California employees who make minimum wage now earn $16.90 per hour as of Jan. 1.
In 2025, minimum wage workers made $16.50 per hour. The 40 cent increase reflects the state’s annual wage adjustments to accommodate rising inflation rates. California is one of 19 states to raise minimum wage this year, according to the Labor Law Center.
Many Cal Poly students make minimum wage, often through on-campus, part-time jobs to support themselves through college.
“This job helps me a lot with my expenses like groceries and housing,” said Eduardo Balcaceres, a sophomore industrial engineering major who works at 1901 Kitchen.
Owen Katz, a student assistant at the Mustang Success Center, said that having an on-campus job affects him and his friends daily.
“Everything I make from my job, I spend on something important,” the sophomore mechanical engineering major added.
Annual adjustments are anywhere from a zero to 3.5% increase in pay.
“It might not seem like it goes a long way, but at the end of the day, it could be more money that us students can take into effect,” said Alonso Soto about the 40 cent increase.
Soto is a sophomore studying plant science and works for the Kennedy Library Research Help Desk.
In the 2024 California General Election, just over 50 percent of voters rejected Proposition 32, a measure that would have raised minimum wage to $18 per hour in 2026.
“I think that it’s a good limit because it’s not too excessive,” said Soto. “I feel like when it rises to a certain level, everything else gets expensive.”
This year’s minimum wage increase did not require any unplanned funding for Cal Poly, according to Keegan Koberl, the Executive Communications Specialist. The university and its affiliates, Cal Poly Partners and ASI, keep wage changes in consideration when budget planning.