10/16/2026
Lowe’s returned $49.5 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends over the last five years. Spread across roughly 285,000 employees, that’s equivalent to about $34,700 per employee per year for five years. www.sec.gov
A recent report lists Lowe’s among the country’s 20 largest low-wage employers. Its median worker pay was $30,606 in 2024—below the report’s estimated SNAP income limit for a family of three.
When workers can’t make ends meet, public assistance helps fill the gap, and taxpayers like me and you help carry that cost. ips-dc.org
Every time I shop at Lowe’s, the checkout asks me to donate. It’s hard to feel good about being asked for a handout while the company returns billions to shareholders and many of its workers earn too little to comfortably afford the basics.
How are small businesses like mine supposed to survive when corporations strip-mine our communities for billions while paying their workers starvation wages? I’m not afraid of hard work, but I need neighbors who can actually afford my services.
Is this really the kind of business we’re proud to have in our community? Why are my tax dollars subsidizing already fabulously wealthy companies who come into our community with their hand out when every day i drive by local working missoulians who are forced to live outside in the winter. Lowe's Home Improvement City of Missoula