\u00a05.2% higher than two years ago, according to federal data.<\/a><\/p>\nWorkers currently earning the city\u2019s living wage of $26.73 per hour are expected to see increases of roughly $0.70 to $1.00 per hour effective July 1, with no backpay. City staff said the budget impact would be minimal, as most contractors are already paid above the new floor.<\/p>\n
San Jose, which various surveys consistently rank among the least affordable cities in the nation, had been calculating its living wage using its own formula rather than the Consumer Price Index \u2014 the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics measure that tracks everyday goods and services including housing, food, transportation, medical care and clothing.<\/p>\n
Prior to the pandemic, the city relied on a consultant\u2019s living wage calculation using the federal poverty rate for a family of three, adjusted upward to account for San Jose\u2019s higher cost of living. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that consultant changed its methodology, producing numbers city staff said they could no longer explain or verify. The disconnect became clear last year, when the formula failed to produce any wage adjustment despite rising prices.<\/p>\n
The formula was \u201creally not understandable and unclear to all of us,\u201d said Matt Loesch, the city\u2019s public works director, describing the old formula. \u201cWe wanted to make it clear and make it transparent. So we studied a little bit of what\u2019s going on in other jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Jose reviewed 21 jurisdictions \u2014 including Oakland and San Francisco \u2014 all of which use the Consumer Price Index. The council voted to adopt the Bay Area CPI standard, the same index San Jose\u2019s Mineta International Airport has used since 2010.<\/p>\n
The city said it will no longer its old formula and just apply the standard price index to future adjustments.<\/p>\n
Despite the council adopting the airport\u2019s formula, workers at Mineta Airport earn significantly less, said an attendee at the meeting. Any pay increases for airport workers would be a separate discussion, officials said.<\/p>\n
The resolution drew support from labor advocates who said the old system had left workers behind.<\/p>\n
Vanessa Tapia of the South Bay Labor Council said the city\u2019s living wage had failed to keep pace, with the cost of living rising more than 20% while wages climbed only about 15%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat gap has real consequences for workers providing vital city services who are already struggling to afford basic needs,\u201d Tapia said. \u201cIn July 2025, the city set the cost of living adjustment to zero \u2014 a zero increase in the middle of an affordability crisis is just absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s support was unanimous and no one spoke against the measure. Councilmember Peter Ortiz, who represents East San Jose, said the new approach would give workers and employers a predictable standard.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt its core, this conversation is about creating a more consistent and understandable approach to adjusting our living wage year over year,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cWhen we rely on clear, transparent metrics such as CPI, we give workers, employers and the public a predictable system that accurately reflects the cost of living in our region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Bien Doan echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cContract workers deserve a fair, livable wage,\u201d Doan said. \u201cThere should be no debate about that. They do essential work to keep our city running every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To help city contractors keep up with the Bay Area\u2019s high cost of living, San Jose will now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[56211,121453,121451,121456,121454,88,121452,5500,90,121449,121450,89,121455],"class_list":{"0":"post-282813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area-cost-of-living","9":"tag-bay-area-wages","10":"tag-consumer-price-index-living-wage","11":"tag-cpi-wage-adjustment","12":"tag-living-wage-calculator","13":"tag-san-jose","14":"tag-san-jose-city-contractors","15":"tag-san-jose-city-council","16":"tag-san-jose-headlines","17":"tag-san-jose-living-wage","18":"tag-san-jose-living-wage-2026","19":"tag-san-jose-news","20":"tag-san-jose-worker-pay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}