California household chefs: what changes on 1 January 2027
A briefing for households in California and the business managers who look after them.
On 1 January 2027 California’s minimum wage rises to $17.40 an hour for every employer, and with it the salary a household employee must earn before they can be treated as exempt from overtime, which becomes $72,384 a year. For a household that employs a private chef, the second figure is the one worth understanding, because it is often read as settling more than it does.
The two figures
- Minimum wage: $17.40 an hour from 1 January 2027, up from $16.90, as announced by the Department of Industrial Relations in August 2026.
- Exempt salary: $72,384 a year, or $1,392 a week. The law sets it at twice the state minimum wage for full-time work (Labor Code 515(a)), so it moves whenever the minimum wage does.
Some cities set a higher minimum wage of their own, and many adjust it on 1 July rather than 1 January. If a role pays close to the state figure, your city’s own ordinance is the one to check.
Salary and overtime
Paying a chef more than $72,384 makes them eligible to be treated as exempt from overtime, but whether they are exempt depends on the work itself. The executive exemption, for instance, requires a role that is mainly spent managing and that regularly directs two or more other staff. A chef whose days are spent cooking for the family does not usually meet that test at any salary, and remains owed overtime under Wage Order 15 however generous the pay.
The hours rules themselves do not change in 2027:
- A chef who goes home each evening is paid one and a half times the regular rate after eight hours in a day or forty in a week, and double after twelve hours in a day.
- A chef who lives in the home works a span of no more than twelve hours with at least three of them free, has twelve consecutive hours off in each twenty-four, and is paid overtime for work past nine hours in a day, during scheduled time off, or on a sixth or seventh day.
Overtime is paid at one and a half times the chef’s own regular rate rather than the minimum wage, so on a senior salary each extra hour carries real weight. Our guide to live-in chef hours sets out the schedule in full.
Meals and lodging
Where a voluntary written agreement counts meals or a room toward the minimum wage, the Department of Industrial Relations sets the maximum credits each year, and the 2027 figures have not yet been published. They matter only where pay sits close to the minimum wage.
Before 1 January
- If the household treats a salaried chef as exempt, confirm the salary is at least $72,384 and ask your payroll provider whether the duties of the role support the exemption.
- For a chef whose work is mainly cooking, keep a record of hours and pay overtime as Wage Order 15 sets it, whatever the salary.
- Review the rate of any part-time or event staff paid near the minimum wage, including your city’s rate where it is higher.
When you are ready to begin a search, tell us about your household.
This briefing is general information, not legal advice. Your payroll provider or employment adviser should confirm how these rules apply to your household.