3 Costco Membership Numbers Behind Renewal Rates
A renewal rate is not a door counter or a one-night popularity contest. These three figures show why a quiet annual decision gets attention far beyond the warehouse entrance.
The Costco number that gets repeated most often is usually a percentage. It deserves a little more respect than a headline flourish. A renewal rate tells us how many eligible members renewed over a defined stretch of time, so it is a signal about a relationship that has already had a year or more to settle in. It is not a live count of who is pushing a cart through the exit doors.
Costco's latest quarterly filing makes the definition unusually useful. The company measures renewal on a trailing seven-to-18-month basis, excludes business affiliations, and excludes members whose expiration dates were more than six months before the measurement date. That lag can sound fussy. It keeps the percentage from pretending to be something it is not.
1. 92.2%: the returning-member signal
For the fiscal 2026 third quarter ended May 10, Costco reported a 92.2% renewal rate in the United States and Canada, and 89.7% worldwide. These figures are not a promise about the next quarter or the next share-price move. They do show that, among the eligible group measured under Costco's method, a large share chose to continue paying for access.
That matters because Costco itself says renewal rates materially influence profitability. A member who renews does not need to be won from scratch again. The percentage is therefore a read on durable participation, not a scorecard for a single sale or a viral product.
2. 82.9 million: the paid-member base
The same 10-Q reported 82.9 million paid members and 148.5 million cardholders. The difference is helpful. One membership can include more than one cardholder, so the paid-member count and the people who can walk into a warehouse are not the same measure. The 82.9 million figure is the clearer companion to a renewal rate because it describes the fee-paying membership base.
Scale changes the emotional temperature of a percentage. A strong rate attached to a large base can be a meaningful business signal, while the same percentage attached to a tiny group might barely move the needle. Still, neither number says which direction a stock must travel. Markets also weigh future sales, costs, margins, competition and expectations.
3. $1.373 billion: fees arrive on a schedule
Costco reported $1.373 billion in membership fees during that third quarter, up from $1.240 billion in the comparable quarter a year earlier. The important wrinkle is timing. Costco says it defers membership fees and recognizes them ratably over the one-year membership period, rather than booking the whole year's fee as income on the day a member renews.
That accounting treatment gives the metric a steadier pulse. It also means a reader should resist turning one renewal season into a giant instant verdict. Membership-fee revenue records a service that unfolds over time, which is far more like a calendar on the kitchen wall than a cash register bell.
What the three numbers answer
- 92.2%
- How many eligible U.S. and Canadian members renewed under Costco's trailing measurement.
- 82.9 million
- How many paid members Costco reported at May 10, 2026.
- $1.373 billion
- Membership-fee revenue Costco reported for the fiscal 2026 third quarter.
The pleasant paper detail
Even this data-heavy story has a delightfully analogue corner. Costco says an Executive member's annual 2% reward certificate is mailed with the renewal notice about two months before the annual renewal date. It is a small piece of mail that turns a retention statistic into something a household might actually pin to the fridge.
For an investor, a renewal percentage is one clue among many, not a buy-or-sell instruction. For a member, it is much simpler: enough people saw continued value in the card to keep it. Understanding the measurement and the fee timing makes that clue more useful, and much less mysterious.
Sources
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