Home Depot minimum wage starts at $15 per hour company-wide, but actual associate pay ranges well above that depending on role and location. Here's what's actually documented, with sources, rather than a single guessed figure.

What Is Home Depot Minimum Wage in 2026?

Home Depot set a $15 per hour minimum starting wage across every US market as part of a $1 billion investment in hourly associate pay, with the new rates taking effect in February and phased into paychecks that same month. That $15 floor remains the baseline for entry-level roles going into 2026, and it applies regardless of a store's local minimum wage, though associates in states or cities with a higher legal minimum are paid that higher rate instead, per standard federal, state, and local rate rules.

Employers must always pay the highest minimum wage that legally applies to a work location, whether set federally, by the state, or by a city or county ordinance.

What Different Roles Actually Pay

Pay varies meaningfully by role and location. Based on aggregated data from Glassdoor, PayScale, and Indeed:

  • Cashier / sales associate: roughly $15 to $21 per hour, with most entry-level positions starting at or near the company's $15 minimum.
  • Department supervisor: roughly $16 to $26 per hour.
  • Freight / overnight associate: roughly $16 to $29 per hour, reflecting overnight shift differentials.

Averaged across all hourly associate roles, PayScale reports an overall average of about $17.54/hr, and Indeed reports an average associate hourly rate of about $17.36/hr. Location matters too: higher cost-of-living metro areas report noticeably higher averages than the company-wide entry floor.

Why Is the Pay Range So Wide?

Three things drive the spread between the $15 floor and the higher end of these ranges: role (overnight freight and supervisory roles pay more than entry-level cashier work), tenure and experience, and local minimum wage law. In a state or city where the legal minimum wage is above $15/hr, that higher rate becomes the effective floor for every hourly role there, not just the company-wide baseline.

How Does This Compare to the Federal and State Minimum Wage?

Home Depot's $15/hr floor is already more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, which has been unchanged since 2009. Whether it's above or in line with a given state's minimum wage depends entirely on the state: some states still sit at or near the federal floor, while others have already passed $15/hr or higher as their own legal minimum. Check your state-by-state minimum wage guide for the exact current rate.

How Does Home Depot's Pay Compare to Other Retailers?

At $15/hr, Home Depot's starting wage matches Target's company floor and is above Walmart's $14/hr floor, but sits below Costco's $20/hr and Hobby Lobby's $20.15/hr starting rates for full-time staff. See our corporate wage guides for a full comparison across major retailers.

How Was This Pay Data Determined?

The $15/hr company floor and the $1 billion wage investment come directly from Home Depot's own corporate newsroom. The role-by-role and average pay figures combine that with aggregator platforms like Glassdoor, PayScale, and Indeed, which reflect self-reported and estimated pay from current and former associates, updated continuously.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Home Depot's starting pay?

$15 per hour company-wide, though actual starting pay can be higher in states or cities with a higher legal minimum wage.

How much does the average Home Depot associate make?

Roughly $17.36 to $17.54 per hour on average across all hourly roles, according to Indeed and PayScale.

Does Home Depot pay more for overnight shifts?

Yes. Freight and overnight associate roles typically pay $16 to $29 per hour, reflecting overnight shift differentials above the base cashier rate.

Is Home Depot's pay the same in every state?

The $15/hr floor is a company-wide minimum, but associates in states or cities with a higher legal minimum wage are paid that higher rate instead.

Aggregator-sourced pay figures (Glassdoor, PayScale, Indeed) reflect self-reported and estimated data that updates continuously and can vary by region and reporting period; they're the best publicly available approximation short of Home Depot's own internal pay bands, which the company doesn't publish role-by-role.

Sources: The Home Depot corporate newsroom, Glassdoor, PayScale, Indeed.