Costco discloses more about pay than any comparable retailer, and it does so in a place most articles never look: its annual filing. Costco states that in March 2025 it "increased the starting wage by $0.50 an hour to at least $20.00 for all entry-level positions in the U.S. and Canada", that it "increased the top of wage scales by $1.00 per hour", and that the average hourly rate for United States hourly employees was "approximately $32.00 per hour" at the end of its 2025 financial year.
On benefit mechanics it publishes far less. There is no published 401(k) match formula, no published health eligibility threshold, and — despite being repeated almost everywhere — no published employee membership benefit of any kind.
Updated September 2026: replaced wage figures dated October 2021 with Costco's current filed figures of at least $20.00 starting and approximately $32.00 average; removed premium share, coverage and retirement percentages that carried no source; marked the employee membership as unconfirmed because Costco publishes nothing about it; added the Teamsters agreement.
Key takeaways
• Starting wage at least $20.00 an hour in the United States and Canada from March 2025, with the top of scale raised by $1.00, both stated in Costco's own annual filing.
• Average United States hourly rate approximately $32.00, per the same filing.
• Eight paid holidays plus one floating holiday, published on Costco's careers site.
• Health cover extends to part-time employees and to spouses, children and domestic partners. The hours threshold is not published.
• The free Executive membership is not a published benefit. No Costco page mentions any employee membership. Every source for it is third-party.
• The Teamsters agreement runs February 2025 to January 2028, covering roughly 18,000 workers across eight locals, with a 22 percent increase in pension contributions.
What does Costco pay?
At least $20.00 an hour to start, and approximately $32.00 an hour on average across United States hourly staff. Both figures come from Costco's own annual filing rather than from a salary aggregator, which makes them unusually solid for this subject.
Costco also states its compensation philosophy in the same document, and it is worth quoting because few employers say it out loud: "our philosophy is not to seek to minimize their wages and benefits". A memo from chief executive Ron Vachris in January 2025, reported at the time, set out the underlying scale, with top-of-scale clerks reaching $31.90 an hour and further $1 increases scheduled for March 2026 and March 2027 affecting 272,000 workers across the United States and Canada.
Whether the March 2026 increase took effect could not be confirmed from any source, so this article does not state that it did. An earlier version of this page carried wage figures explicitly dated October 2021 — $17 for service assistants and $18 for service clerks — on a page last touched in 2025. Those were four years out of date and have been replaced.
Do Costco employees get a free membership?
Costco does not say. Its careers site lists benefits in detail and makes no mention of any employee membership, at any tier, free or discounted. Neither does its employee website page.
Every source asserting a free Executive membership is third-party: personal finance sites, coupon blogs and career aggregators. That does not make it untrue, and employees widely report receiving one. It does mean no page can honestly state it as company policy, and this one no longer does.
That distinction matters more here than it looks. A prospective employee weighing an offer on the strength of a benefit the employer has never confirmed is making a decision on a rumour, and telling them plainly which parts of the package are documented is more useful than repeating the rumour with confidence.
What does Costco publish about health cover and retirement?
On health, Costco states it provides "industry leading healthcare coverage and benefits to full-time and part-time employees with low out-of-pocket premiums and co-pays", covering medical, dental, vision and hearing aids, with spouses, children and domestic partners eligible. Part-time inclusion and domestic partner coverage are both genuinely notable in retail.
What Costco does not publish is the eligibility threshold. There is no stated hours requirement or waiting period on any Costco-owned page. An earlier version of this article stated 180 consecutive days at more than 23 hours a week, and 80 percent versus 90 percent premium coverage for part-time and full-time staff. None of that appears on a Costco source and it has been removed.
The 401(k) is the same story: Costco confirms a plan exists and publishes no match formula anywhere, including in its annual filing. The widely repeated "50 percent of the first $1,000" figure traces to off-domain plan summaries.
Costco does publish the mechanism behind what employees call the Extra Check: "tenured hourly employees receive additional compensation twice a year based on their years of service". It publishes neither the name nor the amounts.
Figure 1. How much of the answer a searcher wants is stated by the employer itself, assessed on 1 September 2026. Costco is unusual in publishing its wages in a regulatory filing while withholding almost all benefit mechanics.
What about the union agreement?
Costco's Teamsters National Master Agreement runs from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2028, and covers roughly 18,000 employees across eight locals in California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. The union describes it as delivering large wage increases, a 22 percent increase in pension contributions and more than forty language improvements, and it raised the lead premium from $1.50 to $2.00 an hour above the top clerk rate.
Those are union figures rather than Costco figures, and they should be attributed that way. Costco's own filing says only that around 5 percent of its employees are represented by unions. The two reconcile: 18,000 against a total of 341,000 is close to 5 percent, which is a useful cross-check no competing page makes.
Separately, Local 174 fleet drivers in Sumner, Washington ratified a three-year agreement in April 2025 that replaced their 401(k) with a defined benefit pension. In a period when private-sector pensions are closing rather than opening, that is genuinely unusual.
How does Costco compare with other large retailers?
On disclosure, favourably. Amazon publishes its employee discount rate and cap; Lowe's publishes its 10 percent; Home Depot's position is that no merchandise discount exists. Costco publishes wages where most publish none, and withholds benefit mechanics where others disclose them.
Costco employed 341,000 people worldwide at the end of its 2025 financial year, with 223,000 in the United States, around 95 percent working in warehouses and distribution, and a stated target of at least half the workforce being full-time. Our Costco teacher discount guide covers the customer-side programme, which is a different question entirely.
Frequently asked questions
What is Costco's starting wage?
At least $20.00 an hour in the United States and Canada, following a $0.50 increase in March 2025, with the top of wage scales raised by $1.00 at the same time. Costco states both in its own annual filing rather than on a careers page.
Do Costco employees get a free membership?
Costco does not publish any employee membership benefit. Its careers site lists benefits in detail without mentioning one. Employees widely report receiving a membership, but because no Costco source confirms it, this article reports it as unconfirmed rather than as policy.
How many hours do you need for Costco health benefits?
Costco does not publish an hours threshold or waiting period. It states only that both full-time and part-time employees are covered, along with spouses, children and domestic partners. Any specific figure circulating comes from employee forums rather than Costco.
What is the Costco 401(k) match?
Costco confirms a 401(k) plan exists and publishes no match formula on any of its own pages or in its annual filing. The figures circulating come from third-party plan summaries and should be verified directly with the benefits team.
What is the Costco Extra Check?
It is the employee name for compensation Costco describes as "additional compensation twice a year based on their years of service" for tenured hourly employees. Costco publishes the mechanism but neither the name nor the amounts.
Are Costco employees unionised?
About 5 percent are, per Costco's own filing. The Teamsters National Master Agreement runs from February 2025 to January 2028 and covers roughly 18,000 workers across eight locals, with a 22 percent increase in pension contributions.
