California minimum wage is moving again and this time it directly affects anyone working under Prop 22 including Instacart shoppers. The number that matters is 16.90 per hour, which is the upcoming statewide minimum wage. What matters even more is how Instacart calculates pay on top of that number.
Under Prop 22, Instacart guarantees 120 percent of the local minimum wage for engaged time. Engaged time means the clock starts the moment you accept a batch and ends when the delivery is completed. Waiting for orders does not count. Only active work time is included.
When you take the new minimum wage of 16.90 and apply the 120 percent multiplier, the math is simple.
16.90 × 1.20 = 20.28 per hour
That means once the increase takes effect, Instacart shoppers in California will have a guaranteed earnings floor of 20.28 per hour for engaged time.
On top of that hourly guarantee, Instacart also pays 0.34 per mile for every mile driven from batch acceptance to final drop off. This mileage pay is added separately and is not included in the hourly calculation. It stacks on top.
Tips are also paid on top of everything. Tips do not reduce the hourly guarantee and they do not count against mileage pay. They are extra.
At the end of each week, Instacart runs a weekly adjustment. This is where the guarantee actually matters. If your total earnings for the week including batch pay and mileage fall below what you should have earned at 20.28 per engaged hour, Instacart is required to pay the difference.
For example, if you worked 10 engaged hours in a week, your guaranteed floor would be:
10 × 20.28 = 202.80
If your batch pay plus mileage totaled only 180 for those 10 hours, Instacart would owe you a 22.80 adjustment to bring you up to the guaranteed minimum. Any tips earned sit on top of that total and are not clawed back.
This matters because batch pay alone is often inconsistent. Some batches look good upfront while others clearly do not. The guarantee acts as a backstop. It does not make every batch good, but it ensures your time is not valued below a fixed baseline.
The key takeaway is this. As California minimum wage rises, the Instacart Prop 22 floor rises automatically. At 16.90 minimum wage, the Instacart engaged time guarantee becomes 20.28 per hour, plus 0.34 per mile, plus tips.
This does not mean every hour feels like 20.28 in real time. It means that over the course of the week, Instacart is legally required to make sure your active work time averages out to at least that number.
This is not a bonus. It is a floor. And when the floor rises, the long term math improves whether you notice it immediately or not.