Payroll in Honduras

Honduras minimum wage and salaries in 2026

Short answer: The minimum wage in Honduras in 2026 is HNL 12,869.14 a month (about $479). Average urban income is around HNL 11,700 a month ($436), below the formal minimum because much of the workforce is informal. Professionals paid as contractors through Ontop earn a median of $1,600 a month (111 active contracts, September 2026).

Minimum wage details: Acuerdo 233-2026 (La Gaceta 37,129, in force 2026-04-29), tripartite deal for 2026-2027, retroactive to 2026-01-01. Set by activity and company size (4 categories). Lowest non-agri figure cited: manufacturing, smallest firms L12,869.14; commerce L13,292.06; services L13,050.39; agriculture smallest L9,596.64. Raises: 6% firms <=50 staff, 7% firms 51-150 and >150 in 2026 (7.5% for >150 in 2027). Average across all sectors L14,917.20. Detailed table taken from Bloomberg Linea, not the gazette: verify against STSS table before contractual use. USD figures use exchange rates from 1 October 2026. Updated October 2026.

Next step: compare contractor rates in Honduras with other countries or estimate the full cost of an employee.

Hiring in Honduras: employee or contractor?

Honduras pays its employees fourteen times a year. The Aguinaldo in December and the 14th month salary in June are both mandatory, so any salary you agree on is really a monthly figure multiplied by 14, before social contributions or severance enter the picture.

For a foreign company without a local entity, that changes the question. If the work is a defined service delivered by a professional who sets their own schedule, a contractor agreement is usually the faster, cheaper and more accurate way to engage them. If the role looks like a job, it should be a job.

What an employee costs you in Honduras

Take a gross salary of HNL 20,000 a month. Employer contributions add about HNL 2,100, for a monthly cost near HNL 22,100. On top of that you carry:

• Two extra salaries a year: the Aguinaldo and the 14th month, about HNL 40,000 at this salary.
• Roughly 10.5% in employer contributions: IHSS, RAP pension and INFOP, filed by the last day of every month.
• Auxilio de Cesantia: one month of salary per year of service once the employee passes three months.
• Paid leave that grows with tenure: 10 working days of Vacaciones in year one, rising to 20 after six years.

All of it assumes a registered employer in Honduras filing with SAR and IHSS.

The contractor route with Ontop

Honduran law recognizes the Contrato por Obra o Servicio for independent work, and that is the agreement most cross-border teams use. Companies paying contractors in Honduras through Ontop pay a median of $1,600 a month (the middle half earn between $1,150 and $2,384), across 111 active contracts in September 2026. This is Ontop's own book of payments, not a market survey.

Ontop acts as contractor of record. You sign a compliant contract (yours or an Ontop template), get support on classification, and pay in one run. The contractor receives the money in their Ontop Global Account in USD. No local entity, no IHSS filings, no bonus months. Pricing starts at $49 per contractor per month. To compare both totals side by side, use the contractor cost calculator by country.

When an employee is still the right call

If you set fixed hours, require exclusivity or direct the work day to day, the relationship is employment under Honduran labour law, whatever the contract says. Hire that person as an employee. Ontop does not offer employer of record and never becomes the legal employer, so for those roles you need your own entity or a local employer. For everyone who genuinely works independently, see why teams choose an EOR alternative built for contractors.