Target starting wage ranges from $15 to $24/hr depending on role and location, with a company-wide floor of $15/hr that rises well above it in high-cost markets.
What Is Target Starting Wage in 2026?
Target's company-wide minimum starting wage is $15/hr, applying to cashier, guest advocate, sales floor, and fulfillment roles. In states and cities with a higher legal minimum wage, or in competitive local labor markets, actual starting pay runs higher, up to $24/hr in the highest-cost cities.
A company's published starting pay range typically reflects both its own wage policy and the legal minimum wage floor in each specific market where it operates, whichever is higher.
That's the core of Target starting pay in 2026: a national floor set by company policy, layered on top of whatever local minimum wage law requires in a given market. Across most of the country the two don't come into conflict, since Target's $15/hr floor already clears the legal minimum by a wide margin. In a smaller number of higher-wage states, though, the law itself sets a floor above $15/hr, which means Target's actual starting pay in those markets is shaped as much by state and local wage rules as by corporate policy. We break down exactly where that happens below.
Target Starting Pay by Market
- Lower cost-of-living states (e.g. Oklahoma): typically start at the $15/hr company floor.
- National average (Cashier/Guest Advocate): roughly $16-$17/hr.
- High-cost cities (NYC, LA, San Francisco): $20-$24/hr.
The spread between those tiers isn't random. It tracks the same cost-of-living and local labor-market pressures that push legal minimum wages higher in some states and cities than in others. A worker comparing Target starting pay 2026 figures across two different states is really comparing two different local wage floors as much as two different Target job offers.
Does Target Pay the Same for Every Role?
No. Cashier and Guest Advocate roles, Sales Floor Team Members, Fulfillment and Drive Up Associates, and Style/Beauty Team Members all fall within a similar $15-$22/hr band, but exact pay depends on the specific role, store location, and local labor market, not a single flat company-wide number above the $15 floor. Two people starting the same week in the same job title, one in a low-cost state and one in a high-cost metro, can see a starting-pay gap of several dollars an hour purely because of where the store sits.
How Does Target's Pay Compare to Other Retailers?
Target's $15/hr company floor matches Home Depot's starting wage, sits above Walmart's $14/hr floor, but is below Costco's $20/hr and Hobby Lobby's $20.15/hr full-time starting rates. See our corporate wage guides for the full lineup.
Large national retailers largely compete for hourly frontline workers on the same few levers: starting pay, scheduling flexibility, and benefits like healthcare or paid time off. Because chains like Target, Walmart, Costco, and Home Depot often draw from the same local labor pool, a starting-wage increase at one big-box competitor tends to put pressure on the others to hold pace, particularly in tight labor markets or ahead of a busy hiring season. That competitive dynamic is a big part of why big-box starting pay across the industry tends to cluster in a fairly narrow band above the legal minimum wage, rather than spreading out widely, even between companies with very different overall pay philosophies.
How Does Target's Starting Pay Compare to State Minimum Wage Laws?
Because employers must pay whichever is higher, the company floor or the legal minimum, Target's $15/hr baseline behaves differently depending on the state. In a low-wage state like Oklahoma, where the legal minimum wage is still the federal rate of $7.25/hr, Target's $15/hr floor is more than double the state's legal wage requirement, so the company policy is doing essentially all of the work in setting pay above the law.
That's not true everywhere. California's state minimum wage reached $16.90/hr in 2026, meaning the legal floor there is now actually higher than Target's nationwide $15/hr starting-pay policy, so Target is legally required to pay at least $16.90/hr to hourly workers in California regardless of its own stated company baseline. New York's statewide minimum wage sits at $16.00/hr, with New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County set even higher at $17.00/hr under local rate rules, both above the $15/hr company floor as well. Washington state's minimum wage of $17.13/hr is the highest state-level rate in the country, and Seattle's local minimum for large employers runs to $20.76/hr, which lines up closely with the low end of the $20-$24/hr range Target reports for its highest-cost markets.
The practical takeaway is that Target starting pay 2026 figures in states like California, New York, and Washington reflect legal minimum wage requirements at least as much as they reflect Target's own wage decisions. In states like Oklahoma or Texas, where the legal minimum wage still tracks the $7.25/hr federal rate, Target's company floor is the only thing keeping starting pay meaningfully above the legal minimum.
How Does Target's Pay Compare to the Federal Minimum Wage?
Target's $15/hr floor is more than double the $7.25/hr federal minimum wage, and its highest big-city rates of up to $24/hr are well over three times the federal floor. That gap reflects both company policy and the higher legal minimum wage already in place in cities like New York and San Francisco. It's also a reminder that the $7.25/hr federal rate, unchanged since 2009, has increasingly little bearing on what large national employers actually pay; state and local minimum wage laws, along with competitive pressure among big-box retailers, now set the real floor for most hourly retail workers.
What Does Target's Starting Pay Add Up to Annually?
Using the figures Target has published, a full-time schedule of 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year works out as follows, before taxes or deductions:
- At the $15/hr company floor: $31,200 per year.
- At the $16-$17/hr national average: roughly $33,280 to $35,360 per year.
- At $20/hr, the low end of the high-cost-city range: $41,600 per year.
- At $24/hr, the top of the high-cost-city range: $49,920 per year.
Those figures assume a consistent 40-hour week year-round, which won't match every Target employee's actual schedule; many hourly retail positions, at Target and elsewhere, are part-time or have variable hours that fluctuate seasonally. A part-time schedule of 20 hours a week at the $15/hr floor works out to about $15,600 a year, roughly half the full-time figure at the same hourly rate. The gap between the low end and high end of Target's stated pay range, $15/hr versus $24/hr, is nearly $18,720 a year at full-time hours, which underscores how much location and role affect total earnings even for workers doing similar frontline retail work.
How Can I Find Target's Exact Starting Pay at a Specific Store?
Target publishes the pay range for each open position directly on its careers site, since starting pay is set at the store and market level rather than nationally beyond the $15/hr floor. That store-level listing is the only reliable way to confirm exact Target starting pay for a specific job and location, since national averages and city-tier ranges are useful for comparison but won't match every individual posting precisely.
How Was This Pay Data Determined?
Target's $15/hr company floor comes from the company's own published pay and benefits information. The role-by-role and city-specific ranges combine that published data with aggregator platforms like Glassdoor and Gridwise, which reflect self-reported pay from current and former employees and update on an ongoing basis. Because aggregator data is self-reported and updates continuously, individual figures can shift over time even when Target's own stated company floor stays the same, which is why the store-level careers listing remains the most current source for any single job.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Target's starting pay?
A $15/hr company-wide floor, rising to as much as $24/hr in high-cost cities depending on role and location.
Does Target pay more in expensive cities?
Yes. Stores in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco typically start at $20-$24/hr, well above the $15/hr company floor.
Is Target's starting pay the same as Walmart's?
No. Target's $15/hr floor is $1/hr higher than Walmart's $14/hr company-wide minimum.
How do I find the pay for a specific Target job?
Each listing on Target's careers site includes the exact pay range for that specific store and position.
How does Target's starting pay compare to Costco and Hobby Lobby?
Both pay more at the entry level. Costco's starting wage is $20/hr and Hobby Lobby's full-time starting rate is $20.15/hr, compared to Target's $15/hr company floor, though Target's pay can reach similar levels in its highest-cost city markets.
Does Target pay above the legal minimum wage?
In most states, yes, by a wide margin, since Target's $15/hr floor is more than double the $7.25/hr federal minimum wage that still applies in states like Oklahoma and Texas. In a few higher-wage states, including California and New York, the state's legal minimum wage is close to or above Target's $15/hr company floor, so state law sets the effective starting pay there rather than company policy alone.
What would a full-time Target employee earn per year at the starting rate?
At the $15/hr company floor and a standard 40-hour week, a full-time employee would earn about $31,200 a year before taxes. At the higher end of Target's stated range, $24/hr, that figure rises to roughly $49,920 a year at full-time hours.
Is Target's starting pay range the same in every state?
No. Target's stated range runs from $15/hr up to $24/hr depending on the role, the store's location, and the local cost of living and labor market, with higher-cost cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco sitting at the top of that range.
See every state's current minimum wage to compare against Target's $15/hr company floor.
Pay ranges reflect Target's own published corporate pay information alongside aggregator data (Glassdoor, Gridwise); actual starting pay for any specific store is set at the local level.
