How Much Does a Costco Membership Cost in 2026? What Florida Shoppers Get for the Fee

A Costco membership costs $65 a year for a Gold Star card, or $130 a year for the Executive tier.

That’s the easy half.

The harder half is whether the Executive upgrade earns back the extra $65 it costs.

It turns on one figure almost nobody works out before they hand over a credit card: What you spend inside the warehouse in a year.

Note: This is general information, not financial advice. Membership prices and perks are subject to change, so confirm the current details with Costco.

What Executive Members Get Back

An Executive membership pays a 2% reward on most of what you ring up at Costco, and that reward is the whole argument for the higher fee.

Costco sends it once a year as a certificate you spend in the warehouse.

The most any member can collect is $1,250.

Run it with round numbers.

Spend $3,250 in a year on qualified purchases, and the 2% reward works out to exactly $65.

That cancels out the upgrade.

At $5,000 of qualified spending, the reward is $100, and you finish $35 ahead.

Stay under about $3,250 and Gold Star is the cheaper card.

Touching that $1,250 ceiling would take $62,500 of qualified spending, a level few households reach at any single store.

Since June 30, 2025, Executive members have also walked in at 9 a.m., an hour ahead of everyone else on weekdays and Sundays.

Saturday runs shorter, since the doors open to all members at 9:30.

Executive members also get a $10 monthly credit on SameDay.Costco.com or Costco via Instacart orders of $150 or more, which started the same day.

Costco’s Refund Guarantee

The Costco membership fee comes with a guarantee most members never think about.

Cancel at any point in the year, and Costco refunds the whole annual fee.

Costco asks no questions.

There’s no proration either, which means Costco subtracts nothing for the months you already used.

Join in September, shop through the holidays, decide in June that the drive across town stopped being worth it, and you can hand the card back for your $65.

You have to do it at the membership counter or over the phone, since Costco won’t cancel a membership through the website.

Treat the $65 as a deposit rather than a purchase.

That’s how Costco handles it.

How Much a Costco Membership Costs

Gold Star isn’t the only Costco membership that costs $65.

A Business membership carries the same price, and it takes a business license or other business identification to open.

Every extra cardholder on that account costs another $65.

Then comes the part that halves the price: Every tier includes one free household card for a second person 18 or older who lives at your address.

Costco never asks how the two of you are related.

That’s $32.50 each.

Each household card shows its holder’s photo, and the scanners Costco put at warehouse entrances read which membership every card belongs to.

So the half-price math works for the adult sharing your roof, not the neighbor who borrows the card on Saturday.

Alcohol, Gas, and the Pharmacy

In Florida, you need the Costco membership card for more of the warehouse than you would in some other states.

Non-members can buy beer, wine, or spirits at a warehouse club in 14 states, where the law bars any store from putting alcohol behind a paid membership.

Florida didn’t make that list.

So a case of beer at a Florida warehouse takes a card, same as the paper towels.

Costco sells liquor from a separate store beside the warehouse at the Florida locations that carry it.

Florida law says a package store has to be devoted to those sales alone, with no door connecting it to the rest of the building.

Gas stations at Costco are members-only too, and you scan your card at the pump before you can fill up.

The pharmacy is the exception.

Costco fills prescriptions for anyone in all 50 states with no card at all, and the employee checking cards at the entrance will point you toward the counter.

Shopping Without a Card

Several parts of Costco stay open to people who never pay the membership fee.

The most useful is the Costco Shop Card, the warehouse's gift card, which any member can buy and hand to somebody else.

Show it at the entrance and you can shop the aisles, with cash or a debit card covering anything over the balance.

ConsumerAffairs puts the limit at four $500 cards in one purchase, which would cap a single gift at $2,000.

Costco publishes no limit of its own.

Costco.com takes non-member orders too, at a 5% surcharge that still leaves a mattress or a refrigerator cheaper than many places charge.

Eye exams are open to everyone, since the optometrists inside the warehouse work as independent providers, though buying the glasses afterward takes a card.

The food court is out.

Most warehouses now require a membership card at the ordering kiosk, so the walk-in lunch run that teenagers passed around for years has ended.

Why the Fee Went Up

The $65 and $130 a Costco membership costs today took effect on Sept. 1, 2024.

Gold Star had sat at $60 and Executive at $120 since 2017, straight through the worst of the grocery inflation years.

That's seven years unchanged.

CBS News reported that the increase applied to about 52 million memberships, and Costco lifted the Executive reward ceiling from $1,000 to $1,250 in the same announcement.

Costco had raised its dues in 2006, 2011, and 2017 before that, which puts its usual gap closer to five or six years.

What the fee doesn't buy is a break at the register, which is why no Costco senior discount exists for the shoppers who ask.

Costco vs. Sam's Club and BJ's

On the fee alone, a Costco membership is the priciest of the three warehouse clubs a Florida shopper can join.

Sam's Club raised its base membership to $60 and its Plus tier to $120 on May 1, 2026, its first increase since 2022.

BJ's charges $60 for a Club Card membership and $120 for Club+, prices it set on Jan. 1, 2025.

Costco charges the most.

Sam's Club Plus caps its 2% reward at $750 a year against Costco's $1,250, and BJ's builds its pitch around manufacturer coupons, which Costco doesn't accept at all.

All three chains sit within a few exits of each other across many Florida metro areas, so the fee is rarely the whole decision.

Florida's 35 Warehouses

Costco runs 35 warehouses in Florida, and the newest is the first in the western Panhandle.

The Pensacola warehouse on East Nine Mile Road opened in June 2026, on the lot a shuttered Kmart sat on for years.

Costco put the rest where the people live, from West Flagler Street in Miami up through the suburbs ringing Orlando and out along the Gulf coast.

Two more opened in 2025, in Stuart in April and The Villages in August, and Sanford expects a warehouse in the old Seminole Towne Center mall by early 2027.

One card covers them all.

Snowbirds ask about that constantly, and the answer is that a membership works at any Costco worldwide, whether you signed up in Michigan in April or in Naples in December.

Nobody needs a second card for a winter address.

Many members pull off I-95 for the cheaper fuel and never push a cart inside.

Buying Bulk for Storm Season

Between June and November, many Florida households get the most out of a Costco membership, loading carts with bulk water and batteries.

Floridians treat hurricane season with a calm that unnerves everyone else, and the stocking up starts long before a storm has a name.

The state dropped the tax.

Since Aug. 1, 2025, batteries, tarps, carbon monoxide detectors, portable gas cans, and portable generators of 10,000 running watts or less have been free of state sales tax year-round.

That replaced the two-week sales tax holidays Florida used to run each summer.

So a generator loaded onto a cart in August rings up at the same tax-free price it would have carried during a June scramble.

Florida already exempts bottled water and non-perishable food from sales tax, which is how one warehouse run can cover most of a supply kit.

FAQ

Quick answers Florida shoppers want.

How much does a Costco membership cost in 2026?

A Gold Star membership costs $65 a year and an Executive membership costs $130. Business memberships also cost $65, and every tier includes one free household card for a second adult at the same address.

Is the Costco Executive membership worth it?

It breaks even at about $3,250 a year in qualified purchases, where the 2% reward returns the $65 upgrade fee. Spend less than that and Gold Star costs you less.

Can you shop at Costco in Florida without a membership?

You can use the pharmacy, book an eye exam, and order from Costco.com with a 5% surcharge. Walking the warehouse aisles takes either a membership card or a Costco Shop Card a member bought for you.

Do you need a Costco membership to buy alcohol in Florida?

Yes. Florida isn't among the 14 states whose laws make warehouse clubs sell alcohol to non-members, so beer and wine at a Florida warehouse take a card.

Can you get a refund on a Costco membership?

Yes. Costco refunds the full annual fee at any point in the year under its membership guarantee. You cancel at the membership counter or by phone, not on the website.