According to a press release sent by Mayor Ed Lee's office Thursday night, San Francisco's current minimum wage of $10.74 per hour will rise to $11.05 per hour as of January 1, 2015.

The increase, which is the result of a plan approved by voters in 2003 to routinely up the wage based on the consumer price index, is unrelated to November's ballot measure intended to gradually bump San Francisco’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 2018.

That said, Lee's office still used the announcement of the annual increase as an opportunity to stump for Proposition J, saying “...I worked closely with Supervisor Jane Kim and the entire Board of Supervisors and with large and small businesses, nonprofits, labor groups, and those who represent working families to bring a fair and responsible consensus measure to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This November, we have the opportunity to raise the minimum wage in a way that supports our businesses, protects our economic recovery, and boosts wages for working people.”

San Francisco's minimum wage is presently the highest in the country, but moves to increase wages in other cities might knock us from the #1 spot. For example, Seattle's city council has agreed to raise their minimum wage to $15/hour, Washington, DC is mulling an increase to $11.50, and there's talk in San Diego's City Hall to rase their rate to $13.09. Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage remains $7.25/hour, and California's is $9, with an increase to $10 scheduled for 2016.