How California prevailing wage rates changed in 2026

Most of the rates that moved went up between $2 and $5 an hour. The largest single increase was $7.66, for electricians (cable splicer) in Santa Clara County, from $154.90 to $162.56. Across every rate, including the ones that didn't change, the median was $2.58.

Some rates that held in August still rise this year. DIR republishes a determination unchanged when nothing new has been set for it, and many trades have scheduled increases that fall between releases. Carpet layers are the clearest case: none of their 55 county rates moved in August, and their next scheduled increases fall on January 1, 2027.

Sheet metal workers led at $4.38 for the median county, with 53 of 57 counties up. Plasterers and roofers followed at $4.00, and plumbers and pipefitters at $3.75. In percentage terms the order changes: brick tenders (5.4%) and water well drillers (5.3%) rose most, from lower starting rates.

Four trades show no change for the median county: painter, field surveyor, glazier, carpet & soft floor layer. Painters are a split case. Their main rate held in 42 counties, but 79 painter classifications rose somewhere, including Alameda County tapers, up $5.04. Every changed rate, county by county, is on our change log.

Counties moved by different amounts because each holds a different mix of trades and determinations. Taking the median change across each county's county-table rates, San Bernardino County was highest at $3.25 (33 of its 43 rates rose) and Lassen County lowest at $0.00, with 21 of 43 up. Fresno, Madera and Tulare sit near the bottom at $0.50: their electricians, for example, rose $1.53 in August after a rise in February too. The change log has a county map.

Over two years, of 2,339 county-table rates published in both 2024-2 and 2026-2, the median rose $6.35, or 8.6%, and 34 stood at the same figure in 2026-2 as in 2024-2. At the August median of $3.15, a worker on 2,080 straight-time hours a year would be owed $6,552 more in wages and payments than under 2026-1; for an estimator the same figure is the added cost per full-time worker.

Northern California carpenters had the biggest raise of the large trades, $5.32 in every area, which takes Area 1 to $109.41. The Northern California laborer increase, $2.65, was set in advance: the 2026-1 determination's June 28, 2026 expiration carried a double asterisk, meaning DIR had already published the rate for work after that date. The carpenter and laborer guides have the full history since 2024.

Mariposa County's glazier rate dropped $3.46, from $87.25 to $83.79. The determination behind it changed: 2026-1 listed 200-767-1 for the county and 2026-2 lists 200-169-2. When DIR moves a county to a different determination, the rate follows the new one, and a decrease is possible. See glazier rates in Mariposa County.

The year's first release, 2026-1 on February 22, moved fewer rates. Of 2,371 county-table rates, 751 rose, 47 fell and 1,573 were unchanged against 2025-2, with a median change of $3.45 among those that moved. None of the six regional carpenter and laborer rates in the table above changed in February; each 2026-1 file carried the same figures as 2025-2, and for Northern California carpenters DIR reused the August 2025 determination, NC-23-31-1-2025-1.

For a rate that rose in both releases, a project's cost depends on which side of each effective date its bid advertisement falls. DIR's rule is that the determination in effect on the bid advertisement date applies (FAQ Q7 and Q10).

379 county main rates have at least one scheduled increase in that window, and 310 of the increases fall on January 1, 2027. Ironworkers and elevator constructors are on the list in all 58 counties. These raises apply to projects whose determination carries a double asterisk, as work is performed after each date; they don't wait for DIR's next release. Each county rate page shows its schedule.

DIR will issue the 2027-1 general determinations. Going by the FAQ, they take effect March 4, 2027, and a project advertised for bid on or after that date uses them; a project advertised earlier keeps the determinations in effect on its advertisement date. Previous sets stay available from DIR's determination index under superseded determinations.

Each county-table rate is one classification in one county, matched across releases by county, DIR craft and classification text. A classification DIR renames starts a new series, so it drops out of the comparison for that period. Totals are DIR's published straight-time totals, wages plus employer payments. Carpenter and laborer figures are the main journeyman line in each regional PDF, read from DIR's file for each period and linked in the table above. The trade medians use the main classification in each county, the same one our county rate pages lead with, so a trade's dozens of minor classifications don't outweigh its main rate.