It's really expensive to live in California.

That fact, more than anything, inspired a decade of policy changes in the Capitol to raise the minimum wage for California workers.

California's $16 minimum wage is among the highest in the nation, but whether it's enough for low-wage workers to afford a decent living is still up for debate.

California became the first state to commit to a $15-an-hour minimum wage when then Governor Jerry Brown signed a law that moved up the pay floor from $10.50 in 2017.

That's more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

The law included an inflation adjustment, bringing California's minimum wage to $16 an hour.

In 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two laws that set a higher minimum wage for fast food and healthcare workers.

Fast food workers now earn at least $20 an hour under a law that took effect on April 1st.

Healthcare workers are on a path to earn at least $25 an hour by 2033.

Fast food restaurants such as McDonald's, Chipotle, and Chick-fil-A have raised prices after the new minimum wage law took effect.

Some fast food franchises say they are curbing labor costs by shifting to automated service, such as self-service kiosks, robots in the kitchen, and outsourcing food delivery to apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats.

California's minimum is high enough to ensure that full-time workers earn more than the federal poverty threshold.

With the state's expensive cost of living, it might not be enough to make ends meet.

About 1.3 million California workers are living in poverty in 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's living wage calculator puts the living wage in California at $23.81 for a working couple with one child and $21.24 for a single adult with no children.

For CalMatters, this is Liliana Michelena.