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Malibu minimum wage 2026

The minimum wage in Malibu is $17.91 an hour in 2026, $1.01 above the California rate of $16.90. Malibu adjusts its wage each July 1 with Los Angeles-area inflation, but in 2025 the City Council suspended the increase for a year to help businesses affected by the January 2025 Palisades Fire. The rate stayed at $17.27 until June 30, 2026.

Compiled from official sources Checked against City of Malibu, City Management Last reviewed How we research
Contents10 sections

At a glance

Minimum wage now$17.91 an hour, since July 1, 2026⁠1
Next changeThe July 1, 2027 rate will be set from November 2026 inflation and is normally announced early in 2027.
Tipped employees$17.91, the full minimum wage before tips⁠1
Full-time pay$716 a week, $37,253 a year at 40 hours a week before taxes · calculate for your hours
Enforced byCity of Malibu, City Management, (310) 456-2489

What to know about the Malibu minimum wage

Malibu's rate history has a gap. To help businesses affected by the January 2025 Palisades Fire, the City Council voted at its May 21, 2025 meeting to suspend for one year the increase due on July 1, 2025.⁠3 The wage stayed at $17.27 from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2026, two years at the same rate.

Increases resumed on July 1, 2026, when the city applied a 3.7% adjustment and the rate rose to $17.91.⁠1 The percentage comes from Municipal Code Section 5.36.040, which uses the 12-month change in the November CPI-W for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim. Because the 3.7% was applied to the frozen $17.27, the skipped 2025 increase was not added back.

The ordinance itself dates from March 28, 2016, when the Council adopted Ordinance No. 404, citing goals that included competitive wages and reduced traffic. Employers with 26 or more workers began increases in 2016 and reached $15.00 on July 1, 2020; smaller employers started on July 1, 2017 and reached $15 by 2021.⁠1

The city does not investigate wage claims. Its yearly poster, which must hang alongside state and federal labor notices, sends complaints to the California Labor Commissioner and states that workers may sue employers in court.⁠2

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 Malibu, that is the local rate, but some jobs have a higher statewide minimum (see below the table).

Malibu, California and federal minimum wage
Minimum wageNext changePer hour now
Malibu Due July 1, 2027, amount not announced $17.91
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 Malibu 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 creditNot allowed: tips are on top of the full minimum wage
Minimum cash wage$17.91 an hour⁠1

California law bars tip credits, so tipped workers get the full city rate before tips.

How the rate changes

Each July 1 the rate rises by the 12-month change in the November CPI-W (Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted) for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, under Municipal Code Section 5.36.040; the July 1, 2026 increase was 3.7%. The Council suspended the July 1, 2025 increase at its May 21, 2025 meeting.

Rate history

Malibu minimum wage by date, compared with the federal minimum wage $5$10$15$20 $17.91 Federal 20222023202420252026
MalibuFederal minimum wage
Every change to the Malibu minimum wage we list
EffectiveStatusPer hour
July 1, 2026 In effect now First increase after the 2025 pause $17.91⁠1
July 1, 2024 Held through June 30, 2026 (2025 increase suspended) $17.27⁠4⁠3
July 1, 2023 $16.90⁠5
July 1, 2022 $15.96⁠6

Who is covered

Anyone who works at least two hours in a week inside Malibu is covered, regardless of immigration or work status, for employers of every size.

  • Ordinance No. 404, adopted March 28, 2016, created Municipal Code Chapter 5.36; the wage took effect July 1, 2016.
  • Employers with 25 or fewer workers followed a schedule one year behind larger employers until both reached $15.00 in 2021.
  • The yearly city poster must be displayed where state and federal labor notices are posted; it states that retaliation is prohibited (Section 5.36.080) and that employees may sue.
  • Wage complaints go to the California Labor Commissioner, as the city poster directs; City Management answers questions at (310) 456-2489.

Other local rates in California

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.

AgencyCity of Malibu, City Management
Phone(310) 456-2489
The lawMalibu Municipal Code Chapter 5.36 (Minimum Wage), adopted by Ordinance No. 404 (March 28, 2016)
FederalU.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, 1-866-487-9243

Sources

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