Target is a place where you swing by for toothpaste and leave with throw pillows, seasonal snacks, and a plant you didn’t plan on buying.
It’s one of the biggest names in American retail, nearly 2,000 stores strong and powered by a massive, often underappreciated workforce. Behind every red-shirted cashier, every stocked shelf, and every perfectly timed delivery is a team that now numbers close to half a million people.
Let’s break down what that actually means in 2025, how many people work at Target, what kind of jobs they’re doing, and what those numbers say about the company’s place in the broader economy.
Key Highlights
- Target employs about 440,000 people globally in 2025, a 6% increase from 2024.
- The workforce spans nearly 2,000 stores, 66 distribution centers, and 29 offices worldwide.
- Diversity remains strong, with 58% people of color and 56% women in management roles.
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Employment levels are stable, with no major layoffs or hiring surges reported in 2025.
Target’s Workforce in 2025
According to Target’s official filings, as of February 1, 2025, marking the end of Target’s fiscal year, the company reports a global workforce of approximately 440,000 team members.
Target’s own investor overview lists team member counts of 450,000 (2021), 440,000 (2022), 415,000 (2023), and 440,000 (2024, fiscal year ending February 1, 2025).
To put it plainly, that’s a 6.02% increase from the 415,000 employees reported in 2024. After a couple of years of workforce trimming (more on that in a minute), the company is expanding again.
This employee count includes workers in:
- Target operated 1,978 U.S. stores at FY2024 year-end (February 1, 2025). The total was 1,982 as of August 2, 2025, according to Target’s Annual Report.
- 66 supply chain and distribution facilities
- Target reports 29 office locations globally
- Target’s 10-K notes that it also engages independent contractors, most notably in the Shipt subsidiary, so most Shipt ‘shoppers’ are not Target employees
- Corporate, digital, and customer experience teams
- Net sales in FY2024 were $106,566 million, as per official data.
Target’s Employee Count Over Time
Target’s workforce hasn’t grown in a straight line; it’s moved in response to shifts in consumer behavior, logistics demands, and even global events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how their numbers have changed over the last 15 years, as per Macrotrends:
A few key moments stand out:
- 2020 saw a major hiring push, over 13% growth, fueled by a spike in demand during the pandemic.
- 2022 marked the peak at 450,000 employees.
- 2023–2024 showed some pullback, possibly linked to streamlining, automation, or inflationary pressures.
- 2025 signals a rebound to pre-2023 levels, which could mean Target’s stabilizing after a couple of volatile years.
Who Makes Up the Target Team?
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Let’s talk about the people behind the numbers.
Target’s workforce is a mix of:
- Full-time employees handling management, logistics, tech, and store leadership
- Part-time staff working retail floors, cashier stations, stocking shifts, and customer support
- Seasonal workers brought in during peak shopping periods (think back-to-school and holiday rushes)
Roles span a wide range, including:
- Guest advocates (customer service)
- Fulfillment experts (packing and shipping online orders)
- Team leads and executive team leaders (store management)
- Supply chain specialists (distribution centers)
- Software engineers, marketers, and business analysts (corporate)
And that doesn’t even touch the teams at Shipt (grocery delivery) and Roundel (Target’s in-house media company), which add further variety and technical skill to the company’s employment portfolio.
According to official sources, Target’s starting wage range is $15 to $24 per hour, depending on role and location, with expanded access to health benefits at a minimum of 25 average hours per week. The company highlights tuition-free education assistance, 401(k) match up to 5 percent, paid time off, and other benefits.
Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation
Target has made some clear moves in recent years to build a workforce that better reflects the communities it serves.
According to the latest company workforce data:
- U.S. workforce: 58% people of color in FY2024, up from 56% in FY2023.
- Managers: 48% people of color in FY2024.
- Gender representation, managers: 56% women in 2023 reporting; company continues to publish workforce mix by level.
These numbers tie into a larger company-wide push for equity in hiring, promotion, and vendor partnerships, including a $2 billion pledge to support Black-owned businesses by 2025.
Important: These metrics reflect FY2024 unless otherwise noted and are drawn from Target’s sustainability and workforce disclosures.
No Big Shakeups in 2025
So, what’s happening right now? Any signs of layoffs? Hiring booms?
Not really. As of mid-2025:
- The 440,000 figure remains steady, with no major hiring campaigns or large-scale layoffs reported.
- There have been minor reports of job reductions, like in Locust Grove, Georgia, affecting a warehouse team in January, but no widespread downsizing.
- LinkedIn data shows a small 1.1% dip in employee count, but that’s likely due to data gaps, not actual cuts.
In short: Target’s workforce seems stable. After a few up-and-down years, that’s saying something.
The Bigger Picture & Economic Impact
Target’s employee base is both big and influential.
At 440,000 strong, it’s:
- One of the largest employers in U.S. retail
- A major source of jobs in suburban and urban communities across all 50 states
- Great Place to Work reports 74% of surveyed employees say Target is a great place to work, versus 57% at a typical U.S. company, based on GPTW’s Trust Index methodology.
That said, the retail environment isn’t easy. Rising labor costs, evolving tech, and shifting consumer expectations all make it harder to balance happy employees and healthy margins.
But Target’s scale gives it leverage. With $106.5 billion in revenue in 2024 (according to their website), the company can invest in people, technology, and logistics in ways smaller competitors simply can’t.
Note: Target is listed by Fortune and GPTW among the 2025 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Where Target Employees Work
Let’s break it down a bit further.
| Division / Facility | Description | Contribution to Workforce |
| Retail Stores | Nearly 2,000 across the U.S. | Cashiers, stockers, team leads |
| Supply Chain | 60+ distribution centers | Inventory, shipping, logistics |
| Corporate Offices | 29 locations globally | Finance, tech, strategy, HR |
| Subsidiaries | Shipt, Roundel, etc. | E-commerce and digital services |
It’s not just red shirts and registers anymore. A growing chunk of the workforce is now focused on digital growth, data science, automation, and logistics, showing just how much the retail world has changed in the past decade.
Challenges and Concerns
Hiring hundreds of thousands of people is one thing. Keeping them happy is another.
While Target generally ranks well in employee satisfaction, online chatter (Reddit threads, TheLayoff.com, and similar sites) hints at concerns like:
- Job security in a tech-driven landscape
- Store-level communication gaps
- Questions around long-term career growth
None of these are unique to Target, but they’re reminders that scale doesn’t guarantee satisfaction. Still, the company has been recognized for its culture and continues to invest in development programs, diversity efforts, and workplace improvements.
What’s Next?
Where Target goes from here depends on a lot of factors: inflation, consumer confidence, digital sales trends, and yes, AI.
Here’s what’s likely:
- Further automation in supply chain roles could change staffing needs.
- Digital expansion may shift more hires to tech and logistics.
- Sustainability and community investment goals could shape hiring practices (e.g., green energy roles, DEI roles, and community outreach).
But the core business, serving guests in-store and online, is still deeply people-powered. And 440,000 is no small number.
Methodology
We sourced employee data directly from Target’s official financial disclosures and Macrotrends, ensuring accuracy for 2025 figures and historical trends.
- We cross-referenced third-party platforms like LinkedIn and Great Place to Work to assess workforce satisfaction, hiring patterns, and organizational stability.
- We included diversity and role-specific insights using publicly available reports from Target, Diversity.com, and industry publications.
- We analyzed broader economic and retail trends to contextualize Target’s employment shifts, especially post-COVID and in light of automation and inflation pressures.
Final Thoughts
Target’s 2025 workforce of 440,000 employees is a reflection of the company’s scale, values, and resilience. After navigating a wild few years, the company has stabilized, added jobs, and stayed competitive in a brutal retail market.
Whether you’re grabbing laundry detergent, stocking shelves, or developing supply chain algorithms, there’s a good chance Target’s workforce touches your life in some way.
And with nearly half a million people on the job, it’s safe to say that this retail giant is still running on human power.
References
- macrotrends.net – Target: Number of Employees 2010-2025 | TGT
- diversity.com – Months After Target’s DEI Rollback: What’s Happened So Far
- greatplacetowork.com – Target Corporation Company Overview
- corporate.target.com – 2024 Annual Report Target Corporation
