Contra Costa is an expensive place to live, and a paycheck that sounds fine can fall short here. The good news is that California law now makes pay much easier to check than it used to be. Here are the numbers to compare against and the rights you have.
Start with the floor
- California minimum wage: $16.90 an hour in 2026.
- Richmond: $19.18 an hour in 2026 for work inside the city limits. See our Richmond guide.
If you are paid less than the minimum that applies where you work, that is not a question of fairness. It is a wage claim.
Then look at what it costs to live here
The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates what a household needs to cover basic costs in each county. For Contra Costa County, its figures (last updated February 15, 2026) are:
- One adult, no children: $33.01 an hour.
- One adult, one child: $62.19 an hour.
- Two adults, one working, no children: $42.87 an hour.
- Two adults, both working, two children: $43.97 an hour for each adult.
Those are estimates of basic costs, not pay targets, but they show why the state minimum does not go far in this county.
Your rights under California’s pay transparency law
California’s Labor Commissioner sets out these rules (Labor Code section 432.3 and related sections):
- Job postings must show pay. An employer with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting. The pay scale is the employer’s good faith estimate of the range it expects to pay.
- You can ask. An applicant can ask for the pay scale of a job they are applying for, and a current employee can ask for the pay scale of their own position.
- No salary history questions. An employer cannot ask about your past pay, with narrow exceptions for public records.
- You can talk about pay. An employer cannot stop you from sharing your own wages or discussing and asking about other employees’ wages.
If an employer breaks these rules, you can file a pay transparency complaint with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office within one year of learning about it.
How to check your own pay
- Compare postings for your job. Because larger employers must post a range, a search for your job title on ContraCostaJobs or other boards shows what local employers say they will pay. Note where your pay falls in those ranges.
- Check public employers. Government jobs publish their pay. The county’s Eligibility Worker I, for example, pays $33.28 to $34.94 an hour, as we cover in our Eligibility Worker guide.
- Ask for your own pay scale. You are entitled to it, and it tells you how much room you have to grow in your current role.
- Take the quiz. Our free Are You Underpaid? quiz takes a few minutes and ends with what to do next.
If you are underpaid
- Bring the posted ranges to your manager and ask what it would take to move up in yours.
- If the answer is no, a job search is your raise. Set up a job alert for your job title so new postings, with their pay, come to you.
- Before an interview, decide the lowest number you will accept, and remember you do not have to say what you earn now.