Target Corporation employs approximately 415,000 people, who the company calls “team members”. That is the official figure in Target’s latest annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (its Form 10-K for fiscal 2025), counted on 31 January 2026, and it covers full-time, part-time and seasonal staff together.
If you have seen a different number somewhere else — 440,000, 400,000, or something smaller — you are not imagining it. This guide explains the official answer, why the numbers online disagree, and how Target’s workforce has changed over the last five years.
The short answer
So, about how many employees does Target Corporation employ? Around 415,000, as of 31 January 2026.
Target is one of the largest private employers in the United States — its own annual report says exactly that. The company is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and almost all of those 415,000 people work in its US stores, warehouses and offices, with a smaller number in offices around the world.
One thing to know before we go further: the 415,000 is a single combined count. Target does not split it into full-time and part-time in its annual report, so any website that gives you an exact split is guessing. We will come back to that below.
Why do websites give different numbers for Target’s employees?
Search “how many employees does Target employ” and you will find pages quoting 315,000, 400,000, 440,000 and more. Almost none of them are simply lying — they are usually out of date, or counting in a different way. There are five common reasons:
- Different years. Target’s own filings have printed 450,000 (fiscal 2021), 440,000 (fiscal 2022 and again fiscal 2024) and 415,000 (fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025). Old articles keep old numbers alive long after the company has moved on.
- Rounded marketing lines. Target’s press releases often say “more than 400,000 team members”. That is safe and true, but it is a rounded slogan, not a precise count — and many sites copy it as if it were exact.
- Timing. The official count is taken at the end of Target’s financial year, in late January or early February, just after the busy holiday season. A count taken in the middle of the year would look different, because retail staffing rises and falls with the seasons.
- Who gets counted. The official figure bundles full-time, part-time and seasonal team members together. But it leaves out most of the shoppers who deliver for Shipt, Target’s delivery service, because they work as independent contractors, not employees. Counts that include gig workers come out higher.
- Part-workforce numbers. Some smaller figures floating around only ever covered part of the company, or were copied from very old reports and never updated.
The lesson is the same one we found when checking what FintechZoom.com is: with popular search questions, the first number you see is not always the checked one. The safest source is always the company’s own filing, which is why this article is built on Target’s Form 10-K reports.
Target’s employee count, year by year
Here is the trend from Target’s own annual reports. Target’s financial year ends in late January or early February, so each figure is a snapshot at that date.
| Financial year | Counted on | Team members (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 January 2022 | 450,000 |
| 2022 | 28 January 2023 | 440,000 |
| 2023 | 3 February 2024 | 415,000 |
| 2024 | 1 February 2025 | 440,000 |
| 2025 | 31 January 2026 | 415,000 |
Read as a story, the table says this: Target’s workforce shrank during the cost-cutting years after the pandemic boom, grew again in fiscal 2024, and then fell by about 25,000 in fiscal 2025, back to roughly 415,000. Sales dipped slightly in the same year, to about $104.8 billion.
There has been change at the top, too. In February 2026, Michael Fiddelke — a Target veteran of 20 years — took over as chief executive from Brian Cornell, who moved to executive chair. Big companies can change direction quickly; our report on Starflite Aviation’s revoked licence showed how fast a business story can turn. Workforce numbers are part of that same picture, and the next annual report, due in spring 2027, will show whether the team grows again under the new boss.
What do all those employees actually do?
It helps to picture where 415,000 people fit. Target organises its team into three broad places:
In the stores. This is the vast majority of the team. Target ended fiscal 2025 with 1,995 stores across the United States, and passed 2,000 during 2026. Store team members serve shoppers, stock shelves, run checkouts and — more and more — pick and pack online orders. Target says its stores handled over 97 per cent of all sales in each of the last three years, including online orders collected in store or brought out to shoppers’ cars through its Drive Up service. A modern Target store is a shop and a small warehouse in one building, and it is staffed like one.
In the supply chain. Behind the stores sits a network of 66 supply chain and distribution facilities (counted in February 2025), moving goods from suppliers to stores and to online shoppers. Warehouse teams work the forklifts, scanners and loading docks that keep shelves full.
At head office and in offices worldwide. Target’s headquarters is on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, and the company has 29 offices around the world, including sourcing offices in 13 countries that work with the factories making Target’s own-brand products. These are the buyers, designers, technology teams, finance staff and leaders — including the chief executive’s team — who plan what the stores sell.
Full-time, part-time and seasonal: what is the mix?
This is the question readers ask most, and it needs an honest answer: Target does not publish the split. Its annual report gives one combined number for “full-time, part-time, and seasonal team members”, and confirms two things only — that the mix exists, and that “employment levels peak in the holiday season”.
What we can say from Target’s own announcements is this:
- Seasonal hiring is huge. For the 2024 holiday season, Target announced it would hire about 100,000 seasonal team members for its stores and supply chain sites, and it said it had kept roughly the same holiday hiring goal for several years. Many of those seasonal workers stay: Target said more than half of the previous year’s seasonal team members were offered a job after the holidays.
- Part-time work is normal in retail. Target openly describes a workforce that includes people building careers alongside students, retirees and others who want flexible hours, and its benefits rules change depending on whether someone is full-time or part-time, where they work and how long they have been there.
- Pay is published. The starting wage for hourly store and supply chain team members in the US is between $15 and $24 an hour, depending on the job and the place, according to the fiscal 2025 annual report.
So if a website tells you “exactly 60 per cent of Target staff are part-time”, treat it as an estimate, not a fact — the company itself has not released that figure.
How Target compares with other giant employers
Target is a giant employer, but it is not the biggest in American retail. Walmart’s own company facts say it employed about 2.1 million people worldwide at the end of its fiscal 2026, including about 1.6 million in the United States alone. In other words, Walmart’s US workforce by itself is nearly four times Target’s whole worldwide team.
Even so, a team of about 415,000 puts Target firmly among the largest private employers in the country — a workforce bigger than the population of many American cities. It is the same kind of counting problem readers meet with celebrity wealth: our guide to Scooter Braun’s net worth found estimates spread widely, because different sources count different things. With company workforces, the filing is the figure that settles it.
Frequently asked questions
About how many employees does Target Corporation employ?
About 415,000 team members, counted on 31 January 2026 in Target’s fiscal 2025 Form 10-K annual report. You can read the wording yourself in Target’s annual report, published on its corporate site.
How many employees does Target employ in 2026?
The most recent official count is the same one: approximately 415,000 as of 31 January 2026. Target only publishes this figure once a year, in its annual report each spring, so no newer official number exists yet. Its recent press releases use the rounded line “more than 400,000 team members”, which matches.
How many employees does Target employ at its peak?
More than the year-end figure. The annual report says employment peaks in the holiday season, and for the 2024 holidays Target planned to take on about 100,000 extra seasonal team members. That points to a holiday workforce somewhere above the usual count, though Target does not publish an exact peak number.
Does the 415,000 include seasonal and part-time workers?
Yes. The figure covers full-time, part-time and seasonal team members together. It does not include most Shipt delivery shoppers, who work as independent contractors. Target’s 2025 Sustainability and Governance Report uses the same combined wording for the earlier 440,000 figure.
How many stores does Target have?
Target ended its fiscal 2025 year with 1,995 stores in the United States, and the total moved past 2,000 during 2026, reaching 2,019 by August 2026 according to its quarterly earnings report.
Where is Target’s head office, and who runs the company?
The headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at 1000 Nicollet Mall. The chief executive is Michael Fiddelke, who took the job on 1 February 2026 after 20 years with the company. The previous chief executive, Brian Cornell, is now executive chair.
Is Target one of the biggest employers in the USA?
Yes. Target describes itself in its annual report as one of the largest private employers in the United States. It is far smaller than Walmart, the country’s biggest private employer, but its roughly 415,000 team members place it near the top of the list.
Final words
So, how many employees does Target Corporation employ? The checked answer is approximately 415,000 team members, counted on 31 January 2026 in the company’s latest annual report — full-time, part-time and seasonal staff together, across 1,995 stores, a large supply chain network and offices led from Minneapolis.
If you remember one thing, make it this: the number changes every year, and older figures never die online. When you see a headcount for any big company, ask two questions — which year is it from, and does it come from the company’s own filing? Those two checks will take you straight past most of the wrong answers.
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