Quickstart: Call the MWF API

The Minimum Wage Finder (MWF) API returns applicable minimum wage rates for a work location or minimum wage unique ID (mwUid) across all industries, at any point in time, using JSON. This guide walks a new API client through the full flow: authenticate, look up rates by location, and look up rates by mwUid. Prefer a UI over building your own integration? See the Quickstart: Look up rates in Portal instead. For a comparison of the two, see Portal vs. API.

Before you begin

You’ll need an API key to follow this guide. If you don’t have one, contact your Symmetry Client Success representative or reach out through the Client Support Center. See Prerequisites for the account setup your administrator needs to complete, and the entitlement that controls whether rates are returned at all. To try the endpoints before writing any code, download the Postman collection and environment, or explore them interactively in the MWF API overview.

Environments

Environment	MWF API base URL
Production	`https://api.symmetry.com`
Staging	`https://api-staging.symmetry.com`

Always develop and test against the staging environment before pointing your integration at production.

Step 1: Authenticate

Every MWF API endpoint other than /authentication/login itself requires a JWT access token. Request one by calling the authentication endpoint with your API key.

GET /authentication/login

curl --location --request GET 'https://api-staging.symmetry.com/authentication/login' \
--header 'api-key: YOUR_API_KEY'

A successful response returns an accessToken:

{
  "accessToken": "yoUrTokEnISh3re!"
}

Send this token as a Bearer token in the Authorization header on every other request in this guide. Tokens are valid for 24 hours. See the MWF API overview for error responses and the difference between your API key and your access token.

Step 2: Look up minimum wage rates by location

With your access token, call /mwf/v1/location with a work address (or a latitude/longitude pair) and an effective date. The response contains every minimum wage rate applicable to that location for that date.

GET /mwf/v1/location

curl --location --request GET 'https://api-staging.symmetry.com/mwf/v1/location?streetAddress1=14350 N 87th St&city=Scottsdale&state=AZ&zipCode=85260&effectiveDate=2026-01-01' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

{
  "rates": [
    {
      "mwUid": "04-1-000000000-REG-000-000",
      "state": "Arizona",
      "stateCode": 4,
      "authorityType": "State",
      "authorityTypeCode": 1,
      "rate": "14.70",
      "effectiveDate": "2026-01-01",
      "majorType": "REG",
      "industryType": "",
      "industryTypeCode": 0,
      "minorType": "",
      "minorTypeCode": 0,
      "details": "",
      "updated": "2025-10-19 20:57:26"
    }
  ],
  "normalizedAddress": {
    "streetAddress1": "14350 N 87th St",
    "city": "Scottsdale",
    "state": "AZ",
    "zipCode": "85260-2663"
  },
  "normalizedCoordinates": {
    "longitude": -111.894828,
    "latitude": 33.615513
  }
}

A single location can return more than one rate at once, one per applicable authority level (federal, state, county, city), and potentially more than one per level if industry- or attribute-specific overrides apply. See Authority levels and Rate types to interpret which rate(s) apply to a specific employee.

Step 3: Look up minimum wage rates by `mwUid` (optional)

Each rate returned in Step 2 includes an mwUid, a unique identifier for that specific rate. Use /mwf/v1/id to look up a rate directly by its mwUid, including its full effective-date history.

GET /mwf/v1/id

curl --location --request GET 'https://api-staging.symmetry.com/mwf/v1/id?mwUid=04-1-000000000-REG-000-000&pageNumber=0&pageSize=10' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN'

A wildcard (*) can be used in place of any mwUid element to broaden the search. For example, mwUid=04-*-*-*-*-* returns every rate for Arizona regardless of authority, wage type, industry, or attribute. See Minimum wage unique IDs for what each element in the ID represents.

Next steps

API reference

Every endpoint with its parameters and schema, generated from the OpenAPI spec.

Retrieve recent rate updates

Poll for rates that changed, instead of re-running every location.

More references:

​Before you begin

​Environments

​Step 1: Authenticate

​Step 2: Look up minimum wage rates by location

​Step 3: Look up minimum wage rates by mwUid (optional)

​Next steps

API reference

Retrieve recent rate updates

Before you begin

Environments

Step 1: Authenticate

Step 2: Look up minimum wage rates by location

Step 3: Look up minimum wage rates by `mwUid` (optional)

Next steps