Costco’s membership model remains one of the strongest in U.S. retail, even as grocery shoppers continue to weigh inflation, subscription fatigue, and tighter household budgets. But at Costco, the recent conversation around members quietly cancelling is less about a mass exit and more about what changed after the company raised fees and tightened enforcement of who can shop.
Costco raised membership prices for about 52 million accounts
Costco confirmed on July 10, 2024, that it would raise annual membership fees effective September 1, 2024, its first increase since 2017. According to the company, Gold Star, Business, and Business add-on memberships in the U.S. and Canada increased by $5 to $65, while Executive memberships increased from $120 to $130.
The company said those changes would affect about 52 million memberships, with a little more than half of them in the Executive tier. Costco also increased the maximum annual 2% Executive reward from $1,000 to $1,250 as part of the same change, a move that showed the company was trying to preserve value for higher-spending shoppers.
That fee increase became the clearest measurable event tied to cancellation chatter. Costco has not reported a broad wave of member departures, but it has acknowledged that renewals and membership behavior are being influenced by changes in how and where memberships are sold.
The impact is national, but Costco has not published a state-by-state cancellation list
For U.S. shoppers, the effect is broad because Costco said the pricing change applies across the United States and Canada. The company had 609 warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico when it announced the increase, but it has not released a comprehensive state-by-state list of locations seeing elevated cancellations or non-renewals.
That means there is no verified public breakdown showing whether members in California, Texas, Florida, or any other state are cancelling at higher rates than shoppers elsewhere. What is confirmed is that the issue is tied to national membership policy, not to a single local market or one regional warehouse division.
Costco’s own reporting still points to high retention overall. In its 2025 annual report, the company said it ended fiscal 2025 with 81 million paid members and a renewal rate of 92.3% in the U.S. and Canada, indicating that even with fee pressure and stricter enforcement, the overwhelming majority of members continued to renew.
The cause is more complicated than simple dissatisfaction
The real reason some memberships are falling out of the system appears to be more complicated than shoppers simply abandoning Costco over prices. In its 2025 annual report, Costco said renewal rates were negatively affected by a higher number of memberships sold online, including through digital promotions, because those members tend to renew at a slightly lower average rate.
Costco has also spent the past two years tightening membership enforcement. The company confirmed in 2023 that nonmembers had been using cards that did not belong to them at self-checkout, and it later expanded card-scanning efforts at warehouse entrances. That matters because some apparent “cancellations” may instead reflect households that had been informally sharing access and were pushed to either pay for their own membership or stop shopping.
At the same time, Costco has been steering customers toward the more expensive Executive tier. Company filings show Executive members represented 38.7 million paid memberships at the end of fiscal 2025 and accounted for about 73.6% of worldwide net sales, underscoring why Costco has focused on upgrades and added benefits.
What members should expect now
For customers, the practical takeaway is that Costco remains heavily membership-driven, and the company is refining that model rather than retreating from it. Shoppers renewing today should expect the higher post-September 2024 pricing to remain in place, continued verification of membership at entry or checkout in many stores, and ongoing efforts to distinguish the Executive tier from the standard plan.
Costco has already signaled that strategy through added Executive benefits, including expanded shopping-hour perks announced in 2025. The company has not said that a new cancellation problem is spreading across specific states, and its public filings still describe a business adding members, increasing fee income, and keeping renewal rates above 92% in the U.S. and Canada.
So while some shoppers are clearly deciding a renewal no longer makes sense for their budget or shopping habits, the verified data shows a narrower story. Costco’s challenge is not a collapse in loyalty, but managing fee increases, digital sign-up churn, and stricter enforcement while keeping members convinced the annual charge still delivers value.