In addition to bringing in the New Year on Thursday, 3.1 million low-wage workers in 21 states across the country received an increase in their salaries.

Employers in 21 states and Washington, D.C., began 2015 with a hike in their minimum wage rates following a national wave of protests held by fast food and retail workers, unions and activists in 2014, reports the Boston Globe. As a result, 29 states in total now have a higher minimum wage than the federal wage, which stands at $7.25 an hour.

"We've seen a historic number of states increasing their minimum wages," said David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, to CNN. "People's understanding of where the wage floor should be has changed a lot, and in part caused by strikes and protests."

In Alaska and Massachusetts, minimum wage workers received a $1 increase to $8.75 and $9, respectively. However, the biggest hike occurred in South Dakota, where low-wage workers rates rose by $1.25 an hour, bringing the minimum wage to $8.50.

Employees in Washington state now earn $9.47 an hour, making them the highest paid minimum wage workers in the nation, followed by Oregon with $9.25 and Vermont and Connecticut with $9.15.

A number of cities have also passed laws raising the minimum wage including Seattle and San Francisco, which now have a $15 an hour minimum wage. In the meantime, workers in San Diego saw a jump from $9 to $9.75 an hour.

According to Cooper, minimum wage workers in states hiking wages by at least $1 will see a noticeable difference in their annual salary as they will earn about $2,000 more each year.

"That's pretty substantial for someone who's only making about $15,000 a year," said the economist, adding there will also be "some small increase in consumer spending in" states with larger increases, reports MSNBC.