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- Nearly two-thirds of US workers have held a retail job at some point in their career.
- That includes several CEOs who started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.
- Here are the median wages for workers at several top retail companies, listed from lowest to highest.
Roughly one in 10 workers in the US works in retail.
Widen the view to people who have worked in that industry at some point in their careers, and the number rockets up to six in 10, according to a 2019 report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization.
For many, retail is a first job; for others, it’s a lifelong career.
Several top retail CEOs started out in hourly positions at the companies they now run.
To get a sense of how much retail workers made in 2025, Business Insider used AlphaSense to search the latest proxy statements for median employee pay data that publicly traded firms are required to disclose to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
That means half of a company’s workers earned more than its median employee, and half earned less. The range can vary considerably because many retail companies offer part-time and seasonal work.
For many retail workers, an individual’s annual earnings depended on their hourly wage and the number of hours they worked.
The following list includes 28 top retailers that have filed proxy statements for the 2025 fiscal year, sorted from lowest to highest annual pay.
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Discount chain Ross Stores said more than 85% of its employees work at one of its retail locations, and that the figure fluctuates seasonally.
Last year’s median worker was a part-time hourly associate who earned $10,059.
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Burlington said its median worker was a part-time associate at one of its Burlington stores, earning $10,827 last year.
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Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International employed about 33,700 workers in the US and nearly 20,000 more around the world. The company said its median employee last year was a part-time restaurant worker at a company-owned Burger King in the US, earning $11,075.
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Dick’s Sporting Goods said it had nearly 60,000 employees in the US working for its flagship banner, as well as more than 45,000 Foot Locker employees following its September acquisition.
The company said the median Dick’s employee has been with the company about five years, works about 12 hours a week, and made $11,259 last year.
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Ulta Beauty had 61,223 associates globally last year, including 24 working in Uruguay that were not included in its calculations.
The median worker earned $11,883.
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TJX, the parent company of off-price retail brands like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods, employed around 377,000 people around the world, with roughly 86% of those working in one of the company’s 5,200 stores.
The company’s median worker last year was a part-time hourly associate who earned $14,994.
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Of the fast food parent company Yum Brands, 49,000 employees, about 28,000 were in the US, and 21,000 were overseas.
The median Yum worker was a part-time Taco Bell worker in the US who earned $15,346 last year.
Yum Brands said 90% of its workforce is part-time, and four out of five of its restaurant general managers were promoted from within the company.
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Dollar Tree employed more than 148,000 people last year, of whom about 114,000 worked part-time. The company says its median worker is an hourly associate in the US who made $16,214 last year.
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Starbucks directly employs more workers than most restaurant brands, which typically operate on a franchise model.
Last year, the coffee chain had 367,000 employees across more than 21,000 company-operated stores, nearly half of whom were located outside the US.
The median Starbucks worker was a US-based part-time barista who made $17,279 last year.
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GameStop said it employs roughly 15,000 to 20,000 people, depending on the time of year. Of those, about 5,100 are full-time workers.
The company said its median employee last year was a part-time hourly store worker who averaged 26.5 hours a week and earned $17,376.
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Chipotle employs about 130,000 people around the world, of whom about 125,000 work in one of the chain’s 4,000 restaurants.
The company identified its median employee as a part-time hourly employee in Texas who worked 24 hours a week and earned $17,446 last year.
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Dollar General said the median worker across its 185,811 temporary, part-time, and full-time employees located in the US earned $18,876 last year.
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Fast food giant McDonald’s said the median worker among full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary staff at the end of the year was a restaurant crew employee in Poland, who earned $19,020 last year.
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Rural retailer Tractor Supply Co. employed 51,460 people last year, with about half working part time. The median worker earned $24,376.
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Williams-Sonoma, which also owns Pottery Barn and West Elm, said its median employee last year was a part-time sales associate in Northern California who earned $24,943.
Excluding permanent part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers, it said the median full-time employee earned $53,686 last year.
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Athletic apparel brand Lululemon employed about 39,000 people around the world, with the median worker earning $26,179 last year.
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Wholesale club BJ’s employed around 35,000 workers across about 210 US locations. Its median worker earned $26,797 last year.
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Retail giant Target employed about 400,000 workers, mostly at its fleet of around 2,000 US stores. The median worker was a part-time employee who earned $27,506 last year.
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Walmart is the largest private employer in the US — and the world — with 2.1 million full-time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary associates worldwide.
The median worker made $30,520 last year.
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Best Buy had about 81,000 employees in the US and Canada, as well as a few hundred in China and India. The company said its median North American worker earned $32,018 last year.
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O’Reilly’s media worker, across some 89,339 full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers in the US, earned $33,054 last year.
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Kroger employed more than 400,000 people across its grocery store brands in the US. The company says its median worker was a full-time associate in the Central region who made $34,552 last year.
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Domino’s had nearly 20,000 full-time, part-time, seasonal, or temporary employees globally, including 9,500 in the US.
The pizza chain’s median employee was a part-time delivery driver who worked less than 30 hours a week and made $36,776 last year.
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Lowe’s had 266,000 full-time, part-time, or temporary workers, including about 5,200 employees overseas.
The median worker was a full-time hourly associate in the US who made $37,371 last year.
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Home Depot employed about 472,400 people last year, including nearly 50,000 outside the US.
The median worker was an hourly associate in the US, who made $37,881.
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NAPA parent company Genuine Parts Company said its median worker in 2025 was paid $38,901 last year.
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Amazon’s median employee across its global workforce of full-time, part-time, and permanent workers earned $40,206 last year.
The e-commerce giant said its median full-time US worker made $53,211 last year, up from $47,990 the year before.
Amazon also said its hourly wage in fulfillment roles is more than $30 an hour when healthcare and other benefits are included.
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Costco topped the list with a median worker compensation of $49,186 last year.
The wholesale club employed 336,700 people worldwide, including about 222,000 in the US.
The company also said that more than a third of its workforce is part-time, seasonal, or temporary. Its median full-time worker earned $66,262 last year.