The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Defensive
Costco (COST)
Warehouse clubs with a stated workforce share. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-08-31, filed 2025-10-08. Ranked 3 of the 16 Consumer Defensive companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing states the total, the employees by country and that 95% work in its warehouses and distribution channels, so the retail pattern rests on a stated share and only the distribution part is by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 21% now, 25% at the end of 2027, 25% at the end of 2028, 25% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 25% desk work, 19% people work and 55% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 74% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 12% becomes checking a model's work and 13% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
341,000 employees as of 2025-08-31 (stated). By the filing's table: United States 223,000, Canada 55,000, other international 63,000.
The filing: “At the end of 2025, we employed 341,000 employees worldwide.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| General Merchandise Retailers | 95% | By (a): the filing states that approximately 95% of employees work in its membership warehouses and distribution channels; warehouse clubs are general merchandise retail in NAICS, so that stated share goes to the retail pattern, with the small distribution part separated below by description. |
| Warehousing and Storage | 5% | By (c) within a stated count: the distribution channels named inside the filing's 95% have no count of their own, so a small share is read into the warehousing pattern by description; the remaining 5% of employees, not described, stay in the retail pattern. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 341,000 employees, about 95% in membership warehouses and distribution channels; around 5% represented by unions; a target of at least 50% full-time; seasonal employees used; about 7,500 hourly employees completed a six-week development course in 2025.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also General Merchandise Retailers, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Walmart (WMT, 2,100,000 employees)21% now, 25% by 2028
- Target (TGT, 415,000 employees)21% now, 25% by 2028
- Dollar General (DG, 194,000 employees)21% now, 25% by 2028
- Dollar Tree (DLTR, 153,032 employees)21% now, 25% by 2028
- Macy's, Inc. (M, 90,134 employees)22% now, 25% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
2 sentences in the filing name AI. AI appears once, in the competition discussion, as competitors' faster adoption of artificial intelligence; the human capital section does not mention it.
- “In addition, data we collect, store and process is subject to a variety of U.S. and international laws and regulations (such as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and China's Personal Information Protection Act), evolving rules concerning artificial intelligence, and other privacy and cyber...”
- “Some competitors have greater financial resources and technology capabilities, including the faster adoption of artificial intelligence, better access to merchandise, and greater market penetration than we do.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-31 | 341,000 | 2025-10-08 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-01 | 333,000 | 2024-10-09 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-03 | 316,000 | 2023-10-11 | 10-K |
| 2022-08-28 | 304,000 | 2022-10-05 | 10-K |
| 2021-08-29 | 288,000 | 2021-10-06 | 10-K |
| 2020-08-30 | 156,000 | 2020-10-07 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-01 | 149,000 | 2019-10-11 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-02 | 143,000 | 2018-10-26 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-03 | 133,000 | 2017-10-18 | 10-K |
| 2016-08-28 | 126,000 | 2016-10-12 | 10-K |
| 2015-08-30 | 117,000 | 2015-10-14 | 10-K |
| 2014-08-31 | 112,000 | 2014-10-15 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-01 | 103,000 | 2013-10-16 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-02 | 96,000 | 2012-10-19 | 10-K |
| 2011-08-28 | 92,000 | 2011-10-14 | 10-K |
| 2010-08-29 | 82,000 | 2010-10-18 | 10-K |
| 2009-08-30 | 79,000 | 2009-10-16 | 10-K |
| 2008-08-31 | 75,000 | 2008-10-16 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-02 | 70,000 | 2007-10-25 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-03 | 71,000 | 2006-11-17 | 10-K |
| 2005-08-28 | 118,000 | 2005-11-10 | 10-K |
| 2004-08-29 | 113,000 | 2004-11-12 | 10-K |
| 2003-08-31 | 103,000 | 2003-11-21 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-01 | 92,000 | 2002-11-22 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-02 | 86,000 | 2001-11-16 | 10-K405 |
| 2000-09-03 | 78,000 | 2000-11-17 | 10-K405 |
| 1999-08-29 | 70,000 | 1999-11-24 | 10-K |
| 1998-08-30 | 63,000 | 1998-11-25 | 10-K405 |
| 1997-08-31 | 57,000 | 1997-11-10 | 10-K |
| 1996-09-01 | 53,000 | 1996-11-08 | 10-K405 |
| 1995-09-03 | 52,000 | 1995-11-30 | 10-K405 |
| 1994-08-28 | 47,000 | 1994-11-17 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- The split between the warehouses and the distribution channels inside the filing's stated 95% is by description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000909832-25-000101, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Costco's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 21% now and 25% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Costco's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Costco employ?
- 341,000 as of August 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending August 31, 2025 states. About 65% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Costco's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest General Merchandise Retailers; by those patterns the work is about 25% desk work, 19% people work and 55% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Costco's annual report say about AI?
- 2 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
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A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.