Marty Bennett
Mar 12, 2025
A marked payday on the calendar represents the upcoming wage increase for Sonoma County workers, as the revised living wage ordinance raises hourly rates to $23.15, effective July 1, 2025.. Ron Stik photo.
In 2021, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors began revising the county living wage ordinance, first passed in 2015. In January, the board raised the living wage rate from $18.10 to $23.15 an hour, effective July 1, 2025. The recent board action completes the four-year revision process. The revised county living wage ordinance covers approximately 1,700 low-wage full-time and part-time workers employed by large county contractors, concessionaires, lessees, and franchisees. The ordinance affects janitors, landscapers, security personnel, park aides, food service workers, mental health employees, and other low-wage workers.
In 2021, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors began revising the county living wage ordinance, first passed in 2015.
In January, the board raised the living wage rate from $18.10 to $23.15 an hour, effective July 1, 2025. The recent board action completes the four-year revision process.
The revised county living wage ordinance covers approximately 1,700 low-wage full-time and part-time workers employed by large county contractors, concessionaires, lessees, and franchisees. The ordinance affects janitors, landscapers, security personnel, park aides, food service workers, mental health employees, and other low-wage workers.
The revised law provides an annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), 12 days of paid sick leave, and a responsible bidder provision mandating that all contractors demonstrate a satisfactory record of compliance with labor, health and safety, and environmental laws. In addition, the revised ordinance expands coverage to the county airport and fairgrounds.
The movement to raise the wage floor, also known as the “Fight for $15,” has evolved over the last two decades in the county.
Sebastopol (2003), Sonoma (2004), and Petaluma (2006) approved living wage ordinances covering city employees and workers for large city contractors. The Petaluma living wage rate is currently $21.24 an hour.
In 2019, four North Bay cities—Sonoma, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and Novato—passed $15-an-hour (by 2020) citywide minimum wage laws with annual COLAs. These laws cover most workers within city limits. The Santa Rosa minimum wage rate is now $17.87 an hour.
North Bay Labor Council Executive Director Jack Buckhorn stated, “Overall, the revised county ordinance is a huge victory and major improvement over the 2015 legislation. The wage rate is now nearly the same as in County of Santa Cruz living wage, and the ordinance is comparable to the best living wage laws passed elsewhere in the state.”
Amanda Carles, a single parent, longtime Sonoma County resident, and home care worker, said, “Increasing my wages by $5 an hour would make a significant difference in my life. I would no longer have to cut food costs to pay for housing and child care. Low-wage workers should not have to make these choices. Everyone deserves a living wage.”
According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, more than 120 cities and counties nationwide have approved living wage ordinances, and 68 cities and counties have passed minimum wage laws. Buckhorn believes that “our grassroots economic justice movement has educated the public about what it costs to make ends meet and has pressured states to boost their minimum wage.”
Since 2016, when California raised the state minimum wage to $15 an hour plus annual COLA (phased in and now $16.50 an hour), 15 states and Washington, D.C., have approved $15 minimum wage laws. Hawaii, in 2022, became the first state to increase the state minimum wage to $18 an hour.
Moreover, the “Fight for $15” has now been transformed into the “Fight for $20” an hour (and more). In 2024, the California Legislature mandated a $20-an-hour minimum wage for the state’s 550,000 fast food workers and a phased-in $25-an-hour minimum wage for health care workers.
The Economic Policy Institute reports that, by 2027, nearly half of all workers will reside in states with at least a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Overwhelmingly, workers affected by state minimum wage increases are youth, immigrants, women, and workers of color.
Despite progress made by the movement to raise the wage floor, 20 states set their minimum wage at the federal rate of $7.25 an hour, which Congress has not increased since 2009.
Moreover, state and local living and minimum wage rates are still well below an actual living wage, particularly in high-cost states like California.
According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, an actual living wage in 2025 in Sonoma County for two parents to support two children is nearly $33 an hour to pay for food, housing, transportation, medical, and child care expenses.
Buckhorn stresses that “despite the attempts by President Trump and corporate elites to suppress wages, our movement for economic, racial, and gender justice is certain to grow.”
Numerous Sonoma County labor, social justice, and environmental organizations have supported the county living wage and minimum wage campaigns. These include the North Bay Labor Council, North Bay Jobs with Justice, North Bay Organizing Project, North Bay Building Trades, SEIU Local 1021, Sonoma County Conservation Action, Sierra Club Sonoma Group, 350 Bay Area, Graton Day Labor Center, and the Sonoma County Democratic Party.