Minimum Wage

At its Regular meeting on March 28, 2016, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 404 establishing a Minimum Wage covering all employees working within the Malibu city limits, regardless of immigration or work status. The ordinance became effective on July 1, 2016.

The ordinance established Malibu Municipal Code (MMC) Chapter 5.36 with the purpose of avoiding wage discrepancies between Malibu and neighboring jurisdictions, keeping Malibu competitive in the job market, helping to ensure that workers in Malibu are paid adequate living wages, and preventing workers from leaving Malibu for higher paying jobs, which also helps reduce traffic on local streets and Pacific Coast Hwy.

CPI AND JULY MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE DETERMINED FOR 2026

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Malibu Municipal Code 
Section 5.36.040, the City of Malibu has determined the year 2026 annual Minimum Wage increase to be 3.7%, for a Minimum Wage of $17.91 effective July 1, 2026, for all employers. Notice is also hereby given that the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W) during the last 12-month period posted for November 2025 and available on January 1, 2026, from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics increased 3.7% for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim statistical region.


Minimum Wage Poster

The City prepares a poster each year for Malibu employers. The posters are available for download and print, and should be printed out and displayed in the same conspicuous and accessible place at all job sites where mandated federal and state labor postings are required to be displayed. 

Origins of Malibu's Minimum Wage

The ordinance originally established a tiered schedule for increases to the minimum wage based on the size of the employer company. 

For all employers with 26 or more employees, annual increases began in 2016, culminating in a $15.00 per hour wage in 2019.

The ordinance provided a one-year delay for employers with 25 or fewer employees, so increases for those employers began July 1, 2017, and increased annually according to the same schedule until reaching $15.00 per hour in 2021.