Every year since 2015, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors sets a minimum wage. Since 2017, that act is a symbolic recommendation after the State of Iowa prohibited local authorities from having a wage higher than the states.
In 2026, the Board of Supervisors set the minimum to $13.37, or $27,809.60 before taxes for someone working full time.
According to Common Good Iowa, a single person without children in Johnson County would need to gross $32,658, or $15.70 an hour, to make ends meet.
If we’re going to take this symbolic action, shouldn’t it at least meet this threshold of livability? It seems it isn’t perhaps the symbol we would hope it to be.