What's The Difference Between Minimum Wage and Living Wage in San Francisco?

San Francisco has the highest minimum wage in the nation and its living wage is even higher — although not for long.

Minimum wage rose to $12.25 an hour on May 1, 2015, in the City by the Bay, where the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports the living wage is $12.83 an hour. But San Francisco voters passed Proposition J on November 2014 raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour by July 2018, according to Office of Labor Standards Enforcement of the City and Council of San Francisco.

Urgent: Do You Think the Minimum Wage Should Be Raised?

A living wage is a wage high enough for an employee to meet their basic needs. The needs of each employee differ based on marital status, number of children, debt and other cost-of-living considerations, that website said.

According to MIT, living wage in San Francisco is $12.83 an hour for a single person, $26.03 for an adult with one child, $29.66 for an adult with two children, $37.20 for an adult with three children, $19.17 for two adults, $24.13 for two adults and a child, $25.44 for two adults with two children and $31.20 for two adults with three children.

Meanwhile, Propostion J that was passed in November 2014 calls for the minimum wage in San Francisco to increase annually depending upon the Consumer Price Index. On May 1, 2015, the minimum wage will increase from $11.05 to $12.25. On July 1, 2016 it will increase again to $14 an hour and by July 1, 2018 it will be at $15, reports the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Vote Now: How Do You Feel About the Minimum Wage?

According to Fox KTVU, the city of Oakland raised its minimum wage to $12.25 on March 2, 2015 making Oakland and San Francisco tied to having the highest minimum wage in the nation.

The nation's highest minimum wage mandated in any municipality is set to effect July 1, 2015, in Emeryville, Calif., where the required base pay will be $12.25 an hour for companies with 55 employees or less and $14.44 an hour for companies with more than 55 employees, reports CBS SanFran.

The minimum wages in San Francisco, Oakland and Emeryville are all well above both the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour, and the state of California minimum wage, which is $9 an hour.

Tell Us: Should the Government Raise the Minimum Wage?

Related Stories:

• What's The Difference Between Minimum Wage and Living Wage in Washington, DC?

• 4 Benefits Minimum Wage Proponents Cite to Raise It