Los Angeles minimum wage 2026: $18.42 an hour

$18.42 an hour, in force since July 1, 2026, set by annual CPI indexing under the Los Angeles Minimum Wage Ordinance. That is $1.52 an hour above the California state minimum of $16.90 and $11.17 above the federal $7.25, which has not moved since July 24, 2009. Over a full-time year the gap over the state rate is worth $3,162 in gross pay.

At $18.42 and 40 hours a week, gross pay is $737 a week, $3,193 a month and $38,314 a year. A single filer with no other deductions takes home about $611 a week, $1,222 every two weeks, $2,648 a month or $31,773 a year, an effective rate of 17.1% across federal income tax, California income tax, Social Security and Medicare.

Whichever is higher, and for work performed in Los Angeles that is the Los Angeles rate of $18.42. A local wage floor can rise above the state and federal figures but never fall below them, so the three rates are a floor stack rather than alternatives. What decides it is where the work is physically done, not where your employer is headquartered or where you live.

There isn't one. Los Angeles pays tipped staff the full $18.42 in direct cash wages, and tips are on top rather than counted towards the floor. That means a tipped worker here is guaranteed $18.42 an hour before a single tip is added. Tips remain taxable wages reported through payroll, and for 2026 up to $25,000 of qualified tips is deductible on your federal return.

Before. $18.42 is a floor on gross pay, the figure your employer must pay for each hour worked with nothing withheld yet. Social Security takes 6.2% and Medicare 1.45% from the first dollar, and California income tax applies on top. On a full 40-hour week that turns $737 gross into about $611 net, a difference of $126.

Check the stub first: multiply hours worked by $18.42 and compare against gross pay for the period, before deductions, because the test is gross. Underpayment is a wage claim, and a local ordinance usually gives you a city enforcement office as well as the state labor office and the U.S. Department of Labor. Deductions for uniforms, tools or till shortages that push effective pay below the floor are generally not permitted.