Overview
- California’s baseline for construction pay is $16.90 per hour, which equals about $35,152 a year for a full-time schedule.
- Pay varies sharply by location, with Indeed data showing San Francisco averaging about $61,371 a year and San José, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Fresno also above the floor.
- ZipRecruiter puts the statewide average near $35,500 a year, highlighting how different data sources and job mixes can produce very different figures.
- The state labor agency says workers can file wage complaints even if they are immigrants without legal status, and employers must pay at least the minimum.
- Some outlets report a May 1 start date, but reporting that cites California’s Department of Industrial Relations places the effective date at January 1, 2026.