California raises minimum wage to $17.40, the highest in the nation, as Newsom takes a jab at Trump

California will raise its minimum wage to $17.40 per hour starting Jan 1 next year, the highest in the United States, a move Newsom frames as helping working families amid high living costs and as a jab at federal wage stagnation; MIT estimates a two-adult, two-child household needs about $36.38 per hour to cover basics, and several states already exceed the federal minimum of $7.25.