Minimum wage in China 2026: provincial rates up to CNY 2,740

How China's provincial tiers work

Under the MOHRSS Minimum Wage Provisions, each provincial-level government sets its own rates and must review them at least every two to three years. Most provinces have two to four tiers: the capital and richer cities get the top rate, smaller cities and counties a lower one. You pay the rate for the city where the job is based, so a Guangdong hire in Shenzhen and one in a smaller Guangdong city can have different floors.

Two rates exist side by side. The monthly rate covers full-time employees. The hourly rate covers part-time (non-full-time) work. They are set separately and are not meant to be converted into each other, so do not divide the monthly figure by hours to price a part-time job.

Shanghai's rate also excludes the employee's own social insurance and housing fund contributions. A Shanghai worker on the minimum must take home CNY 2,740 after those deductions, which most other cities do not require.

Other minimum wage rates in China

China minimum wage history

The highest rates by province and city

Shanghai leads on the monthly rate and Beijing on the hourly rate. The table combines the official notices for Shanghai and Shenzhen, a China News Service report for Beijing, and press figures for the other provinces from a Central News Agency (CNA) report of the national MOHRSS table.

One figure does not line up: CNA lists Guangdong's top tier at CNY 2,680, while Shenzhen's own March 2025 notice sets CNY 2,520 for Shenzhen. Guangdong may have revised its tiers since; we have not confirmed it, so check the current notice for your city before you set pay.

What a Shanghai minimum-wage hire really costs

Chinese social insurance runs on a contribution base with a floor and a ceiling. From July 1, 2026, Shanghai's floor is CNY 7,546 a month and its ceiling CNY 37,731, according to secondary sources (Eastmoney and a government account post on The Paper) rather than the bureau's own notice, so a worker on CNY 3,800 is charged as if they earned CNY 7,546. The employer pays pension 16%, medical insurance including maternity 9% (8.5% basic plus a 0.5% local supplement, March 2026 to February 2027), unemployment 0.5% and work injury from 0.2%, plus a housing fund of 5% to 7% that the employee matches.

So the real monthly cost of a Shanghai minimum-wage employee is about twice the headline. Beijing works the same way, with a CNY 7,270 base floor from July 2026 and a housing fund of 5% to 12%. For the full Shanghai stack on a higher salary, see the China employer of record guide, and compare countries in the employer cost index.

When the rates change

There is no national review date. Shanghai's current CNY 2,740 dates from July 1, 2025; the earlier rates in our research (CNY 2,590 from July 1, 2021 and CNY 2,690 from July 1, 2023) were not re-read from the Shanghai notices for this update. Beijing moved on September 1, 2025, according to China News Service, and Shenzhen on March 1, 2025. None of the three had announced a 2026 change in the sources we read in October 2026. The social insurance base floor, by contrast, is reset each year (from July 1 in both Shanghai and Beijing in 2026), so your cost can rise in a year when the minimum wage does not.

Hiring in China without your own entity

A foreign company needs a Chinese entity to employ staff directly. An employer of record can hire on its own entity and run social insurance and housing fund filings city by city. Published EOR fees run from $99 a month (Native Teams, whose help center says EUR 99) to $699 (Oyster), checked October 16 and 18, 2026; Deel lists $599. See what EOR providers charge. Exits are costly in China: economic compensation is one month's wages per full year of service under the Labor Contract Law, so ask how the provider handles terminations before you sign.

For pay levels above the floor, see average wages in China. Hong Kong sets its own statutory rate: see the Hong Kong minimum wage. Model a hire with the employee cost calculator.