California Local Minimum Wage Lookup by City and County

The minimum wage in California depends on where the work is performed. As of January 1, 2026, California’s statewide minimum wage is $16.90 per hour, and more than 40 cities and two counties have adopted ordinances that set a higher minimum wage within their boundaries.⁠1 Local rates currently run from just above the state rate to $20.34 per hour in Emeryville, the highest citywide rate in California.

The lookup above reports the exact minimum wage for any city or community in the state. Type where you work, and it returns the rate that applies there, the date it took effect, the next scheduled change, and a link to the official source. If your city has no ordinance of its own, the statewide rate applies, and the lookup will say so.

Every figure the lookup reports also appears in the full table in Chapter 2, so the numbers stay visible, citable, and crawlable even without JavaScript.

How the Lookup Works

Enter the city where you work, not where you live and not where your employer is headquartered. The lookup covers all 483 incorporated cities in California. Cities with their own minimum wage ordinance return their local rate; every other city returns the statewide rate.

It also recognizes well-known unincorporated communities. Places like Altadena, East Los Angeles, and Marina del Rey are not cities at all: they are unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, so the county’s minimum wage ordinance applies there. The same is true of communities like North Fair Oaks and Montara in San Mateo County. Type one of those community names and the lookup routes you to the correct county rate, marked with an “unincorporated” tag.

Where an ordinance sets different rates by employer size, as in Sonoma, Novato, and Hayward, the result shows each tier. Where a city sets a separate rate for particular workers, like hotel employees in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Long Beach, the result notes that too. Every rate is verified against the jurisdiction’s official ordinance page, and the verification date is shown in the tool itself.

The lookup reports the general legal floor for a location. It is general information, not advice about your specific situation, and it does not account for every exception that can apply to a particular job.⁠2

Every Local Minimum Wage in California

The table below lists the statewide rate and every city and county with its own minimum wage ordinance, alphabetically, with each jurisdiction linked to its official rate page. Every California city not listed follows the statewide rate.

Which Minimum Wage Applies to You

Work Location Controls

Local minimum wage ordinances apply based on where the employee physically performs the work. The location of the employer’s headquarters does not matter, and neither does the city where the employee lives.⁠3 An employee who lives in Fresno but works in Berkeley is entitled to Berkeley’s minimum wage. An employee who lives in Berkeley but works in Fresno is entitled to the statewide rate.

The Two-Hour Rule

Most local ordinances cover any employee who performs at least two hours of work in a week within the jurisdiction, and they require the local rate for those hours.⁠4 This matters most for mobile workers: a delivery driver, home health aide, or tradesperson who spends part of the week in Los Angeles and part in Pasadena may be entitled to each city’s rate for the hours worked in that city.

Unincorporated Areas

Two counties, Los Angeles and San Mateo, set a minimum wage for their unincorporated areas. A county ordinance does not apply inside incorporated cities: an employee in the City of Los Angeles is covered by the city’s ordinance, not the county’s, while an employee a few blocks away in unincorporated East Los Angeles is covered by the county’s. In every other county, work performed in an unincorporated area is covered by the statewide rate.

The Highest Applicable Rate Wins

The statewide minimum wage is a floor, not a ceiling. When more than one minimum wage covers the same hours of work, whether state, local, or industry-specific, the employee is entitled to the highest of them.⁠5 No local ordinance can lower the state rate, and an employee cannot agree to work for less than the applicable minimum.⁠6

Industry Rates That Override Local Ordinances

Two statewide industry minimum wages apply everywhere in California and override the rates in the lookup whenever they are higher.

Most fast-food employees at large national chains must be paid at least $20.00 per hour.⁠7 Covered health care employees must be paid between $22.00 and $25.00 per hour depending on the type of facility where they work, with a lower schedule for certain rural and safety-net hospitals.⁠8

A handful of cities also set higher minimum wages for specific groups of workers, most commonly hotel employees. Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Long Beach each require hotel rates well above their general minimums, and those rates appear as notes in the lookup and the table above.

When Rates Change

Minimum wage changes in California cluster around two dates. The statewide rate and most Bay Area and San Diego ordinances adjust on January 1. San Francisco and most Los Angeles–area ordinances, including Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and Malibu, adjust on July 1. The “next scheduled change” column in the table shows the date each rate is due to move.

The statewide adjustment is set by the Director of Finance on or before August 1 each year, increasing the rate by the lesser of 3.5 percent or the change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, effective the following January 1.⁠9 The rate does not go down: if the index falls, the minimum wage stays the same.⁠10 Local ordinances use their own inflation formulas, so local increases vary from city to city.

We re-verify every rate on this page against each jurisdiction’s official source around each adjustment date, and the verification date is displayed in the lookup.

If You Are Paid Less Than the Minimum Wage

An employee who is paid less than the applicable minimum wage can recover the unpaid balance, together with interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.⁠11 California law also entitles the employee to liquidated damages in an amount equal to the unpaid wages plus interest, effectively doubling many minimum wage claims.⁠12

Employers are prohibited from retaliating against an employee for asserting the right to a minimum wage, whether by raising it internally, filing a claim with a government agency, or filing a lawsuit.⁠13 Related guideCalifornia's minimum wage lawsThe complete guide: who is covered, the exceptions, credits and deductions, and how to enforce your rights.

References

1. 1Labor Code, § 1182.12; Cal. Const. art. XI, § 7 [“A county or city may make and enforce within its limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws.”].↥
2. 2The statewide minimum wage law itself contains exceptions, including learners, certain camp employees, immediate family members of the employer, and outside salespersons. (Cal. Code of Regs., tit. 8, §§ 11010⁠–⁠11170, subds. 1(D), 2(I), 4; Labor Code, §§ 1171, 1182.4.) These are covered in our main guide to California’s minimum wage laws.↥
3. 3See, e.g., Los Angeles Mun. Code, art. 187 [minimum wage ordinance]; S.F. Admin. Code, ch. 12R [minimum wage ordinance]. Each ordinance defines its own coverage, but the common structure ties coverage to hours worked within the jurisdiction’s boundaries.↥
4. 4See, e.g., Los Angeles Mun. Code, art. 187; S.F. Admin. Code, ch. 12R. The two-hour formulation is the most common coverage test, but each ordinance controls its own scope.↥
5. 5Labor Code, § 1182.12 [statewide floor]; Cal. Const. art. XI, § 7 [local authority to set a higher rate]. Local ordinances and the industry statutes each require payment of their rate only where it exceeds the otherwise-applicable minimum.↥
6. 6Labor Code, § 1194, subd. (a); Civil Code, § 3513. See the discussion of waiver in our guide to California’s minimum wage laws.↥
7. 7Labor Code, §§ 1474⁠–⁠1476 (AB 1228); Department of Industrial Relations, Fast Food Minimum Wage FAQ. The Fast Food Council sets this rate, and it is not tied to the statewide annual adjustment.↥
8. 8Labor Code, §§ 1182.14⁠–⁠1182.15 (SB 525); Department of Industrial Relations, Health Care Worker Minimum Wage FAQ. These facility-based rates increase on a set schedule.↥
9. 9Labor Code, § 1182.12, subd. (c).↥
10. 10Labor Code, § 1182.12, subd. (c)(2).↥
11. 11Labor Code, § 1194, subd. (a) [“Notwithstanding any agreement to work for a lesser wage, any employee receiving less than the legal minimum wage or the legal overtime compensation applicable to the employee is entitled to recover in a civil action the unpaid balance of the full amount of this minimum wage or overtime compensation, including interest thereon, reasonable attorney’s fees, and costs of suit.”].↥
12. 12Labor Code, § 1194.2, subd. (a).↥
13. 13Labor Code, § 98.6, subd. (a).↥