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As the United States marks more than six years without an increase in the federal聽minimum聽wage聽of $7.25 an hour, 14 states and several cities are moving forward with their own increases, with most taking effect on Friday, Jan. 1.

California and Massachusetts are highest among the states, both increasing from $9 to $10 an hour, according to an analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures. At the low end is Arkansas, where the聽minimum聽wage聽is increasing from $7.50 to $8. The smallest increase, a nickel, comes in South Dakota, where the hourly聽minimum聽is now $8.55.

The increases come in the wake of a series of "living聽wage" protests across the country, including a November campaign in which thousands of protesters in 270 cities marched in support of a $15-an-hour聽minimum聽wage聽and union rights for fast food workers. Food service workers make up the largest group of聽minimum-wage聽earners, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

With Friday's increases, the new average聽minimum聽wage聽across the 14 affected states rises from $8.50 an hour to just over $9.聽

Several cities are going even higher. Seattle is setting a sliding hourly聽minimum聽between $10.50 and $13 on Jan. 1.聽

Depending on the size of the business and whether the employees have health insurance, workers in Seattle will make as much as $13 an hour聽minimum聽in 2016.聽In November, voters in Tacoma, Wash., approved a graduated increase to $12 an hour, reports the Associated Press.

Los Angeles and San Francisco are enacting similar minimum wage increases in July, en route to $15 an hour phased in over six years.

Backers say a higher聽minimum聽wage聽helps combat poverty, but opponents worry about the potential impact on employment and company profits.

In 2014, a Democratic-backed congressional proposal to increase the federal聽minimum聽wage聽for the first time since 2009 to $10.10 stalled, as have subsequent efforts by President Barack Obama. More recent proposals by some lawmakers call for a federal聽minimum聽wage聽of up to $15 an hour.

Alan Krueger, an economics professor at Princeton University and former chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, said a federal聽minimum聽wage聽of up to $12 an hour, phased in over five years or so, "would not have a noticeable effect on employment."

Some employers may cut jobs in response to a聽minimum-wage聽increase, Krueger said, while others may find hikes allow them to fill job vacancies and reduce turnover, lifting employment but lowering profits.

In recent years, an increasing number of states and municipalities have enacted their own聽wage-floor policies. Currently, 29 states plus the District of Columbia and about two dozen cities and counties have their聽minimum聽wage聽at levels higher than the federal聽minimum.

Many are now in the midst of multi-year phase-in plans that will ultimately take them to between $10 and $15 an hour.

The 14 states where increases took effect on Jan. 1 are: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated 2014 federal proposal would have raised the聽wages of 16.5 million Americans and lifted 900,000 of them out of poverty but would have cost as many as 1 million jobs.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Chicago, Editing by Sara Catania and Cynthia Osterman)