Long Beach's Minimum Wage Line: Same Job, Different Pay a Few Miles Apart

Published: September 25, 2026 | By LocalJobPage Team

LONG BEACH, CA — Drive west on Anaheim Street into Wilmington and the legal minimum wage jumps, with no sign to tell you. Long Beach sits on one of the sharpest wage lines in Southern California. The city's general floor is the state's $16.90 an hour, while the City of Los Angeles neighborhoods of Wilmington and San Pedro, a few minutes away on the other side of the harbor, start at $18.42. For hotel workers the math flips the other way, and Long Beach now sets the highest hotel base wage in the region.

If you work, or are about to take a job, anywhere between the 710 and the harbor, the address of the job decides your minimum pay. Here is where every line falls in 2026 and how to use it in a job search.

Ready to search? Skip straight to the Long Beach job links →

📍 The 2026 Minimums Around Long Beach

Long Beach, general workers	$16.90 an hour (California state rate, since January 1, 2026)
Long Beach, covered hotel workers	$26.50 an hour (since July 1, 2026)
City of Los Angeles, including Wilmington, San Pedro and Harbor City	$18.42 an hour (since July 1, 2026)
City of Los Angeles, hotels with 60 or more rooms	$25.00 an hour plus a $4.25 hourly health benefit payment
City of Los Angeles, LAX workers under the Living Wage Ordinance	$25.00 an hour plus $7.65 in health benefits, or $32.65 without them
Unincorporated Los Angeles County	$18.47 an hour (since July 1, 2026)

Why Long Beach Pays the State Rate

Long Beach does not have a general minimum wage of its own. The city's minimum wage page points most employers straight to the state floor, which the California Department of Industrial Relations set at $16.90 on January 1. That covers the retail counters at Long Beach Towne Center and the warehouses along the 710. The same holds in the neighbors that share Long Beach's borders and have no local ordinance, including Signal Hill and Lakewood, and in Seal Beach across the county line.

Next door is a different story. The City of Los Angeles raised its floor to $18.42 on July 1, and the county's rate for unincorporated areas rose to $18.47, which reaches industrial pockets such as Rancho Dominguez where plenty of Long Beach residents drive to work. On a full-time schedule, the gap between $16.90 and $18.42 is worth a little over $3,000 a year before taxes.

💵 Hotels Flip the Line

Hospitality is where Long Beach leads. Under Measure RW, approved by voters in March 2024, the city's official adjustment notice set the hotel worker rate at $26.50 an hour starting July 1, up from $25.00 a year earlier. The measure phases raises in over five years, so the rate is scheduled to keep climbing.

Los Angeles covers hotels with 60 or more rooms at $25.00 plus a $4.25 hourly health payment, according to the city's hotel worker notice, and airport contractors at LAX follow the same $25.00 base under the Living Wage Ordinance.

⚠️ Where You Work Decides It

The floor follows the job's address, not your home address and not the company's headquarters. A Lakewood resident clocking in at a San Pedro terminal gets the Los Angeles rate. A Wilmington resident working a register on Pine Avenue gets the state rate. Los Angeles and the county apply their rates to anyone who works at least two hours in a week inside their borders.

These are floors, not going rates. Port, logistics and health care employers often start well above them to compete for workers. California also sets separate, higher statewide floors for covered fast food and health care workers on both sides of the line.

🔎 Search Both Sides of the Harbor

Search wide. A Wilmington or San Pedro job can be as close as one in Bixby Knolls, and hotel workers have good reason to stay in town.

Start here:

Long Beach Minimum Wage FAQ

What is the minimum wage in Long Beach in 2026?

For most jobs it is $16.90 an hour, the California state rate. Covered hotel workers in Long Beach earn at least $26.50 an hour as of July 1, 2026.

Is the Los Angeles minimum wage higher than Long Beach?

Yes, for general work. The City of Los Angeles rate is $18.42, and that includes Wilmington, San Pedro and Harbor City. Hotel work is the exception, where Long Beach pays more.

If I live in Long Beach but work in San Pedro, which rate applies?

The Los Angeles rate. The location where the work is performed sets the floor.

Who do I call if a Long Beach hotel is underpaying me?

The city's labor compliance line is (562) 570-9243, and it also takes email at LaborCompliance@longbeach.gov. For state wage claims, the Department of Industrial Relations office in Long Beach is at (562) 590-5048.

Put the Line to Work for You

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