San Diego
The City of San Diego minimum wage is $17.75 an hour, effective January 1, 2026, and it rises to $18.35 on January 1, 2027. It covers workers who perform at least two hours of work in one work week within the city's boundaries, in all industries and businesses.
San Diego has already published its 2027 rate, so a cleaning company there can plan for January now. This page covers the rate, who it reaches, earned sick leave, a word on California sales tax, and what it means for your books. Payroll registration and the employee test are on the California page.
The San Diego minimum wage has been $17.75 an hour since January 1, 2026. The City Attorney's Office has announced the next step: $18.35 an hour on January 1, 2027. The ordinance applies to all industries and businesses, and it covers workers who perform at least two hours of work in one work week within the geographic boundaries of the City of San Diego.
Source: City of San Diego, news release: hourly minimum wage will increase to $17.75 effective Jan. 1, 2026
Source: City of San Diego, City Attorney's Office, news release on the 2027 minimum wage
Source: City of San Diego, 2027 Minimum Wage Notice
California's statewide rate is $16.90, and it goes to $17.40 on the same January 1, 2027 date. San Francisco sets its own rate as well.
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, Labor Commissioner, Minimum Wage FAQ
Source: California Department of Industrial Relations, News Release 2026-66 (August 13, 2026)
The Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance requires at least 1 hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Employers may limit use to 40 hours in a benefit year, and there's a front-load option of at least 40 hours at the start of each benefit year.
Source: City of San Diego, Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance
Cleaning isn't taxable in California under the general service-enterprise rule in Regulation 1501. That's an inference from the general rule, because no California Department of Tax and Fee Administration source naming house cleaning or janitorial service was found. What the cleaner does owe is tax on the supplies it buys as their consumer. The details are on the California sales tax on cleaning page.
Source: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Regulation 1501, Service Enterprises Generally
A published increase is the easy kind to plan for, because the minimum wage for covered San Diego work goes up on a date you already know. No guesswork. No scramble. One number, one date. We set it up once and move on. I record payroll at the wage you actually pay, and the job profitability estimator shows which jobs still hold up at $18.35.
I'm a bookkeeper, not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent. I keep wages and sick leave recorded; which jobs the city ordinance covers is a question for the city or an employment attorney, and sales tax questions belong with 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 San Diego 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
San Diego's 2027 rate is already published, so the move to $18.35 is on the calendar before the first January payroll. Wages are recorded at what you actually pay, and sick leave balances are kept by employee, whether they accrue at the city's 1-per-30 rate or are front-loaded. Book a short call below and bring the contracts you want to check against the new rate.
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
Want your San Diego job costs updated for $18.35 before January? Send me the contracts you're watching most closely. The first conversation doesn't cost anything.
