CA City Now Has Highest Minimum Wage In The U.S.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA — California officially has the highest minimum wage in the nation as of New Year's Day, and one California city blows everyone else out of the water with a minimum wage more than double the federal one.

West Hollywood started the year with a $17.64 per hour minimum wage for hotel workers. That minimum wage will go into effect for all workers in July.

The new minimum wage bumps West Hollywood workers to a higher level than wage-earners in Emeryville, which previously held the nation’s top minimum wage, $17.13 per hour.

West Hollywood’s new minimum wage is a whopping $2 per hour more than California’s new minimum wage of $15 per hour. A full-time hotel staffer in West Hollywood makes $211 more per biweekly paycheck than a worker a couple of doors down Sunset Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles, which falls under the state's $15 per hour minimum wage.

Still, West Hollywood’s lowest wage earners won’t exactly live the high life in the expensive city. According to Redfin, the median sale price for a home in West Hollywood was $1,102,500. A worker would need an annual income in the six figures to afford a home in West Hollywood.

The West Hollywood City Council approved the wage hike in November to help workers keep their families out of poverty in a city where the living wage is estimated to be $19.35 per hour, according to a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"West Hollywood has raised the wage and is once again leading the national conversation," West Hollywood Councilmember Lindsay Horvath said in a statement. "Cost of living is rising everywhere — it's getting more and more expensive to live, work, and raise a family. Our minimum wage should reflect that reality, and I am proud to be part of this thoughtful step in our city."

The new ordinance also mandated an annual 72 hours of compensated sick leave, 96 hours of compensated leave time and 80 hours of uncompensated sick leave for hotel workers.

California — home to the most billionaires in the nation, as well as some of the most extreme poverty — is similarly trying to help alleviate the income-expense gap with the nation’s highest minimum wage. The state’s $15 minimum wage is double the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which has not changed since 2009.

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Patch Editor Michael Wittner contributed to this report.