California became the first state to commit to a $15 an hour minimum wage when then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that ratcheted up the pay floor from $10.50 in 2017. 

The law included an inflation adjustment, which brought the California minimum wage to $16.50 an hour in 2025. 

California has experimented with a higher minimum wage in other ways, including local measures that require higher pay in high-cost cities and industry-specific laws for fast-food and health care workers.