Southern California raises beat inflation for 8th straight quarter

Southern California pay raises started 2025 by outpacing inflation, a winning streak that now runs two years long.
That’s what my trusty spreadsheet found when examining the federal Employment Cost Index, which tracks what employers pay for wages and salaries in 15 major U.S. job markets. That pay benchmark was compared with the U.S. Consumer Price Index.
The statistics show pay in an area comprising Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties rose at a 4.4% annual