While the minimum wage is a legal mandate (the minimum amount of money per hour a person is allowed to earn under the law), local living wage rates are different. These vary from city to city and are based on the cost of living within that area. The higher the cost of living in an area, the higher local living wage rates will be, regardless of what the minimum wage might be under the law. Employers failing to pay employees at least local living wage rates will be unable to attract top talent and may struggle to hire employees with any but the most basic skills.