Home Depot Plans 12 New U.S. Stores Across Eight States in 2026

Between 1,200 and 1,800 new associate positions are opening across The Home Depot's planned 12-store expansion into eight states this year. The states are Texas, Florida, Arizona, California, Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arkansas, with Texas leading the slate with multiple locations. The most specific workforce figure on record: the planned Leander, Texas store is expected to generate more than 150 jobs on its own.

The total expansion adds more than 1.6 million square feet of retail space to the U.S. footprint. Senior Executive Vice President Ann-Marie Campbell cited improved store performance and the company's confidence in brick-and-mortar investment when the expansion was announced, framing each new location as a physical node in a broader digital-and-local fulfillment strategy that includes same-day delivery and buy-online-pickup-in-store capability.

For associates in or near these markets, that strategy has direct implications for which roles open first. New stores build their entire leadership structure from scratch. Department lead slots in lumber, building materials, plumbing, electrical, flooring, garden, and pro services become available simultaneously, something that almost never happens inside an established store. Associates willing to transfer carry real leverage in these hiring cycles, particularly those with experience in pro customer service or receiving workflows.

The fulfillment focus means receiving and yard teams are among the first hires. BOPIS and same-day operations require those workflows to be functional before the doors open to the public, which makes freight and receiving experience a genuine differentiator for any associate angling toward a lead role.

Hiring runs in two phases: a multi-month construction period during which area leadership establishes recruiting pipelines and runs local job fairs, followed by an intensive four-to-eight-week pre-open staffing and training window. Associates hired or transferred into a new store during that window move through orientation, safety training, and system-specific onboarding covering MyTHDHR, point-of-sale systems, and Material List Builder. Path to Pro outreach is typically active during the earlier recruitment phase for trades-adjacent roles.

Coordinating with regional HR on benefit enrollment and payroll setup, completing pre-opening safety and loss prevention walkthroughs, and staging merchandising resets all land in that compressed sprint alongside new-hire onboarding. For associates who have navigated a remodel cycle, the intensity is familiar; for those who haven't, it compresses a year of operational learning into roughly two months.

For associates at existing stores in these eight markets, the expansion carries a quieter implication worth tracking. Experienced colleagues may transfer toward new locations, creating temporary gaps in department coverage just as spring project season accelerates. Once open, new stores redirect local pro contractor and DIY demand back into the network, which over time strengthens pro account volume across nearby locations rather than ceding it to competitors.