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Some California cities have raised their local minimum wage above the state rate of $16.50. In this episode of California Employment News, Weintraub Tobin attorneys Nikki Mahmoudi and Chris Horsley cover key updates in cities like San Francisco, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Alameda.
Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel.
Show Notes:
Nikki: Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us for this installment of the California Employment News, an informative video and podcast resource offered by the Labor Employment Group here at Weintraub Tobin. My name is Nikki Mahmoudi, and I’m an associate in the Firm’s Labor and Employment Group. And today, I’m joined by my colleague, Chris Horsley.
Today, we’re going to be providing a quick minimum wage update at the local level. So, we’re midway through the year a little bit more than that. And so at this point, California has not updated their minimum wage for 2026. We’re just providing an update on some local jurisdictions that have.
So, starting July first, 2025, some local jurisdictions in California have increased their minimum wage beyond the state’s required rate of $16. 50. Now, note, when a jurisdiction has a minimum wage and it’s higher than the state minimum wage, we want to go with that number. Another consideration to keep in mind is that there’s also specific minimum wage rates for certain workers. That includes certain fast food workers and certain health care workers. We’ve actually previously done CENs about those minimum wage increases, and we’ll make sure to leave those CN links for you in the description box.
Keeping that in mind, Chris, can you give me an idea of some of the general minimum wage increases we’ve seen at the local level?
Chris: Of course. I can give you a few examples in Northern California. As of July first, 2025, both San Francisco and Berkeley have increased their minimum wage to $19.18 per hour. Then in Emreville, we have among the highest minimum wage in the state of California with a minimum wage of around $19.90 per hour. Finally, we have Alameda, who has recently increased their minimum wage from $17 to $17.46 per hour. Remember, if any of these numbers are higher than the state minimum wage, we want to go with that number instead. That’s it for now.
You can continue to find our video series through thelelawblog.com or on the Weintraub Tobin YouTube channel.
Thank you everyone for joining us, and we look forward to reconnecting with you in the next edition of California Employment News.