California prevailing wage

State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies

• California has its own prevailing-wage law (Labor Code §§1720–1784), applying to public-works contracts over $1,000, administered by California Dept. of Industrial Relations (DIR), Office of Policy, Research and Legislation.
• The U.S. Department of Labor has 28 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 58 California counties as of 2026-09-03 (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
• Market context: the average private construction worker in California earned $1,801/week (≈ $45.02/hour) in Q1 2026, rank #8 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.

Applies to public works over $1,000 (Labor Code §1771); the DIR Director sets rates, issued twice a year.

How to find the required rate

1. State or locally funded project: use the rate schedules from California Dept. of Industrial Relations (DIR), Office of Policy, Research and Legislation - official California prevailing-wage portal.
2. Federally funded project: find the county in the California determination index and open the official SAM.gov document for your construction type.
3. Read the classification line - base rate plus fringe (how to read a determination); compute totals and overtime with the calculator.

Federal determinations at a glance

Building: 15 · Heavy: 14 · Highway: 14 · Residential: 12 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the California wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 74 active SCA determinations for California.

Recently revised determinations

• CA20260029 (rev 2) - modified 2026-09-03, Residential
• CA20260028 (rev 2) - modified 2026-09-03, Residential
• CA20260019 (rev 6) - modified 2026-09-03, Residential

All recent updates →

What construction actually pays here

Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in California at $1,801/week (+5.1% YoY) in Q1 2026 - details and history on California construction wages.

Learn the system

What a prevailing wage is · The Davis-Bacon Act · Certified payroll · Fringe calculator

Data on this page is from U.S. government public-domain sources - free to reuse with credit and a link to prevailingwageindex.com.