U.S. wages outpace inflation, but pay gaps still squeeze Dollar General workers

The latest wage numbers gave Dollar General workers a small cushion, but not enough to erase the pressure of everyday bills. Median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers rose to $1,235 in the first quarter of 2026, up 3.4% from a year earlier, while consumer prices rose 2.7%. That means pay was finally pulling ahead of inflation, if only slightly, at a time when rent, groceries, gas and child care still eat through a paycheck fast.

The bigger story for DG households is how uneven that paycheck remains. Women’s median weekly earnings were $1,098, or 80.6% of the $1,362 median for men. The gap was also clear by race and ethnicity: Hispanic full-time workers had median weekly earnings of $984, Black workers $985, White workers $1,263 and Asian workers $1,589. Among men and women in the same broad groups, White women earned 79.9% as much as White men, Black women earned 94.1% as much as Black men, Asian women earned 78.5% as much as Asian men and Hispanic women earned 85.5% as much as Hispanic men.

For Dollar General employees, that gap matters because it reaches beyond hourly pay into the structure of a household budget. A slightly higher wage can help with one bill, but it does not always cover the full cost of a family month, especially when a store associate or support worker is one income earner in a two-income home. It also helps explain why overtime can feel less like a bonus and more like a necessity, and why a stable schedule can matter as much as the size of a raise.

Dollar General remains a major employer in that environment. The company said it operated more than 20,800 stores across 48 U.S. states and five cities in Mexico during fiscal 2025. It reported 20,594 stores as of January 31, 2025, and 20,893 stores as of January 30, 2026. In fiscal 2025, the company opened 589 stores, relocated 47 stores, remodeled more than 4,254 stores and opened a new distribution center in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Its 2025 annual report said it had 17 distribution centers.

Dollar General’s own filings say financial pressures on its core customers remained part of the operating backdrop. That is the same squeeze many workers feel on the clock and at home. At DG, the wage story is not just about a headline increase. It is about whether a paycheck can still hold up after the gap between men and women, and between White workers and many workers of color, is counted against the cost of living.