# California — State prevailing wage law applicability thresholds

For California, has a prevailing wage law is Yes; dollar threshold is all public works projects; covered project types is public works projects; administering agency is Department of Industrial Relations, recorded from its source on 2026-08-13.

- **State:** California _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Has a prevailing wage law:** Yes _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Dollar threshold:** all public works projects
- **Covered project types:** public works projects _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Administering agency:** Department of Industrial Relations _(verified: appears in the quote below)_

## What the source says

> public works projects must be paid the prevailing wage determined by the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations, according to the type of work and location of the project. The prevailing wage rates are usually based on rates specified in collective bargaining agreements. Resources <https://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/DPreWageDetermination.htm> Prevailing wage rates <http://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/pwappwage/PWAppWageStart.asp> Apprentice prevailing wage rates <https://www.dir.ca.gov/OPRL/statistics_and_databases.html> Labor Research and Statistics Office (within OPRL) For more information and to find exact legal definitions and language please see the <http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpandedbranch.xhtml?tocCode=LAB&division=2.&title=&part=7.&chapter=1.&article=> Public Works Chapter of the <http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codesTOCSelected.xhtml?tocCode=LAB&tocTitle=+Labor+Code+-+LAB=> California Labor Code .

## Source

- https://www.dir.ca.gov/public-works/prevailing-wage.html

Last verified: 2026-08-13. Review by: 2027-08-13.
Part of [State prevailing wage law applicability thresholds](https://referencesource.org/state-prevailing-wage-thresholds/).