Skip to main content
Ithaca Cornell Campus at dusk

Tompkins County Minimum Wage Study Final Report

Ithaca Co-Lab Director Ian Greer has worked with local stakeholders since 2018 to explore ways to increase the wage floor in Tompkins County. In spring 2026, the Ithaca Co-Lab organized eight public convenings, six focus groups and canvassed opinions online and in the community about the possibility of a countywide minimum wage.
The final report was presented to the community and to the legislature in fall 2026.

Staff serving takeaway order for driver in delivery window
Read the Report

ILR Hosts Conference on Transition to EVs

Outreach

The ILR School hosted a two-day conference that explored labor and the transition to electric vehicles. Organized in part by Ian Greer, director of the Ithaca Co-Lab, Professor Harry Katz and Art Wheaton, director of labor studies, the conference and its 35 attendees aimed to develop a global understanding of the EV shift and its consequences for workers.

Ian Greer leading a panel discussion at the ILERA conference on the transition to electric vehicles.
Read More

Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

The 2025 living wage for a single adult living alone in Tompkins County is $24.82 per hour, but almost half of the county’s 48,894 wage earners earn less than that, according to ILR School researchers.
A calculator, cash and budget journal on a table.
Many in Tompkins County Do Not Earn a Living Wage: ILR Researchers

Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

TCAT workers discuss the importance of their role in people’s lives. Amidst contract negotiations, they highlight staff shortages, overtime and burnout. They also mention wages and cost of living in Ithaca. Riley Xian and Jenna Lea, students in the Ithaca Co-Lab at the Cornell ILR School, produced this video.
Icon
Accessibility text goes here and is required
Student Project: TCAT Workers Prepare to Negotiate a New Contract

Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

Increasing the Tompkins County minimum wage of $16.61 to a living wage would increase earnings for thousands of workers and reduce racial and gender disparities, according to a new Ithaca Co-Lab report.
Money in the back pocket of a pair of jeans
Minimum Wage Increase Yields Positives: Report

Dashboard Details Surge in NYS Eviction Filings

Cornell Chronicle
As part of its on-going public impact mission and “data democratization” initiative, the Buffalo Co-Lab has launched the Cornell ILR Eviction Filings Dashboard for New York, a tool designed to help citizens, policymakers and nonprofits more easily visualize where eviction filings have occurred since 2018.
An eviction notice hangs on a door.
Dashboard Details Surge in NYS Eviction Filings

Quality Jobs Sought for the Unemployed

"Good Jobs For All?" summit brought together advocates working on behalf of unemployed people in Ithaca area.
Althea Brennan ’23
Quality Jobs Sought for the Unemployed

Living Wage Study Reveals Racial Disparities

Ian Greer, Ithaca Co-Lab director and other ILR researchers have found that living wage legislation would have a dramatic impact on the earnings of many Black workers in Tompkins County.
A graphic showing how living wage connects to basic needs
Living Wage Study Reveals Racial Disparities

In the News

Media Mentions

Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

The Ithaca Voice
In this audio interview, ILR Research Professor Ian Greer discusses findings from the Tompkins County minimum wage study that he led and provides a deeper understanding of the issues examined in the study.
Could Tompkins County set its own higher minimum wage?

Tompkins County reviewing study on minimum wage

607 News Now
“There is a big problem with wages and the cost of living being out of sync; cost of living is going up much more rapidly than wages are,” says Ian Greer, ILR Ithaca Co-Lab director, in this audio interview about a minimum-wage study he co-authored for Tompkins County.
Tompkins County reviewing study on minimum wage

County legislators poised to revisit local minimum wage debate

The Ithaca Voice
Ian Greer, director of ILR’s Ithaca Co-Lab, co-authored a study on Tompkins County’s minimum wage.
County legislators poised to revisit local minimum wage debate