How Many People Work at Starbucks? Headcount and Employee Trends

Starbucks employs just over 45,000 people worldwide, according to the most recent headcount data. During the latest reporting period the company added roughly 700 employees while approximately 2,000 departed, resulting in a modest contraction of the total workforce. Even with this slight decrease, Starbucks maintains one of the largest employee bases in the retail sector, reflecting the scale of its coffeehouse operations, licensed stores, and corporate functions.

Business Management is the company’s largest function, accounting for close to 44 % of all employees; this group encompasses store managers, district leaders, and corporate strategy roles that keep day-to-day operations on track. Operations follows with about 8,800 employees who handle supply chain, store support, and logistics, while Sales and Support roles—primarily front-of-house baristas and customer-facing staff—make up a similar share at just over 8,000. Engineering, Marketing & Product, Finance & Administration, Human Resources, and Information Technology collectively represent a smaller but essential segment focused on innovation, brand management, compliance, and employee experience. Recent hiring was concentrated in customer-facing and technology roles, whereas attrition has been spread across departments—an expected pattern for a large retail organization.

Seattle remains the talent hub with more than 4,600 employees at Starbucks’ headquarters and surrounding stores. Other major U.S. metros such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Portland, and Washington, DC collectively host around 5,000 workers. The vast majority—over 35,000 employees—are distributed across a wide network of “Other” locations, which includes thousands of licensed and company-operated coffeehouses in North America and international markets. This geographic spread underscores Starbucks’ reliance on a highly distributed retail workforce complemented by a centralized corporate core in the Pacific Northwest.