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Am I being paid the prevailing wage?
If you work on a public works job, you can check one week of pay against the rate published for your trade and county. It takes a pay stub and about two minutes.
California: DIR's 2026-2 rates, checked October 24, 2026. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere.
Your result
Fill in your county, trade and hourly wage, then tap Check my pay.
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What you can do next
- Find the rate in your contract. The rate that counts is the one in the determination for your project. DIR says the rates in effect on the date the job was advertised for bids "remain in effect for the life of the project" (DIR FAQ, question 7). Ask your foreman or the awarding agency which determination is in the contract.
- Look at your contractor's certified payroll. Contractors on most public works jobs send weekly payroll records to the Labor Commissioner. DIR says "Payroll records are available to the public using the CPR Public Search" (Certified Payroll Reporting). You can search them here and see what your employer reported for you.
- Ask the plans. Call your health or pension plan, or the union hall, and ask how much your employer paid in for your hours. The Labor Commissioner's manual says an employer gets credit only for "actual payments" (Public Works Manual, section 4.2).
- File a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. Fill out the Worker Complaint Form, sign it and send it in with copies of your pay stubs. DIR has the form in English and Spanish, and you can ask for a phone interpreter at 833-526-4636. DIR says "Your employer cannot fire, demote, suspend or discipline you for answering any questions" (How to file a public works complaint).
- Find the rate in your contract. Ask your foreman or the contracting agency which schedule or wage determination is in the contract.
- Ask the plans. Call your health or pension plan, or the union hall, and ask how much your employer paid in for your hours. Plan payments count only if they were actually paid.
- Contact the agency.
How do I check if I'm paid prevailing wage?
Add your hourly wage to what your employer pays into benefit plans for you, per hour, and compare the sum with the total rate for your trade, county and pay week. If the sum is at least the total, your straight-time pay meets the rate.
That is the check this page runs, in 55 states and territories. The rule under your result is the one for the rates on your job, with its source: the state agency's where it sets the rates, the U.S. Department of Labor's on federally funded work. Where a state prints one rate with fringes included (Delaware, Missouri, Nevada, Michigan), there is no base wage to check, only the total.
Only the agency that enforces the rate can decide whether you were underpaid. This page compares numbers and isn't legal advice.
How does it work on a Davis-Bacon job?
On a Davis-Bacon job your employer can meet the rate "by paying in cash, making payments or incurring costs for 'bona fide' fringe benefits," or by a combination of the two (29 CFR 5.31(a)). Each of the rule's worked examples pays at least the basic hourly rate as wages, with the fringe paid into plans, in cash, or partly each (5.31(b)).
Overtime: on contracts over $100,000, hours over 40 in a workweek are paid at 1½ times the basic rate (40 U.S.C. 3702); the fringe stays at its straight-time amount. Apprentices in a registered program can be paid the program's percentage of the rate (29 CFR 5.5(a)(4)). Complaints go to the Wage and Hour Division: 1-866-487-9243, or dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints.
How is California prevailing wage pay calculated?
A prevailing wage rate has two parts. One is the basic hourly rate, your wage. The other is employer payments into plans for health, pension, vacation and so on. Your employer can pay part of the plan money to you as wages instead, as long as your wage isn't below the basic hourly rate and wages plus plan payments add up to the total (Public Works Manual, sections 4.2.1 and 4.2.2). So we add your wage and the plan payments you entered and compare that to the total.
We take the training amount out of the published total before comparing. Training money goes to the California Apprenticeship Council or an apprenticeship program, and DIR says training funds "cannot be paid to the workers unless it is a non-apprenticeable craft" (DAS public works page). You won't see it on your stub, and that is normal.
Plan payments are owed on every hour, overtime included (Public Works Manual, section 4.2.3). For overtime, DIR says hours over 8 in a day and 40 in a week are paid at "not less than one-and-one-half times the basic rate of pay," and that each determination sets the exact overtime rates (DIR FAQ, question 14). We use the daily overtime and double-time rates from your classification. Saturday, Sunday and holiday rates can be higher, so check the determination if you worked those days.
Apprentices are paid from separate apprentice wage sheets that DIR publishes by craft, county and program (DIR apprentice wage sheets), so this check doesn't compare apprentice pay.