Ross Dress for Less, a prominent player in the off-price retail market, employs tens of thousands of individuals across its vast network of stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices. For those considering a career with this Fortune 500 company, understanding the potential compensation is a critical step. While an entry-level position may offer a starting hourly wage, a management or corporate role can provide a competitive annual salary, making a career at Ross a potentially rewarding path.
This guide breaks down the salary expectations for various roles at Ross Stores, exploring the key factors that influence your earning potential and the overall outlook for a career in the retail sector.
Common Roles and Responsibilities at Ross Stores
Before diving into salary specifics, it's essential to understand that "a Ross Stores salary" isn't a single number but a spectrum that varies based on the specific job. Ross operates with a lean in-store staffing model, and responsibilities can be broad. Key roles include:
- Retail Associate: The face of the company, responsible for customer service, operating the cash register, maintaining the sales floor, organizing merchandise, and assisting in the fitting rooms.
- Stock Associate: Focused on back-of-house operations, including unloading merchandise from trucks, processing new inventory, stocking the sales floor, and organizing the stockroom.
- Assistant Store Manager: A key leadership role responsible for supervising associates, driving sales, managing store operations in the absence of the Store Manager, handling customer escalations, and assisting with scheduling and training.
- Store Manager: The leader of the store, accountable for overall performance, including profitability, staffing and development, inventory management, loss prevention, and ensuring a positive customer and employee experience.
- Corporate & Distribution Roles: Beyond the stores, Ross employs professionals in areas like Buying, Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, and Logistics at its corporate headquarters in Dublin, California, and various distribution centers.
Average Salaries at Ross Stores
Salaries at Ross Stores are role-dependent. Hourly wages are standard for associates, while management and corporate positions are typically salaried. All figures are based on aggregated data from recent reports and may vary.
- Retail Associate / Sales Associate: According to data from Payscale and Glassdoor, the average hourly wage for a Retail Associate at Ross Stores typically falls between $13 and $15 per hour. This can range from state minimum wage at the low end to upwards of $17 per hour for experienced associates in high-cost-of-living areas.
- Assistant Store Manager: For this first step into management, annual salaries see a significant jump. Salary.com reports the median salary for a Retail Assistant Manager is around $49,900, with a typical range of $44,000 to $57,000. Data from Glassdoor for Ross specifically places the average total pay in a similar range.
- Store Manager: The top position in the store commands a much higher salary reflecting their level of responsibility. According to Glassdoor and Payscale, the average base salary for a Ross Store Manager is approximately $65,000 to $70,000 per year. The full range can be quite broad, from around $55,000 for a manager in a smaller market to over $85,000 for a seasoned manager in a high-volume, high-cost location.
Key Factors That Influence Salary
Your specific salary at Ross Stores will be determined by a combination of several important factors.
### Role and Responsibility
As demonstrated above, this is the single most significant factor. A Store Manager's salary is multiples higher than a Retail Associate's hourly wage due to the vast difference in accountability, from managing multi-million dollar sales volumes to hiring, training, and overall store profitability.
### Years of Experience
Experience directly impacts earning potential. An entry-level associate with no prior retail experience will likely start at the lower end of the pay scale. Conversely, an associate with several years of retail experience may command a higher starting wage. For management, this is even more pronounced. An Assistant Manager promoted from within may start at a lower salary than an external hire with ten years of retail management experience.
### Geographic Location
Where you work matters immensely. A Store Manager in San Francisco, California, will earn a substantially higher salary than a manager in Dayton, Ohio, to account for the drastic difference in the cost of living. Furthermore, hourly wages are directly influenced by state and city minimum wage laws, which often set the floor for starting pay. For example, states like California and Washington have higher minimum wages than the federal standard, leading to higher base pay for associates in those regions.
### Company Type and Market Position
Ross operates in the highly competitive off-price retail sector. Its compensation structure is designed to be competitive with direct rivals like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and Burlington. According to salary aggregator data, compensation within this specific sector is generally comparable. However, salaries might differ when compared to other retail segments, such as big-box retailers (e.g., Target) or luxury department stores, which have different business models and margin structures.
### Area of Specialization
This factor is most relevant when comparing store-level jobs to corporate or distribution center roles. While in-store roles are focused on general retail operations, corporate positions require deep specialization. For instance, a Financial Analyst, Merchandise Buyer, or a Logistics Manager at Ross’s corporate headquarters will have vastly different salary bands based on their specific field, education, and technical expertise. These specialized corporate roles often command higher salaries than even senior in-store management positions.
Job Outlook
To understand the career outlook, we can look at data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for key retail professions.
- Retail Salespersons: The BLS projects a slight decline in employment for retail salespersons of 2% from 2022 to 2032. This trend is largely attributed to the continued growth of e-commerce. However, the BLS still anticipates about 336,700 openings each year, on average, over the decade, primarily to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force.
- First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers (e.g., Managers): The outlook for retail managers is more stable, with the BLS projecting little to no change in employment. About 122,900 openings are projected each year, on average, for these supervisory roles.
This indicates that while the overall industry is transforming, the sheer size of the retail sector ensures a consistent demand for skilled and reliable workers, especially in leadership roles.
Conclusion
A career at Ross Stores offers a viable entry point into the retail industry with a clear path for advancement. While entry-level hourly pay is competitive for the sector, the real earning potential lies in moving up the management ladder or transitioning to a specialized corporate role.
Your salary will ultimately be a reflection of your role, your experience, and the local market you work in. For individuals with a strong work ethic and a desire to grow, Ross can provide a stable career with increasing financial rewards. By understanding these key factors, prospective employees can set realistic expectations and strategically plan their career journey within one of America's leading off-price retailers.