You know those friendly faces that greet you when you walk into Target? Or the helpful team members who somehow always know exactly where to find that one item you’re looking for? Well, there are a lot more of them than you might think. Let me break down the numbers behind one of America’s largest retail workforces.
The Big Number: 440,000 Strong
As of February 1, 2025, Target Corporation employs approximately 440,000 people. That’s right—nearly half a million team members working across the United States to make sure you can get everything from groceries to home décor under one red-and-white roof.
To put that in perspective, that’s roughly the entire population of a mid-sized American city like Miami or Oakland. Imagine an entire city’s worth of people, all working for one retail company. Pretty impressive, right?
Growing Year Over Year
Here’s something interesting: Target’s workforce isn’t shrinking—it’s actually growing. That 440,000 figure represents a 6.02% increase from the previous year, when they had 415,000 employees. That’s an addition of 25,000 new team members in just one year!
This growth tells us something important about Target’s business. While many retailers have struggled in recent years, Target continues to expand its operations and hire more people. Whether it’s opening new stores, expanding their same-day delivery services, or beefing up their online fulfillment capabilities, Target is clearly investing in its workforce.
Where Do All These People Work?
You might be wondering: where exactly are all these 440,000 employees working? Let me break it down for you:
In Stores Across America
The majority of Target’s team members work in their 1,989 stores spread across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Yes, you read that right—Target has a presence in every single state. Whether you’re in bustling New York City or rural Montana, there’s likely a Target store within reasonable driving distance.
These store employees are the ones you interact with directly—cashiers ringing up your purchases, customer service representatives helping you find items, stockers keeping shelves filled, and managers ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Behind the Scenes: Supply Chain Facilities
Beyond the stores themselves, Target operates 66 supply chain facilities across the country. These are the warehouses, distribution centers, and fulfillment centers that make Target’s impressive logistics network possible.
Think about it: when you order something online for same-day delivery or drive-up pickup, it has to come from somewhere. These supply chain team members are the unsung heroes making sure products get from manufacturers to stores (and to your doorstep) efficiently.
Corporate and Office Locations
Target also maintains 29 office locations globally. These include their corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well as regional offices, tech hubs, and administrative centers around the world.
These office employees handle everything from marketing and merchandising to technology development, finance, human resources, and strategic planning. They’re the people making decisions about what products Target will carry, how the stores will look, and what new services to roll out.
The Seasonal Spike
Now, here’s something important to understand about that 440,000 number: it fluctuates seasonally. Target is a retail company, and retail is inherently seasonal. During the holiday shopping season—roughly from October through December—Target’s employment numbers peak significantly.
You’ve probably noticed this yourself. Ever wonder why Target seems to have way more employees during the holidays? That’s because they hire tens of thousands of seasonal workers to handle the increased customer traffic and shopping volume during this crucial period.
After the holidays end, many of these seasonal positions wrap up, and the employee count returns to more typical levels. So while 440,000 is the current official figure, the actual number of people working for Target on any given day varies throughout the year.
Don’t Forget About Shipt
Here’s an interesting twist: that 440,000 figure doesn’t include everyone who works to fulfill Target orders. Target owns Shipt, the same-day delivery service you might have used to get groceries or household items delivered to your door.
Shipt operates using independent contractors—people who work as freelancers rather than traditional employees. These Shipt shoppers pick up Target orders and deliver them to customers, but they’re not counted in Target’s official employee numbers because they’re not technically employees.
If you included all the Shipt contractors who regularly fulfill Target orders, the total number of people working to serve Target customers would be even higher than 440,000.
What Does This Mean for You?
So why should you care about how many people Target employs? Well, there are a few reasons:
Job Opportunities: With 440,000 employees and growing, Target is a major employer in America. If you’re looking for work, Target offers positions at every skill level—from entry-level retail jobs to corporate careers in technology, marketing, and management.
Economic Impact: Target’s massive workforce means they have a significant impact on the American economy. These 440,000 jobs support hundreds of thousands of families and contribute billions in wages to local economies across the country.
Service Quality: More employees generally means better customer service. When Target is staffing up, you’re more likely to find help when you need it, shorter checkout lines, and well-stocked shelves.
Company Health: Growing employment numbers suggest Target is doing well financially and sees opportunity for continued growth. That’s good news if you’re a Target shopper, employee, or investor.
How Target Compares to Other Retailers
Just for context, let’s look at how Target’s workforce compares to other major retailers:
- Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, employs about 2.1 million people in the U.S. alone—roughly five times Target’s workforce.
- Amazon, which competes with Target in many categories, has over 1.5 million employees globally.
- Costco employs around 310,000 people worldwide—significantly fewer than Target despite being a major competitor.
So Target sits in that sweet spot—big enough to be a major employer and have nationwide reach, but not so massive that it feels impersonal or overwhelming like Walmart.
The Bottom Line
Target Corporation’s workforce of approximately 440,000 employees as of early 2025 represents more than just a number—it represents a massive operation that touches millions of American lives daily. Whether you’re shopping in one of their 1,989 stores, ordering online for pickup or delivery, or working for the company yourself, you’re part of an ecosystem that requires nearly half a million people to function smoothly.
And with employment numbers growing year over year, Target shows no signs of slowing down. As they continue expanding their stores, building out their digital capabilities, and enhancing their same-day delivery services, we can expect that workforce to keep growing.
So the next time you pop into Target for “just one thing” (we all know how that goes), take a moment to appreciate the nearly half-million people working behind the scenes to make your shopping experience possible. From the team member who greets you at the door to the warehouse worker who packed your online order to the corporate strategist who decided what products to stock—they’re all part of Target’s massive workforce keeping America’s favorite bullseye brand running smoothly.
