That minimum wage for servers can be as low as $2.13 an hour, depending on the state. The amount and how it is applied varies widely and all of the minimums are pretty low. That server needs every last dollar.
EDITED TO ADD: this conversation goes on for a while in which another person goes out of their way to mischaracterize US law in multiple ways. I stopped responding simply because the law doesn't say what they think it does, and they're trusting you not to look carefully at external sources. I have linked them so you can look through them yourself and not have to rely on someone simply asserting "That doesn't say that." Well, see it for yourself.
This person wants to get eyes on the minutiae in order to draw attention away from what I started with: that minimum wage for servers is absolute shit, not all servers are guaranteed even that, and they need every dollar. I have yet to be corrected on that.
If paying servers a living wage is something important to you, as it is to me, don't be fooled: what servers actually go home with, and the laws that dictate that amount, are a complete fucking mess, there are literally exceptions and variations of the law in EVERY state, and it all adds up to hard-working servers not getting paid their due because people fight very hard to defend the tipping system, based on racism and slavery, exactly as it stands.
Handy links:
What servers make in the United States as a full-time job -- Salary.com
Compare and contrast this with the 2026 federal poverty guidelines (used for SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, etc)
Federal Poverty Level Tables -- 2026
(Note: I linked a third party site because official HHS poverty guidelines pdf publication returns an error)
The US Department of Labor Reference Guide to FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) -- dol.gov
The first table I linked to, in my comment above; note especially the tip credits:
Fact Sheet #32: Youth Minimum Wage - Fair Labor Standards Act -- dol.gov
While service workers in restaurants, hotels, bars, and elsewhere would now be covered under [FLSA], the 1966 amendments to the FLSA created a “tip credit.” The tip credit allowed employers to count the tips received by their staff against 50% of the minimum wage they were required to pay—effectively establishing a separate “tipped minimum wage” set at half the regular minimum wage. Subsequent amendments to the FLSA adjusted the level of the tipped minimum wage to varying percentages of the regular minimum wage, reaching as high as 60% in the 1980s. In 1996, the FLSA was amended again to raise the federal minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15. However, the bipartisan deal that was struck in Congress to achieve this increase decoupled the tipped minimum wage from the regular minimum wage. The deal locked the tipped minimum wage statutorily at $2.13 per hour (50% of $4.25), the level at which it had been set in 1991. -- quoted from Tipping is a racist relic and a modern tool of economic oppression in the South -- Economic Policy Institute, June 2024
The same information, but with minor explanations in an easier to read format:
Tipped & Youth Minimum Wage by State: 2025 Table for Employers