Costco membership cost to go up for first time since 2017

The cost to join Costco is going up, but the price of the hot dog meal is staying the same.

Beginning Sept. 1, the cost of a regular membership, called Gold Star, as well as Business and Business add-on will go up by $5, increased to $65. Executive Memberships will go up $10 and will become $130 a year, the company said in a news release.

The maximum reward that comes with the Executive tier will be increased from $1,000 to $1,200.

Costco has about 52 million members, about half of which are Executive members, the company said.

One thing that is not changing is the cost of the hot dog and soda combo, The Washington Post reported. That will remain at its 1980s price of $1.50, Costco CFO Gary Millerchip told investors in May. At the time, he said he was not ruling out increasing the cost of membership, adding that the company considers charging more about every five years.

CNBC reported that using that timeline, the fee increase should have happened in late 2022 or early 2023 but the company delayed it because of rising inflation at the time.

Instead, Costco last year focused on making sure people used their own cards to shop at the warehouse, not someone else’s, and added extra ID checks at self-checkouts.

Competitor Sam’s Club raised membership fees in 2022 and charges $50 for a basic membership and $110 for a Plus membership, the Post reported.

There are 882 Costcos worldwide with 609 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

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