Emeryville
Emeryville's minimum wage is $20.34 an hour for all businesses, effective July 1, 2026, for employees who perform at least two hours of work in a calendar week in the city, and no 2027 rate is posted. The city's paid sick leave caps turn on headcount in Emeryville: 55 or fewer employees, or 56 or more. Measure BB, on the November 3, 2026 ballot, would move most business license taxes to gross receipts starting January 1, 2027, if voters approve it.
Emeryville puts three things in front of a cleaning company: a wage rate dated July 1 rather than January 1, sick leave caps set by how many people you employ in the city, and a business license tax that would be measured differently in 2027 if a ballot measure passes. This page covers each one and what it means for your books. Payroll registration and the employee test are on my California page.
The City of Emeryville's 2026 poster lists $20.34 an hour, effective July 1, 2026, for all businesses, and the city's table shows small and large businesses on the same rate since July 1, 2019, apart from small independent restaurants, which reached that rate on July 10, 2019. The hours threshold comes from the city's FAQ, last updated December 2023: the ordinance covers an employee who performs at least two hours of work in a calendar week within Emeryville. The city's web page itself doesn't state that threshold. No July 1, 2027 rate is posted. Coverage questions go to the city or an employment attorney.
Source: City of Emeryville, Minimum Wage Ordinance (no page date shown)
Source: City of Emeryville, Minimum Wage FAQs (updated December 2023)
California's rate is $16.90 from January 1, 2026, and the Department of Industrial Relations announced on August 13, 2026 that it rises to $17.40 on January 1, 2027.
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, Labor Commissioner, Minimum Wage FAQ
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, News Release 2026-66 (August 13, 2026)
Under the Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, EMC 5-37, an employer may cap accrual at no less than 48 hours if it's a small business, meaning 55 or fewer employees in Emeryville, and at no less than 72 hours if it has 56 or more. Any accrual schedule has to reach at least 48 or 72 hours, and the 2026 poster carries the same figures. Unused paid sick leave carries over to the next year, though it can be capped. The city's materials don't state an accrual rate per hours worked; the FAQ ties the minimum to California's Healthy Workplace, Healthy Families Act of 2014.
Source: City of Emeryville, Minimum Wage FAQs (updated December 2023)
The city's business license page says: "All businesses operating in and out of the City of Emeryville are required to obtain and maintain a business license." Measure BB, on the ballot for Tuesday, November 3, 2026, would move most business license taxes to gross receipts beginning January 1, 2027, if voters approve it. The rates the city lists are 0.3% for Services, Contractor, and Unclassified businesses and a flat $25 at $100,000 or less in gross receipts, with that threshold adjusted each year for inflation. The ballot label describes rates up to 0.4%, with other categories at 0.1% and 0.4%.
As of October 21, 2026, the city's page reports no result, so Measure BB is a pending ballot measure and nothing more. Which category a cleaning company would fall into isn't stated; that's a question for the city.
Source: City of Emeryville, Business License (no page date shown)
The wage and the sick leave rules are on the books today, so payroll carries them as they stand: wages at what each person was actually paid, sick leave balances by employee, and your Emeryville headcount noted next to the cap you've chosen. Measure BB can wait. Nothing to book yet. No rate has changed. If it passes, most business license taxes would be measured by gross receipts, and that's a figure the books should already produce cleanly. More on payroll for cleaning businesses.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep wages, sick leave, and the license recorded; which sick leave tier fits your company is a question for the city or an employment attorney, and the license tax, now or under Measure BB, is a question for the city or your CPA.
Rules checked against the sources above as of October 20, 2026. Rates and rules change; confirm current figures with the agency or your CPA.
About Figure Eight Financial
Figure Eight Financial is Dave Gordon’s bookkeeping practice for residential and commercial cleaning companies. I work with owners in Emeryville and across the country, and I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor.
Before bookkeeping I studied computer science at Penn State and spent a career at IBM as an engineer, so I build the books as a system: data comes in once, lands in the right place, and ties back to a statement. I’m a bookkeeper, not a CPA or Enrolled Agent. I keep the books your CPA works from, and the tax decisions stay with your CPA.
Credentials and memberships reported by Figure Eight Financial.
More about DaveHow I Help
In Emeryville the sick leave cap depends on how many people you employ in the city, so headcount is kept alongside each employee's balance. Wages are recorded at what each person was actually paid, and the business license sits on its own line whatever happens with Measure BB. Book a short call below and let's look at your Emeryville payroll.
The core service. Transactions recorded and categorized, every account reconciled so the books and the bank agree, and monthly reports that arrive explained, split by residential and commercial and sliceable per contract.
The full picture of how this works for a cleaning companyFor the months where nothing got entered at all. I fill in the missing periods from the ground up, pulling bank feeds, statements, and receipts until every month has a complete set of records.
How catch-up bookkeeping worksFor books that exist but can’t be trusted. I audit what’s there, fix the unreconciled accounts, duplicate transactions, and wrong categories, and tie every balance back to a statement.
How cleanup bookkeeping worksYour crews paid on time, every pay period, with each payroll run recorded in the books so labor shows up against the jobs it belongs to.
How payroll worksRecurring invoices that match your contracts, an aging report you can trust, and follow-up on slow payers handled by a process instead of your evenings. Built for net-60 commercial accounts.
How invoicing and receivables workA file built right for a cleaning company from day one, or rebuilt after the DIY version drifts, and then I teach you to run it. I’m a Certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, and this is honestly my favorite part of the job.
How a proper setup worksWe start with a short call about your business and where the books stand. The first conversation doesn’t cost anything.
I take a look at what you’ve got, your QuickBooks file, your spreadsheet, whatever exists.
You get a written proposal with the price, so the decision is yours with the number in hand.
Let's Connect
Cleaning in Emeryville and curious what a gross receipts figure would look like in your books? Send me last year's numbers. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
