Retail Jobs in Washington, DC

The cleanest local pay signal comes from BLS occupation data, which put retail salespersons in the metro at a $39,600 annual mean wage, $36,610 median, $34,350 at the 25th percentile, and $47,800 at the 90th percentile in 2025. The higher-paying local path is supervisory: first-line supervisors of retail sales workers had a $57,760 annual mean wage and a $50,530 median in 2025. By contrast, current posted hourly retail roles in the local sample center on about $16 to $20 / hour, while posted annual salary ranges center on about $60k to $81k.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 1,352 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $33,800 at the 25th percentile, $38,470 at the median and $45,612 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

This is a workable retail market, but not an easy one. Metro unemployment was 3.8% in August, and the local sample still showed more than 3,000 retail postings across more than 600 companies over the last 90 days. But the broader backdrop is softer than that headline suggests: total metro nonfarm employment was down -1.9610% year-over-year, and trade, transportation, and utilities employment was down -0.4980% year-over-year in August. That usually means real openings exist, but employers can stay picky on availability, in-store execution, and schedule flexibility.

Best positioned: Candidates who can show inventory management, merchandising, customer service, and cash-handling experience—and who are ready for fully on-site work—have the best odds right now.

Main caution: Do not read the higher posted annual salary bands as typical associate pay; BLS put metro retail salespersons at a $36,610 median in 2025, while much of the higher posted pay likely reflects supervisory and salaried roles.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 1,612 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Macy's, Inc.: 67 open roles
2. EssilorLuxottica: 49 open roles
3. Signet Jewelers Limited: 40 open roles
4. AutoZone, Inc.: 37 open roles
5. DTLR, Inc: 37 open roles
6. Sunglass Hut: 35 open roles
7. Lowe's: 30 open roles
8. Costco Wholesale Corp.: 29 open roles
9. The TJX Companies, Inc.: 27 open roles
10. Food Lion: 24 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 110
• Baltimore: 101
• Alexandria: 80
• Leesburg: 78
• Fairfax: 78
• Annapolis: 59
• McLean: 52
• Arlington: 51

Work arrangement

on-site 1,558 (99%), hybrid 15 (1%), remote 5 (0%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is spread across a long tail of employers rather than one dominant chain. The local sample showed more than 3,000 postings across more than 600 companies, and hiring was classified as fragmented. Among the most active named employers were Dollar General with more than 175 postings, plus Panda Express and Macy's with more than 75 each. The mix is still mostly core retail: about 80% of postings were in retail, about 10% in retail apparel and fashion, and about 5% in restaurants. That lines up with recent local store activity in grocery, apparel, outlet, and specialty retail, including Sprouts in Arlington, UNIQLO and Bombas in Georgetown, a Toys R Us opening at Leesburg Premium Outlets, and a planned Alexandria jewelry opening tied to holiday shopping. For job seekers, this means the market is less about one breakout employer and more about repeatable store-level demand. If you can flex across replenishment, customer service, cashiering, merchandising, and basic sales tasks, you can apply across multiple retail formats instead of waiting for one ideal brand.

• Value and everyday retail chains (high): A meaningful share of the accessible demand appears to sit with high-volume chain employers, led by Dollar General in the local sample.
• Apparel, outlet, and specialty stores (moderate): Retail apparel and fashion accounted for about 10% of the local posting mix, and recent openings from UNIQLO, Bombas, Toys R Us, and a new jewelry store point to seasonal and launch-related staffing pockets.
• Food-adjacent and quick-service retail (moderate): Restaurants represented about 5% of the local sample, and Panda Express was one of the more active named employers, so some neighboring customer-service demand is flowing through food-adjacent retail settings.

Where to focus: Focus first on on-site chains and multi-location retailers in value, grocery, apparel, and outlet formats, where hiring is broad enough to support repeated applications and faster re-application cycles.

Roles worth searching next

• Patient access representative or medical front desk: It uses the same core strengths as retail: face-to-face service, problem solving, transaction accuracy, and schedule coordination.
• Bank teller or branch service representative: Retail cash handling, customer trust, and upsell comfort transfer well into branch banking.
• Inventory control coordinator in operations-supply-chain-logistics: Strong store-side replenishment and stock discipline can translate into backroom, warehouse-adjacent, or inventory-control work.
• Hotel front desk or guest service agent: The crossover is strong if your retail strength is service recovery, multitasking, and handling busy walk-in traffic.

What postings ask for

• Inventory management (table_stakes | immediate): Inventory management was the most-requested hard skill in the local retail sample, appearing in about 35% of postings. Who: Entry-level applicants, stock associates, and anyone trying to move into lead or supervisor work.
• Customer service and clienteling (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service showed up in about 25% of local postings, and national retail guidance says store roles are shifting toward relationship-building, product expertise, and clienteling. Who: Everyone, especially career switchers coming from hospitality, food service, or office-facing service work.
• Merchandising and visual merchandising (differentiator | immediate): Merchandising appeared in about 25% of local postings and visual merchandising in about 15%, which makes it a strong separator for apparel, specialty, and launch-store hiring. Who: Applicants targeting apparel, specialty retail, or promotion into lead roles.
• Cash handling and register operation (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling appeared in about 20% of local postings and cash register operation in about 10%, making them baseline proof points for frontline reliability. Who: Entry-level seekers and career switchers without direct retail titles.
• Loss prevention awareness (differentiator | near-term): Loss prevention appeared in about 10% of local postings, which matters more in high-traffic, value, and multi-shift store environments. Who: Candidates targeting key-holder, opening/closing, and supervisor-adjacent roles.
• ServSafe (differentiator | near-term): ServSafe was the most commonly required certification named in the local sample, even if it appeared in only about 5% of postings. Who: Anyone applying to food-adjacent retail, quick-service, grocery prepared-food, or counter roles.

Questions about this market

What do Retail roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

The cleanest local pay signal comes from BLS occupation data, which put retail salespersons in the metro at a $39,600 annual mean wage, $36,610 median, $34,350 at the 25th percentile, and $47,800 at the 90th percentile in 2025. The higher-paying local path is supervisory: first-line supervisors of retail sales workers had a $57,760 annual mean wage and a $50,530 median in 2025. By contrast, current posted hourly retail roles in the local sample center on about $16 to $20 / hour, while posted annual salary ranges center on about $60k to $81k. For most job seekers, this is a moderate-pay market with wide variation between frontline hourly jobs and store-leadership roles. Washington's broader labor market pays more overall—the metro all-occupation mean was $44.20 per hour in May 2025—so standard retail associate pay does not stretch as far here as the region's headline wage levels might imply.

Where is demand for Retail roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

Real opportunity is spread across a long tail of employers rather than one dominant chain. The local sample showed more than 3,000 postings across more than 600 companies, and hiring was classified as fragmented. Among the most active named employers were Dollar General with more than 175 postings, plus Panda Express and Macy's with more than 75 each. The mix is still mostly core retail: about 80% of postings were in retail, about 10% in retail apparel and fashion, and about 5% in restaurants. That lines up with recent local store activity in grocery, apparel, outlet, and specialty retail, including Sprouts in Arlington, UNIQLO and Bombas in Georgetown, a Toys R Us opening at Leesburg Premium Outlets, and a planned Alexandria jewelry opening tied to holiday shopping. For job seekers, this means the market is less about one breakout employer and more about repeatable store-level demand. If you can flex across replenishment, customer service, cashiering, merchandising, and basic sales tasks, you can apply across multiple retail formats instead of waiting for one ideal brand.

Which employers are hiring the most Retail talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from Dollar General (175 postings), Panda Express (75 postings), Macy's (75 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Retail roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 4% are remote and 4% hybrid, with 95% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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