THE NEW YEAR BRINGS NEW RESOLUTIONS — and a slight increase in pay for minimum wage workers in California.

Eight cities in Santa Clara County already pay workers above the hourly rate, which in 2026 is $16.90, up 40 cents from the state’s 2025 minimum wage. Business owners are bracing for an uptick in costs and workers say the increase isn’t enough, while others already making more than minimum wage are still struggling.

In San Jose — where minimum wage is inching up 50 cents to $18.45 an hour — that only adds up to an additional $1,040 a year for someone working 40 hours a week, while the state’s 40-cent increase amounts to an additional $832 a year.

The downtown Amazon shipping center starts its workers at $19 an hour.

But Amar Mistry, an Amazon customer service associate, said the $2.4 trillion retail behemoth could be paying substantially more. He won’t be seeing an increase in pay unless he sticks around for at least half a year to a year, he said.

“They should raise (wages) more, especially in this area,” Mistry, 38, told San José Spotlight. “Fast-food workers get $20 (an hour).”

One single adult needs to make at least $35.28 an hour to earn a livable wage in Silicon Valley, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. That’s more than double the state’s minimum rate and roughly $73,382 a year. Last year, $32.87 was needed for a single adult with no children, or roughly $68,379 annually.

Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, causing more people to find ways to stretch their dollars. California continues to have the highest poverty rate in the nation at 17.7%, according to research nonprofit California Budget and Policy Center. And with the federal government slashing social safety nets, it’s expected more people will fall into poverty.

Once a trailblazer in increasing minimum wage, San Jose now lags behind six cities in Santa Clara County. Mountain View has the highest minimum wage, at $19.70 an hour.

Ivette Foster, co-owner and store manager of Hammer & Lewis Clothiers in San Jose, said when minimum wage goes up, so does everything else, including the cost of electricity, gas and food.

“It will affect me because my bills are going to be higher. It’s going to affect the whole downtown,” Foster told San José Spotlight.

The men’s vintage clothing store has been around since 1920 and sells everything from shiny dress shoes, colorful ties, fedora hats to dazzling suits from classic brands such as Stacey Adams, Mazari, Pendleton and more.

“We already have to increase prices,” Foster, 72, said. “We try not to, but it’s not going to work.”

‘Inflation affects everyone’

Eric Esparza, an hourly employee at downtown bar and vegan restaurant Good Karma, said businesses should apply increases for hourly workers across the board. As the kitchen lead, Esparza gets about $20 an hour. He doesn’t know when or if he will ever get a wage bump.

“(The increase is) good, but then I almost feel like owners and business owners should also be required to up everyone else’s pay as well, which sucks for the business,” Esparza, 36, told San José Spotlight. “Inflation affects everyone, not just minimum wage (workers).”

Esparza relies on tips and works another job. He also splits the bills with his wife. As a Bay Area native, he said he would want to live somewhere more affordable like Nevada.

“You gotta go where the work is, or have your own business,” he told San José Spotlight. “That’s the goal right there.”

Contact Joyce Chu at joyce@sanjosespotlight.com or @joyce_speaks on X.

This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.