompete in Tennessee. And, effective, August 1, 2026, neither interns nor apprentices will be permitted to have a noncompete in Louisiana. Accordingly, our chart has been updated to reflect these two new laws (see below).
History
So you have the history, the thirteen states with wage thresholds / job criteria are, in order of effective date, as follows: Oregon (2008; updated 2022), Illinois (2016; updated 2022), Massachusetts (2018), Maine (2019), Maryland (2019; updated 2023; refined in 2024), New Hampshire (2019), Rhode Island (2020), Virginia, (2020; updated 2025), Washington (2020), Nevada (2021), Colorado (2022), and Washington, D.C. (2022), Tennessee (2026), and Louisiana (2026).
Florida also has a wage threshold (as of July 1, 2025). Unlike all these others, which limit when noncompetes and certain other restrictive covenants can be enforced, Florida’s approach sets a floor above which there is enhanced enforcement.
Note too that some of these states also have thresholds for the use of not just noncompetes, but other restrictive covenants as well. They are as follows:
- Nonsolicitation agreements: Colorado, Illinois, possibly New Hampshire and, depending on the scope of the covenant, Washington
- No-recruit agreements: Illinois, Virginia, and Washington
- No-service agreements: possibly Colorado, and Virginia and Washington
- Conflict-of-interest/anti-moonlighting policies and restrictions (Maryland, Washington, and Washington, D.C.).
Also, Florida’s enhanced enforcement rules also apply to “true” garden leave (i.e., notice) clauses.
Updated Chart
All of these thresholds and the agreements to which they apply are all in the following chart (please note the footnote):
We will continue to keep you posted as things develop.
Remember that this chart is updated as states change their thresholds and criteria. The most up-to-date version of the chart will always be available here.
In the meantime, you may also want to check your agreements more generally to make sure you are complying with the noncompete laws in all states in which you have employees. Our 50-state noncompete chart (the first of its kind, created in 2010, and updated regularly since then to keep track of the ever-changing noncompete laws) can serve as a starting point.
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Firm resources:
We know how hard it is to keep up with the ever-changing laws and requirements around the country for how you can protect your trade secrets, customer goodwill, and the integrity of your workforce. To help, we have created the resources below (available for free). Each chart is regularly updated to reflect the latest developments.
 | 50-State Noncompete Law Chart, the first of its kind and regularly updated (downloadable PDF) (to be updated for the new exemptions in Illinois and Pennsylvania); 50-State and Federal Trade Secret Law Chart, providing a comparison of the trade secrets laws nationally to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act (downloadable PDF) |
| Chart of Noncompete “Low-Wage” Thresholds and Criteria (downloadable) |
 | Notice requirements summary chart, providing details for each of the 8 states (plus D.C.) that has notice requirements related to noncompetes (downloadable PDF) |
 | “Changing Trade Secrets | Noncompete Laws” (dedicated blog page) now provides a current detailed summary of the changing landscape of trade secret laws and noncompete laws around the country, state by state and at the federal level |
 | Trade secret and other legitimate business interest protection plan strategy and checklist |
We hope you find all of these resources useful. More will be coming.
And please note, we are grateful for all of the input we’ve received over the years. We welcome any suggestions for improvements that you may be willing to share.