Here is a fact that should settle every argument about whether a corporate DEI rollback actually means anything. Walmart cancelled its diversity programs and scores 90/100 on the BWF Woke Score. Costco Wholesale went to the mat to keep its diversity programs and scores 45/100.
Half. The retailer that publicly defended DEI scores half of the one that publicly buried it.
If that reads backwards to you, congratulations — you have just discovered the single most useful thing about scoring a corporation on its accumulated record instead of its most recent press release.
The 98% Vote Costco Never Backed Away From
On January 23, 2025, Costco shareholders voted on a proposal from a conservative think tank asking the company to produce a report on the risks of maintaining its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. More than 98% of shares voted against it, according to preliminary results the company shared at its annual meeting and reported by Reuters, the Associated Press, and The Wall Street Journal.
This was not a board that got dragged along by activist investors. Costco's directors actively urged shareholders to reject the proposal, and shareholders obliged by a margin that barely qualifies as a contest. At the exact moment the rest of corporate America was speed-running its DEI exit, Costco planted a flag.
And it has not quietly reversed course since. Fortune reported in February 2026 that Costco has kept a formal diversity office and program in place while Target and Walmart scaled theirs back — and that business is booming. Whatever else you want to say about Costco, it did not blink.
What Walmart Actually Cancelled
In November 2024, Walmart became the largest American company to roll back DEI. As reported by the Associated Press and CNBC, the retailer:
- Declined to renew its five-year, $100 million commitment to the Center for Racial Equity, created in 2020
- Stopped participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index
- Ended racial equity training programs for staff
- Rebranded its "supplier diversity" team as "supplier engagement"
- Pulled back on Pride merchandise and sponsorship
That is not nothing. It is a genuine, documented retreat, and it is more than most companies did. So why does Walmart still carry a 90 — an "extremely woke" label — while Costco sits at 45?
Why the Rollback Barely Moved Walmart's Score
The BWF Woke Score grades six dimensions: ESG reporting, DEI programs, Pride sponsorships, HRC Corporate Equality Index rating, political contributions, and CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion participation. Walmart's problem is that it ran the table on all six for the better part of a decade.
Years of ESG reporting. A nine-figure racial equity commitment. Platinum-level Pride sponsorships. Perfect HRC Corporate Equality Index scores. A CEO Action signatory in Doug McMillon. Walmart did not dabble in any of this — it built the most decorated corporate DEI résumé in American retail, then announced in a single November it was done.
A press release does not retroactively unspend $100 million. It does not unsponsor a decade of Pride. It does not un-sign the CEO Action pledge. The score measures what a company built, funded, and lobbied for — not what it says about that record once the political weather changes. This is why we keep hammering the same point: "we ended DEI" and "we were never woke" are two completely different sentences.
Why Costco Only Scores 45
Costco's 45 is not a compliment. It still earns a "woke" label, and nobody should read this article as a Costco endorsement. But its footprint is genuinely thinner than Walmart's on the dimensions that matter:
- It publishes sustainability reporting, but keeps DEI off its homepage rather than leading with it
- It carries an HRC Corporate Equality Index listing
- It is not a CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion signatory — a clean zero on one of the six dimensions Walmart maxed out
- It has no record of Platinum-tier corporate Pride sponsorship at Walmart's scale
- It dropped Palmetto Cheese after the brand's owner made comments about Black Lives Matter, and handled the aftermath of George Floyd's death with the same calculated positioning
Costco's approach has always been to do enough to stay out of the crosshairs without buying the whole platform. Ironically, that restraint is exactly what produces a lower score than the company that went all-in and then very loudly quit.
Costco vs Walmart: Head to Head
- Costco Wholesale — 45/100 (woke). Defended DEI in a 98% shareholder vote, kept its diversity office through 2026, no CEO Action signature, thinner Pride and ESG footprint.
- Walmart — 90/100 (extremely woke). Rolled back DEI in November 2024 after a decade of $100M racial equity funding, Platinum Pride sponsorships, perfect HRC CEI scores, and a CEO Action signature.
The Verdict
If the question is strictly "which of these two big-box giants is less woke by the numbers," the answer is Costco, 45 to 90, and it is not close.
But understand what you are actually choosing between. This is not a conservative company versus a progressive one. It is a company that is honest about where it stands versus a company that spent ten years building the deepest DEI infrastructure in American retail and then sent out a memo. Costco's 45 is a woke score. Walmart's 90 is an extremely woke score. Neither one is a win, and anyone telling you the November 2024 announcement made Walmart the conservative option is selling you the rollback instead of the record.
Where the Rest of the Aisle Lands
If you are rethinking where the grocery budget goes, the rest of the General Merchandise shelf scores like this:
- Target — 71/100, extremely woke
- Kroger — 56/100, woke
- ALDI — 45/100, woke, driven mostly by sustainability programming rather than politics
- Publix — 42/100, woke, and the lowest-scoring major grocer we have rated
If You Want an Actual Zero
Every brand above is somewhere on the woke spectrum. If you want a genuine 0/100, they exist — they are just smaller and privately held. Buc-ee's scores a clean 0/100: no ESG reporting, no DEI programs, no Pride sponsorships, no HRC rating, no CEO Action signature. In-N-Out Burger scores the same 0/100 for the same reasons.
That is the real lesson of the Costco–Walmart split. The companies that score zero are not the ones that announced they quit. They are the ones that never signed up. Browse the full Retail database and check the score before you check out.