What is Walmart's average hourly wage and starting pay in 2025?
Executive summary
Walmart’s reported average hourly pay in 2025 varies by data source: Payscale’s Walmart.com figure is $15.96/hour and Payscale’s Wal‑Mart Stores, Inc. listing is $15.52/hour (both labeled “2025”) [1] [2]. Company and major outlets also report broader averages and higher figures for select roles — Walmart said average hourly wages for frontline associates would exceed $18 and corporate reporting highlights $27/hour for supply‑chain roles, while third‑party sites show widely different averages from about $14 up to $37/hour depending on role and methodology [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. Conflicting averages: small differences, big implications
Different data providers give different “averages.” Payscale’s snapshots for 2025 put Walmart.com at $15.96/hour and Wal‑Mart Stores, Inc. at $15.52/hour, drawn from survey samples and role‑level ranges [1] [2]. Glassdoor’s aggregate reporting translates some entry hourly roles to roughly $14 (part‑time sales associate) while noting wide variation by job type [5]. These differences reflect what’s measured (Walmart.com vs. Wal‑Mart Stores, Inc.), which employees are included, and how outliers are treated — not a single definitive Walmart wage number [1] [2] [5].
2. Walmart’s public framing: targeted lifts and higher tiers
Walmart’s corporate communications emphasize multi‑year investments and rising starting wages for many roles, citing that minimum starting wages rose substantially since 2015 and that supply‑chain associates average $27/hour in company materials [4]. Company messaging also describes introducing higher‑paying roles and annual, performance‑based raises as part of broader compensation strategy [4] [3].
3. Journalistic coverage: “average hourly wage close to $18” for frontline staff
News outlets covering Walmart’s 2024–2025 pay moves reported that average hourly wages for U.S. frontline associates were “close to $18” after a series of increases and new higher‑pay roles (AP‑syndicated and NewsNation reporting summarized by Yahoo Finance and NewsNation) [3] [7]. Reporters highlighted that these shifts were driven by selective role creation (like Auto Care Centers) and managerial pay restructuring, not a uniform across‑the‑board hourly hike [3] [7].
4. Starting pay: range by location and role, not a single rate
Reporting and analysis note that Walmart’s “starting pay” is regionally variable and role‑dependent. Some summaries list a company base or floor in the mid‑teens (e.g., $14) with specific markets or roles paying as much as $17 or more for starting hourly rates [8] [9]. Corporate language references “minimum starting wages” increases over time but does not publish a single national starting‑pay number in these sources [4] [8].
5. Big gaps in methodology among third‑party aggregators
Third‑party aggregators diverge widely: Salary.com reports an “average hourly” equivalent of about $37/hour (based on average annual salary) — a figure driven upward by salaried and corporate roles — while sites like Payscale and Indeed show averages in the mid‑teens to high teens depending on job mix [6] [1] [2] [10]. Jooble and other aggregators give yet different averages (e.g., $27.34/hour) because they mix role types and use different data samples [11]. These methodological differences explain large numeric spread [6] [11].
6. What these numbers mean for jobseekers and policymakers
An “average” can mask that many frontline hourly positions remain in the $13–$18 range while specialized or supply‑chain roles pay substantially more [1] [2] [4]. For a prospective hire, starting pay will depend on store location, role (e.g., cashier vs. Auto Care or supply chain), and local minimum wages; for researchers or policymakers, headline averages from different sources are not interchangeable without digging into job mix and sample periods [1] [2] [8] [4].
7. Sources disagree where it matters — transparency and context matter
Available reporting shows Walmart’s communication highlights improvements and select high‑pay roles, while independent salary sites report varied averages from roughly $15.5–$16 (Payscale) to “close to $18” reported in news coverage and up to $37 when corporate salaried roles are averaged in [1] [2] [7] [6]. There is no single, universally accepted 2025 hourly wage figure in these sources; the number depends on which employee population and methodology are used [1] [2] [6].
Limitations: available sources do not publish a single official national “average hourly wage” for all Walmart employees in 2025; numbers above are drawn from the cited company statements and third‑party aggregates and reflect different samples and definitions [4] [1] [6].