Walmart Store Managers Now Make $600K — How You Can Land This Job
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Heather Altamirano
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Zuri Anderson
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Walmart is betting big on their employees. The retail giant, which operates 4,616 U.S. stores per Scrapehero and is worth over $753 billion, is giving store managers a serious raise. The current base salary ranges from $130,000 to $160,000, Axios reported, but high performers can now earn up to $620,000 which includes bonuses and stock options.
It’s a jaw dropping number, but a strategy Walmart is banking on. Here’s what the mega wage increase says about the economy and how to land a store manager gig at Walmart.
Also find out five other retailers with high-paying manager positions.
The Pay Bump Is Good for Business
While Walmart has typically paid their store managers more than other retailers — Target pays up to $139,000 a year, per Glassdoor, upping the pay even more is good for business.
“This role — which oversees multiple stores — is key for our business and for serving our customers however they shop,” Walmart said in a statement to Axios.
Walmart CEO John Furner echoed the viewpoint.
“What we did last year was make managers feel like owners,” Furner said at the National Retail Federation State of Retail & the Consumer 2025, Quartz reported. “This includes shareholding, which has positively impacted their approach to the company’s profits and losses.”
Furner also noted a noticeable change in employee’s mindsets pointing out a “difference” in how business is talked about, the level of questions asked and how profit and loss statements are approached, per the outlet. He credited the positive change to managers looking at the business as if they owned it.
What the Massive Pay Raise Indicates About the Economy
With inflation prices and tariffs threatening to raise the price of goods and services even more, consumers are nervous about the economy, but this move by Walmart shows a different perspective according to Eric Mangold, CWS founder of Argosy Wealth Management.
“While I’m not making a recommendation to buy or sell WalMart stock, seeing how WalMart is treating their top managers can give people a positive sentiment on our economy,” he stated.
“With recent market volatility on many people’s minds, seeing one of the country’s top retailers make such a major investment in its people could be a positive sign for our economy. If they were massively concerned about our economy, they probably wouldn’t be making this move at this point in time.”
How To Land a Walmart Store Manager Position
There’s not many companies who offer the pay rates Walmart does to managers, so the position is alluring, but a lot of responsibility.
“A Walmart store manager is running a multimillion-dollar business and managing hundreds of people, and it’s a far more complex job today than when I managed a store,” Furner said in a LinkedIn video. “And we ask our managers to own their roles and act like owners.”
No college degree is necessary to become a store manager at Walmart, but the company did start a campaign to recruit recent college grads, and the best way to land the gig is to work yourself up the ranks.
“I just got promoted to TL (team leader) at 19, with only a little over a year and a half with the company,” an employee wrote on Reddit. “What I’ve seen and heard from my coaches is another thing they take into consideration not as much on the TL level but definitely at the coach and store manager level is the knowledge of different departments.”
Another user wrote, “Some days… a LOT of days, it seems like all we are doing is running around putting out ‘fires.’ Like flying from one department to the next handling one crisis after another. The more fires you can put out, the better.
“I take that back. The more fires YOU KNOW HOW to put out effectively, the more valuable you are. Get as much experience as u can. You are allowed to transfer departments every 6 months. The goal is for everyone in management to know that if they send you to tackle an issue, you will get it done.”
Walmart boosting the manager’s salary was a gamble, but one that’s paying off. The company took the top spot in 2024 on the Fortune 500 list and made the Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For list last year and again in 2025.
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