Hundreds, if not thousands of hospitality workers in the city of San Diego received a pay raise Wednesday, as the city's Hospitality Minimum Wage Ordinance went into effect.
Approved by the San Diego City Council and signed into law by Mayor Todd Gloria last year, the ordinance raises the minimum wage for some hospitality workers in the city to $25 an hour, phased in over several years.
"For too long, the people who make San Diego the place millions want to visit haven't been able to afford to live in the city they keep running," said City Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera, who authored the legislation. "Today we're delivering on a promise we made to those workers. A worker cleaning rooms at one of our biggest hotels or serving fans at Petco Park is bringing home more for rent, groceries, and their families.
"This didn't happen because corporations decided to do the right thing. It happened because workers organized, refused to be ignored, and demanded this city works for them. I was proud to stand with them, and I'm even prouder to see them get the raise they deserve."
The raise applies to employees who perform at least two hours of work in a work week for a covered hospitality employer within the city, such as hotels with 150 or more rooms, event centers such as Petco Park, Pechanga Arena, the Civic Theatre and the San Diego Convention Center and amusement parks with more than 75 acres operating under agreement with the city.
The higher wage is divided between workers at event centers ($21.06 per hour in 2026, $22 in 2027, $23 in 2028, $24 in 2029 and finally $25 in 2030) and those in hotels and amusement parks ($19 in 2026, $20.50 in 2027, $22 in 2028, $23.50 in 2029 and $25 in 2030). The pay increases will go into effect every July 1.
The measure affects 103 hotels, around 27% of the city's 385 hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast businesses.
"Making San Diego more affordable requires action on many fronts. That's why we're building more housing, creating more opportunity, and supporting policies that help working families keep pace with the rising cost of living," said Mayor Todd Gloria, who signed the ordinance into law in September. "Our tourism industry is one of the cornerstones of San Diego's economy, and today's wage increase helps ensure the workers who welcome millions of visitors each year can better share in that success."
Opposition to the increase came from owners of businesses of all sizes — from multinational hotel chains to small sports rental companies.
Not every entity has to pay the higher wages. San Diego State University, owned by the state of California, is exempt for Viejas Arena and the Cal Coast Credit Union Amphitheatre. The San Diego Zoo as well is exempt from the measure, but SeaWorld San Diego is not.
"Today thousands of workers are earning more, and I am committed to making sure they receive every dollar of it," City Attorney Heather Ferbert said. "Every worker has the right to be paid what the law requires and to speak up without fear of retaliation. With the support of the mayor and council in this last budget, my office will be overseeing and expanding the work of the city's Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement. That means more resources behind enforcement and more support for workers trying to get what they're owed under the law."
The minimum wage for all other workers in San Diego is $17.75 an hour, which took effect Jan. 1, 2026. The city's Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance was approved by voters in 2016, and the minimum wage in San Diego has increased annually since 2019, with each increase tied to the prior year's cost-of-living increase, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
However, the cost of living in San Diego has increased independently of the minimum wage. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator, a single person without children needs to earn $32.88 per hour in the San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad Metropolitan Area to support themselves while working full-time. A two-adult and one-child household would need to earn $50.97 per hour by the same calculator.
When the idea was pitched last summer, one San Diego institution balked at the potential costs.
"The Padres are proud to be a major economic contributor and a committed community partner," said Caroline Perry, chief operating officer of the San Diego Padres. "We pay the highest mandated wage in Major League Baseball through the city's Living Wage Ordinance, which adjusts annually for inflation.
"We believe in fair, competitive wages, but this proposal is too extreme. It would drive up the cost of living, make it harder for San Diegans to attend games, and hurt the local businesses that rely on Petco Park," Perry added.
Brigette Browning, president of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said costs continue to increase and wages should as well.
"A year ago, we won the hospitality $25/hour minimum wage in the city of San Diego because workers deserve to live in the city they help run, not just survive in it," she said. "With costs still rising, this law has brought real relief to thousands of hospitality workers. One job should be enough, and San Diego needs to keep raising the floor for working families."
