Certified payroll requirements by state

Rules change, and the contract and the agency control. This page records what the pages linked in the table said when read on November 4, 2026; a few cells link nothing and say why. The awarding agency decides what you submit, where and when; confirm with it before you rely on a cell.

Which states have a prevailing wage law, and where does the payroll go?

Of the 50 states and DC, 25 states have a state prevailing wage law, marked Yes in the table. 22 states have none found: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 3 states (Colorado, Tennessee and Vermont) have a partial one, so 28 states have some state rule. Mississippi's place in that count rests on one archived table (see its row), and Nebraska and DC are judgment calls (see Judgment calls). The Department of Labor's older state table differs on Michigan and Nebraska, and in detail on DC and Tennessee, as explained under Where sources disagree.

Federal Davis-Bacon applies on covered federal work in every state. 40 U.S.C. 3142(a) says the advertised specifications for every construction, alteration or repair contract over $2,000 "to which the Federal Government or the District of Columbia is a party", for public buildings and public works located in a State or DC, must state the minimum wages. DC's own construction contracts are therefore Davis-Bacon contracts by statute, with no federal funding needed. The related acts carry the same standards to federally assisted construction. On covered work the contractor submits certified payrolls weekly (29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)).

The channel for state payroll differs by state. Of the 28 states with a full or partial law, nine send payroll to a state labor agency, fourteen to the awarding or contracting agency, and five (Montana, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming) show no routine state payroll filing in the sources read.

Every state and DC in one table

State names link to our page for that state where one exists. "Not stated" means the pages read did not say, which is not a finding that no rule exists; "Not read" means the agency's pages refused the check.

How to read the table

State law: Yes, No or Partial

Yes means a state statute sets prevailing wage for public works; some cover only state-funded work, and Wyoming's covers only state public bodies. Partial means part of them: Colorado (state agency projects), Tennessee (state highway construction) and Vermont (29 V.S.A. 161(b) contracts, other than Agency of Transportation and Forests, Parks and Recreation work). No means none was found, it was repealed or struck down, or, in Arizona, Florida, Indiana and Utah, state law bars requiring one (see the Arizona and Indiana rows). "None found" is a finding from absence in a code index or chapter list, not a citation to a repeal: Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Carolina and South Dakota.

Threshold, channel, schedule and DOT system

States measure the threshold differently (project cost, contract price), so read the cell before comparing. On Davis-Bacon work, weekly certified payrolls go to the federal agency if it is a party to the contract, otherwise to the owner or other entity that maintains the records, for transmission to the agency (29 CFR 5.5(a)(3)(ii)(A)). Where a cell gives two schedules, the contract decides. The last column is the system the state DOT lists for payroll on its own contracts, often only on federal-aid work; "None named" means the DOT pages read name no system.

Where sources disagree

A cell shows both sources where two disagree on a schedule. Other conflicts are below.

• Alaska. The transportation department says AASHTOWare Project meets federal and state payroll requirements; the labor department checklist sends payroll to its Wage and Hour office. Neither says whether one submission covers both.
• Illinois. There are two conflicts. First, the text of Section 5 still says to file monthly with the public body until the Department of Labor activates its database, while its portal page directs filing to the portal. Second, the Department's undated certified payroll FAQ says a contract that mentions Davis-Bacon needs no filing with the department. That conflicts with an IDOT special provision that federal-aid contracts on the state letting carry from the April 24, 2026 letting on (effective April 1, 2026). Where the Illinois rate equals or exceeds the federal rate, it requires a certified payroll to the IDOL portal by the 15th of each month and also one to IDOT each week in LCPtracker Pro. The Department's FAQ on federal projects (HB 1189) also says to upload payroll to the portal when Illinois rates apply. Read your contract before you skip the monthly IDOL filing on a federal job.
• Thresholds in Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia. Connecticut's labor department rate-request page tests for project cost over $100,000; the statute sets $1,000,000 for new construction. The Maryland SHA specification cites $500,000 or more for state wage terms; the statute says $250,000. Virginia's Department of Labor and Industry page says the law applies at $250,000 or more; the statute exempts contracts of $250,000 or less (2.2-4321.3(N)). The table follows the statute in all three.
• Nebraska. The NDOT page says payrolls are due within 7 days after payment; the 2017 NDOT specification book lets NDOT withhold partial payments if payrolls are not in within 14 days of the payroll ending date.
• Washington. The WSDOT wage rates page points federal-aid projects to U.S. Department of Labor guidance; the WSDOT standard specifications route all certified payrolls through the L&I PWIA system, weekly on federal-aid projects and at least monthly on state-funded ones.

Judgment calls

Michigan. The U.S. Department of Labor's state table (revised January 1, 2023, archived copy) lists Michigan as without a law and notes a 2018 repeal. The table counts Michigan as Yes because 2023 PA 10 took effect February 13, 2024 and was amended effective April 2, 2025. MDOT's own wiki, last edited August 27, 2026, says MDOT contracts funded solely by the State carry no wage decision or prevailing wage requirement, while MCL 408.1101(l) defines a state project to include state-financed highways, roads and bridges. On a state-only MDOT job, check the contract for a wage decision and ask the MDOT project office.

Nebraska. The same Department of Labor table lists Nebraska with a law and no threshold. The sections in the Nebraska row set no rates and call for no payroll filing, so this table counts it No. But 73-104 defines fair labor standards as the wage scale and conditions paid by at least 50 percent of the contractors in the same field, and 73-102 has public works contracts carry that standard unless the authority sets its own terms for hours, pay and conditions. Counting that going-wage test as a prevailing wage standard would make Nebraska Yes and the counts 26 Yes and 21 No.

District of Columbia. The table counts DC as No because no DC prevailing wage law was found, a separate question from Davis-Bacon. DC's own construction contracts over $2,000 carry Davis-Bacon terms under 40 U.S.C. 3142(a). D.C. Law 25-274 sets a wage only for underground utility work that a gas or electric company awards to a contractor over $250,000, and applies only once its fiscal effect is in an approved budget (section 8). The Code marks the chapter Not Funded; whether that has changed was not verified.

Other differences from the Department of Labor table. It lists DC at $100,000 for a living wage requirement, not a prevailing wage law. It lists Tennessee at $50,000 for highway construction only; the agency's copy of the act and the Commission rules state no $50,000 figure.

Pages that did not load

The official Texas statutes site returns only a script shell, so the Texas cells link chapter 2258 on the legislature's text server. The Illinois IDOT link is a Word file. The Vermont link is a January 2026 archived copy of an unofficial legislature page. California statutes were read on a public mirror; the links go to the official text.

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