Home Depot Compensation Disparities: From Associates to Top Executives

Home Depot, a dominant force in the retail sector, exhibits a wide spectrum of compensation across its workforce. While its top leadership enjoys substantial remuneration packages, the frontline employees, referred to as associates, receive significantly more modest pay. This analysis delves into the financial disparities within the company during fiscal year 2025, outlining the compensation of key executives and the median pay for general associates, alongside the company's internal career progression pathways and benefits.

During fiscal year 2025, Home Depot's leading executives were among the most generously compensated individuals within the organization, driven by the company's robust financial performance and achievement of corporate objectives. For instance, CEO Ted Decker's base salary was 1.4 million dollars, yet his comprehensive compensation, inclusive of stock options and various cash incentives, escalated to over 16 million dollars. Similarly, Ann-Marie Campbell, Executive Vice President overseeing U.S. stores, earned a base salary of 1 million dollars, with her total compensation package reaching seven times that amount.

The following table provides a breakdown of executive compensation in 2025:

In contrast, the median compensation for a Home Depot employee, encompassing both salary and stock awards, stood at $37,881 in fiscal year 2025. This figure is primarily based on the hourly wages of U.S. store associates. The ratio of the CEO's compensation to the median employee's compensation was 427 to 1, a reduction from the 511 to 1 ratio observed in fiscal year 2020, when the CEO's compensation was approximately 14 million dollars and the median employee's pay was $27,389. For perspective, at Nvidia, where the median employee compensation was substantially higher at around 300,000 dollars, the CEO-to-median employee pay ratio was 166 to 1 in fiscal year 2025.

Home Depot categorizes its approximately 472,400 employees as associates, regardless of whether they work on the retail floor or at the corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The vast majority of these associates are hourly employees working across the company's 2,359 stores. As of mid-April 2026, Home Depot's online career portal listed nearly 19,000 job openings across various departments, including customer service, sales, distribution, merchandising, and support. For example, a customer service/sales associate position in Glendale, New York, offered an hourly rate of $19.50, which translates to roughly $40,560 annually for a 40-hour workweek, slightly below the U.S. median annual salary of $62,608 as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Despite the pay disparities, Home Depot emphasizes its commitment to career advancement, noting that over 90% of its U.S. store leaders began their tenure as hourly associates. The company provides training, tools, and optimized processes to empower associates, foster sales growth, and offer meaningful opportunities for professional development. Beyond base pay, the home improvement giant offers a range of benefits and incentives to retain its workforce, including an employee stock purchase program. In fiscal year 2025, equity awards for field leadership, including store managers and assistant store managers, were increased. Historically, the company's stock incentive programs have transformed early investors into millionaires; a 10,000 dollar investment in 1981 would have appreciated to 168 million dollars by mid-April 2026.