California’s Minimum Wage Would Rise to $18 an Hour If Voters Pass Prop. 32

The pay hike would take effect next year, but small employers would be exempt until 2026.

Police watch as fast-food, airport, home care and other workers demonstrate for a higher minimum wage at Los Angeles International Airport during a nationwide "day of disruption" on Nov. 29, 2016. David McNew/Getty Images

Californians will decide whether to raise the statewide minimum wage in November, just months after fast-food workers’ wages were increased to $20 an hour.

The existing minimum wage in California is $16, up from $10.50 in 2017 under a law calling for incremental increases. This year’s ballot initiative, Proposition 32, has proposed raising the state’s minimum wage to $18 per hour in 2025. For employers with fewer than 25 workers, the change would take effect in 2026.