The minimum wage is set to rise in California on Jan. 1
Under California labor law, the state's director of finance has to calculate annually how much the minimum wage will go up in the following year. The increase is determined by whichever number is lesser: 3.5%; or the rate of change for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics non-seasonally adjusted U.S. Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (U.S. CPI-W).
This year, the lesser number is 2.49% — the average U.S. CPI-W for the 12-month period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 compared to the same period in the prior year.
On Jan. 1, 2026, the minimum wage for all employers in California will be $16.90.
That will put California at the second-highest minimum wage in the country, after the District of Columbia, where it's $17.95 an hour. In Washington state, the minimum wage is $16.66 per hour; $16.50 in parts of New York state; and $16.35 an hour in Connecticut.
Health care and fast-food workers in California receive a higher minimum wage than the state minimum. Certain health care workers qualify for a $24-an-hour minimum wage as of the beginning of July 2025. The minimum hourly rate for fast food workers increased to $20 per hour in April 2024.
Critics said the fast food minimum wage would lead to job losses and price hikes, but a study from the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at UC Berkeley found that didn't happen.
A ballot proposition to increase the statewide minimum wage to $18 an hour failed in the 2024 election, with 50.7% of voters voting 'no.'
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These comments confirm the gloomy remarks of University of Connecticut professor emeritus Peter Turchin, who recently talked with Fortune about the declining status of the upper middle class in 21st century America. When asked where else he sees this manifesting in modern life, Turchin said, 'It's actually everywhere you look. 'Look at the overproduction of university degrees,' he said, arguing that the decreasing premium that Goldman and DeLong write about shows up in declining rates of college enrollment and high rates of recent graduate unemployment. 'There is overproduction of university degrees and the value of a university degree actually declines.' DeLong's bottom line for recent grads: Blame a risk-averse business climate, not technology, for today's job woes. And now that we know the economy may have been much more risk-averse in 2025 than previously, DeLong's warnings are worth revisiting. DeLong did not respond to a request for comment. For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
