Los Angeles minimum wage 2026
The minimum wage in Los Angeles is $18.42 an hour in 2026, $1.52 above the California rate of $16.90. The Los Angeles rate changes each July 1 with Los Angeles-area inflation for wage earners, and workers at larger hotels are owed a separate, much higher hotel worker minimum wage.
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At a glance
| Minimum wage now | $18.42 an hour, since July 1, 202612 |
|---|---|
| Next change | The July 1, 2027 rate is expected to be announced around February 1, 2027. |
| Tipped employees | $18.42, the full minimum wage before tips1 |
| Full-time pay | $737 a week, $38,314 a year at 40 hours a week before taxes · calculate for your hours |
| Enforced by | Office of Wage Standards, Bureau of Contract Administration, City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, 1-844-924-3752 |
What to know about the Los Angeles minimum wage
The general Los Angeles rate is set by the Minimum Wage Ordinance in Municipal Code Section 187.02 and moves every July 1 with the Los Angeles-area CPI-W. The Office of Wage Standards announces each increase about five months early: its memo setting $18.42 from July 1, 2026 is dated January 30, 2026.2 That rate was $0.55 above the $17.87 that applied from July 1, 2025.1
Hotel workers have their own wage under the Citywide Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, Municipal Code Section 186. From July 1, 2026 it requires $25.00 an hour, and employers that do not provide qualifying health coverage must also pay a $4.25 hourly health benefit payment. Ordinance 188944, approved on May 26, 2026 under Council File 25-1466, schedules $25.50 an hour (with a $6.00 health payment) from July 1, 2027 and $28.50 from July 1, 2028.3
Enforcement sits with the Office of Wage Standards in the Bureau of Contract Administration, part of the Department of Public Works. It handles the minimum wage and paid sick leave together, along with the Fair Work Week, Fair Chance and Freelance Worker laws. Its posting rule reaches far: employers must display the notice in twelve languages, plus any language spoken by at least 5% of the workers at a site.1
Compared with California
When a local minimum wage, the state minimum wage and the federal minimum wage differ, the employer must pay the highest one that applies to the work. For most covered work in Los Angeles, that is the local rate, but some jobs have a higher statewide minimum (see below the table).
| Minimum wage | Next change | Per hour now |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Due July 1, 2027, amount not announced | $18.42 |
| California (state) | $17.40 on January 1, 2027 | $16.90 |
| Federal | None scheduled | $7.25 |
California also sets higher statewide minimums for some jobs, which apply in Los Angeles when they exceed the local rate: Fast food restaurant employees ($20.00); Health care: large systems, dialysis clinics and large-county facilities ($25.00); Health care: community, rural and intermittent clinics ($22.00); Health care: other covered facilities ($23.00); Health care: safety net hospitals and small-county facilities ($19.28). See the California page for the rules.
Tipped employees
| Tip credit | Not allowed: tips are on top of the full minimum wage |
|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $18.42 an hour1 |
California law bars counting tips toward the minimum, so tipped workers get the full city rate before tips.
How the rate changes
Each July 1 the rate rises with the CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers) for the Los Angeles metropolitan area, under Municipal Code Section 187.02(d).
Rate history
Who is covered
Anyone entitled to the California minimum wage who works at least two hours within the City of Los Angeles is covered, whatever the employer's size; what counts is where the hours are worked, not where the business is based.
- The hotel worker minimum wage covers hotels with 60 or more guest rooms anywhere in the city and hotels with 50 or more rooms in the Airport Hospitality Enhancement Zone, and it replaces the general rate for their workers.
- The official notice must be posted in English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Armenian, Russian and Farsi (Municipal Code Section 188.03).
- Fast food workers are covered by California's statewide fast food minimum wage under Assembly Bill 1228.
- The Office of Wage Standards hotline is 1-844-924-3752 (1-844-WAGESLA).
Other local rates in California
- Emeryville$20.34
- West Hollywood$20.25
- Mountain View$19.70
- Berkeley$19.61
- San Francisco$19.61
- Sunnyvale$19.50
- Richmond$19.18
- Belmont$18.95
- El Cerrito$18.82
- Cupertino$18.70
- Los Altos$18.70
- Palo Alto$18.70
- Santa Clara$18.70
- Redwood City$18.65
- San Mateo$18.60
- Pasadena$18.57
- Milpitas$18.50
- Los Angeles County (unincorporated areas)$18.47
- Santa Monica$18.47
- Sonoma$18.47
- San Jose$18.45
- Petaluma$18.31
- Santa Rosa$18.21
- South San Francisco$18.15
- Fremont$18.05
- San Mateo County (unincorporated areas)$17.95
- Half Moon Bay$17.91
- Malibu$17.91
- East Palo Alto$17.90
- Burlingame$17.86
- Foster City$17.85
- Hayward$17.79
- Alameda$17.76
- San Carlos$17.75
- San Diego$17.75
- Novato$17.73
- Menlo Park$17.55
- Daly City$17.50
- Oakland$17.34
Everywhere else in California, the state rate applies.
Get help or file a claim
If you are paid less than the minimum wage that applies to your job, you can file a wage claim with the agency below. Federal law prohibits firing or otherwise retaliating against a worker for complaining about federal minimum wage rights.
Sources
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Is a rate wrong or out of date? Report an error