Costco by the Numbers: 22 Surprising Stats

Costco is the nation's fourth-largest retailer in market share, behind Walmart, Amazon, and CVS, or fifth in sheer sales if you replace CVS with Kroger and Home Depot, according to RIS News and the National Retail Federation. The company's net sales topped a whopping $121 billion in 2020, up nearly $25 billion in less than 10 years. But those aren't the only impressive numbers associated with everybody's favorite warehouse club. From rotisserie chickens to giant stuffed bears, there are plenty of eye-popping facts and figures about Costco.

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As of July, this includes 559 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico, 105 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, and 30 in Japan. There's even a Costco in Iceland; 1 in 8 Icelanders signed up for membership before it even opened its doors, according to Quartz.

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Most cardholders in this May figure are basic Gold Card members, paying $60 a year. Executive members — around 22% of Costco's paid cardholders as of spring of 2021 — pay $120 and can get a 2% reward on certain purchases up to $1,000 a year.

Want to become a Costco member? You can apply here.

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The club sends direct mail and coupons to existing members, but spends zilch on marketing itself to the larger public. In contrast, Amazon spent $22 billion on marketing in 2020, Statista says, while Statstic pegs Walmart's spending at $3.7 billion.

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The average Costco warehouse store is comparable in footprint to a city block in Manhattan. The smallest Costco is 80,000 square feet, and the largest is 230,000 — all figures that have risen from just a few years ago. Costco's stores are almost 10% larger on average than those of its major rival, Sam's Club.

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By all accounts, Costco employees — including 185,000 full-time U.S. workers — are a happy bunch: Turnover rate is only 6% to 7% for employees of over a year, according to Barron's; it's more like 60% for retail overall, according to the National Retail Foundation.

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This might sound like a lot, but consider this: The average Walmart Supercenter usually carries around 120,000 products, according to Slate.

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The 3-pound birds are fully cooked and seasoned, and they sell for just $5 — cheaper than at most supermarkets. Costco loses money by keeping the price so low, but its overall revenue has surged to its biggest year ever right along with chicken sales, the company's top executive, W. Craig Jelinek, said at a virtual shareholder meeting in January. 

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Costco has kept the price of a hot dog and soda at $1.50 since the mid-1980s, which may be why it's selling about 50 million more a year than five years ago. Jelinek says his predecessor as CEO threatened to kill him if he raised the price. 

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Costco shoppers are much wealthier than the typical big-box-store customer. Household income for the average Walmart shopper is between $50,000 and $60,000, according to some accounting and $78,262 in others, compared with $88,596 for Target. But the lowest Costco averages get in estimates is $93,000.

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Costco's lowest wage jumped in March, though employee longevity means the average worker takes home $24 hourly, the company says. In comparison, Walmart's says some workers still start at $13.

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A few years ago it was known that one-fifth of the warehouse club's stores are turned over to its private Kirkland Signature label, but the products account for one-quarter of Costco sales as of 2019, Business Insider says. One of the top sellers is toilet paper: Costco sells more than $400 million worth of it annually.

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Turnover means there are always new products for members to browse, even if they go in monthly, and it's up at Costco from the 12-time annual turnover of the past few years. It also means Costco doesn't have to rely on its own capital to finance inventory, The Motley Fool points out.

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This Size 7 platinum band available on Costco.com in July features a near-colorless 10-carat round diamond appraised at more than $658,000, according to the International Gemological Institute.

Related: 25 Surprisingly Expensive Products From Costco

Speaking of rings, this is how much a U.S. district court judge ruled Costco owed Tiffany & Co. for describing some of its rings using the Tiffany name. Costco has argued it was using the term generically, but saw the initial ruling rise from a $19.4 million pain to $25 million in 2019.

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Costco sold 689,000 cars — new and pre-owned — through its no-haggle auto-buying program last year, ranking it alongside the top dealership groups in the nation.

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Costco classifies certain products as "triggers" — that is, items members buy repeatedly and use every day, including paper towels and light bulbs. They are positioned strategically around the store in hopes customers will make impulse buys on the way to finding them.

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Televisions, major appliances including freezers and dishwashers, and the like get a limited time to come back if they don't work out. For almost everything else, Costco has one of the most generous return policies in the retail world: a full refund at any time.

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In addition to health benefits, many employees are eligible for a 401(k) match, dependent care assistance, a counseling program, short- and long-term disability, life insurance, employee stock purchasing, and a health-care reimbursement account.

Related: Why Trader Joe’s Employees Are Surprisingly Helpful and Happy

While cost varies significantly by location, gas is typically 6 to 12 cents cheaper a gallon if members fill up at Costco stations, compared with competitors.

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By changing the shape of its Kirkland Signature cashew containers to square from round some years back, the warehouse club could fit 432 jars on a pallet, up from 288.

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This plush show-stopper weighs 48.5 pounds, or around as much as an average 6-year-old boy. (And is sometimes out of stock, despite being a kind of consumer sensation.) For shoppers who don't have the space for the extra-large version, Costco also sells a 53-inch bear and a 25-inch bear.

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While the company says its core business model depends on getting shoppers inside its bricks-and-mortar warehouses, it does sell online — and a predictable surge accelerated those online sales during the coronavirus pandemic. Online sales grew 50% in the fiscal year in which COVID forced the world inside, compared with 8% the year before, Digital Commerce 360 reports.

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