The article deals with regional aspects of the social policy in the Irkutsk region. The focus is on social protection and social guarantees, the key indicator of which is the minimum living wage. The dynamic pattern of this index (1995–2014) is analyzed and the regional transformation peculiarities of its calculation are shown. Low minimum living wage due to its role in determining other social standards led to the growth of social tension among the people of the northern areas of the region expressed in increasing migration flow and poor assessments of the authorities’ efforts.