San Diego Minimum Wage 2026 and 2027

The city's official 2027 notice lists $18.35 per hour for all employees, effective January 1, 2027, up from $17.75. The separate Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance for covered hotels, event centers, and amusement parks has its own schedule, with the next step on July 1, 2027.

The city says the rate has gone up every year since 2019 by an amount corresponding to the prior year's increase in the Consumer Price Index.

California law does not allow a tip credit: the California Department of Industrial Relations says an employer may not use an employee's tips as a credit toward its obligation to pay the minimum wage per hour. The City of San Diego says the same: tips and gratuities do not count toward the payment of minimum wage. The city lists one rate for all employees, $17.75 per hour from January 1, 2026 and $18.35 from January 1, 2027.

The ordinance covers employees who perform at least two hours of work in one or more calendar weeks of the year within the geographic boundaries of San Diego, adults and minors alike, and employers must pay the rate for every hour worked inside the city.

Work in San Diego County outside the city limits falls under California law instead. The city offers a boundary map and a lookup by council district or address.

• The city says the Minimum Wage Ordinance applies to all industries and businesses and there are no exceptions. Covered hotels, event centers, and amusement parks are subject to a higher, separate hospitality rate that began July 1, 2026 and reaches $25.00 per hour on July 1, 2030.
• The city's employer fact sheet says a covered hospitality employer owns, operates or manages a hotel with 150 or more guest rooms in San Diego; a covered event center (Petco Park, Pechanga Arena, San Diego Convention Center or Civic Theatre); a covered amusement park (at least 75 contiguous acres, operated under a City agreement, with permanent amusement rides); or a contracted, leased or sublet business operating on the grounds of those properties for 30 or more days in a calendar year.
• The historical rate list shows only the dates on which the rate changed; it has no separate 2018 row, so the $11.50 rate that began January 1, 2017 stayed in place until January 1, 2019.