Oakland
Oakland's minimum wage is $17.34 an hour, effective January 1, 2026, and the city says it applies to employers with employees who work 2 or more hours in a week in Oakland. That's above California's $16.90 state rate, and as of October 21, 2026 the city's page doesn't announce a 2027 Oakland figure. The same city law requires paid sick leave that accrues at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
For a cleaning company with jobs inside Oakland, the city's wage and sick leave rules sit on top of California's, and the city adds an annual business tax of its own. This page covers the Oakland rate, sick leave accrual, the business tax, how California sales tax treats cleaning, and what it all means for your books. Payroll registration and the employee test are on bookkeeping for California cleaning businesses.
Since January 1, 2026, the Oakland minimum wage has been $17.34 an hour. The city's Department of Workplace and Employment Standards says it applies to employers with employees who work 2 or more hours in a week in Oakland, under Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 5.92. As of October 21, 2026, that page doesn't post a 2027 Oakland rate. Which of your crews and jobs the ordinance reaches is a question for the city or an employment attorney.
Statewide, California's minimum wage is $16.90 an hour, and the Department of Industrial Relations announced on August 13, 2026 that it goes 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)
Oakland's minimum wage and sick leave law, Measure FF in Oakland Municipal Code Chapter 5.92, requires paid sick leave that accrues at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. The city's page doesn't state a cap or carryover rule, so this page doesn't cover those.
The city's Finance Department says anyone who conducts business in Oakland must file and pay an annual business tax and hold an Oakland Business Tax Certificate. The page says that includes businesses located outside Oakland that operate in the city. Whether your company owes it, and how much, is a question for the city or your CPA.
Source: City of Oakland, Finance Department (Business Tax), Who is required to pay business tax?
Under California's general service-enterprise rule, Regulation 1501, residential and commercial cleaning aren't taxable. That's the general rule applied to cleaning, not a ruling about it, since no California Department of Tax and Fee Administration source naming house cleaning or janitorial service was found. The same rule makes the cleaner the consumer of its supplies, so tax is owed on the supplies it buys. The conditions are on my California sales tax page.
Source: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Regulation 1501, Service Enterprises Generally
Oakland ties two numbers to hours: the wage floor and the sick leave balance. I record wages at the rate each person is actually paid and keep sick leave balances by employee, so every single hour on a balance ties back to hours on a timesheet, and if anyone asks where a number came from, the answer is already in the books. The annual business tax gets its own expense account instead of disappearing into overhead, and supplies go in at their full cost, tax included. More on how I set up payroll for cleaning businesses.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep wages, sick leave, and the business tax recorded; tax questions go to your CPA, and coverage questions go to the city or an employment attorney.
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 Oakland 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
Oakland work brings a $17.34 floor and sick leave that accrues at 1 hour for every 30 worked, and both depend on hours payroll has to capture. Wages go in at what each person is actually paid, sick leave balances are kept by employee, and the annual business tax gets its own expense line. Book a short call below and tell me how your Oakland crews are tracked today.
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
Running crews in Oakland and not sure your sick leave balances add up? Tell me how you track them today. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
