California changed its contractor rule on 1 January 2025 and most people have not caught up. The unlicensed-work exemption rose from $500 to $1,000 — but only if the job needs no permit and the person hires nobody, and either of those breaks it at any price. On costs, this is an expensive state across the board: auto labor averages $156 an hour against $132 nationally, attorneys $344, and California has the highest denture average in the country at $2,455.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Auto repair shop labor rateCalifornia average | $156 per hour |
| Attorney hourly rateCalifornia average | $344 per hour |
| Full traditional dentureCalifornia average | $2,455 per arch |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
Where a source publishes figures state by state, this page shows the figure for this state rather than a national average. Where no state-level source exists, it shows the national range and the local factors that move a job within it. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
AB 2622 took effect on 1 January 2025 and raised the threshold below which a person may take construction work without a Contractors State License Board license from $500 to $1,000. That is the part that gets repeated. The conditions are the part that matters.
The higher threshold applies only where the work needs no permit and the unlicensed person employs nobody on the project. CSLB's own bulletin is blunt about the consequence: if the work requires any permit, or the unlicensed person hires workers, "a license is required – even if the project is less than $1,000."
Because the permit question is answered by your city rather than by the invoice, the same small job can need a licensed contractor on one side of a boundary and not the other. An unlicensed person advertising work up to $1,000 has to disclose in the advertisement that they are not licensed.
Practically, treat "$1,000" as a ceiling on the smallest, simplest, permit-free jobs done by one person, and treat everything else as licensed work. If someone quotes you $900 for something that touches gas, electrical, structure or drainage, the price is not the issue — the permit is.
California sits above the national figure on every priced service this directory tracks, and at or near the top of the country on more than one of them. The table above carries the current numbers with the month each was checked.
None of that is a reason to expect a bad deal. It is the number to have in your head before the first quote, so you can tell an outlier from a market rate rather than hunting for a cheap one.
For anything construction-adjacent, check the CSLB license before you sign, and check two things beyond it existing: that the classification covers the work in your contract, and that the license is active rather than lapsed. CSLB publishes both.
Ask whether the job needs a permit, and get the answer before you compare quotes rather than after. A quote that assumes no permit and a quote that includes one are not the same quote.
On any trade, ask what the hourly rate covers. In auto repair the hourly figure is labor only: parts, shop supplies and disposal are separate, and some shops bill diagnostic time separately while others credit it against the repair.
For legal work, ask about experience before you ask about rate. The spread by seniority is far wider than the spread by state, and a $600-an-hour partner doing work a $200-an-hour associate could do is the most common way a legal bill runs away.
For almost everything. AB 2622 raised the unlicensed threshold from $500 to $1,000 on 1 January 2025, but only where the work requires no permit and the unlicensed person employs nobody on the project. CSLB is explicit that if either condition fails, a license is required even if the job is under $1,000.
About $156 an hour on the state average, against a national figure of about $132. That is labor only. Parts, shop supplies and disposal fees are separate, and diagnostic time varies: some shops bill it separately, some credit it against the repair.
It is at or near the top of every priced service tracked here: $156 an hour for auto labor, $344 an hour for attorneys, and the highest denture average in the country at $2,455. The useful move is not to look for a cheap outlier but to know the market rate before the first quote.
No. Verified here means one specific thing: someone at the business replied to an email we sent to the address on the listing. A business can be listed, accurate and perfectly good without having replied yet, and the listing says which it is.