Meet the typical Dollar General customer: An older rural worker with a high school education and an income of less than $40,000

Dollar General has 17,426 stores in 46 states across the US and employs more than 158,000 people.
Roughly 40% of US shoppers are Dollar General customers, making an average of 25 visits per year.
Dollar General's average customer is older, with a high-school diploma, earning less than $40,000 per year.
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Dollar General is one of the leading discount retailers in the US, and the sixteenth-largest retailer in the world, making sales of $33.7 billion in 2020.

Originally founded in 1939 as J.L. Turner and Son, Wholesale, the first Dollar General store was opened in 1955. Now based in Tennessee, there are 17,426 stores in 46 states across the US, mostly concentrated in the Sunbelt and Midwest.

Roughly 40% of shoppers in the US shop at Dollar General, according to data from the analytics firm Numerator prepared for Insider.

Numerator found that Dollar General's typical shopper is an older worker with a high-school education who lives in a two-person household in a rural area and earns less than $40,000 per year. The typical shopper tends to be white, but the store is also popular with Black customers.

The store aims to offer low prices on brand name goods, with a smaller store format, and a particular focus on smaller markets with limited shopping alternatives. In its annual report, the company says its core customers are "low and fixed income households often underserved by other retailers."

The typical customer picks up an average of eight items per trip for a cost of $19.27, and tends to visit every other week for an annual expense of $481.75, Numerator found.

About 2.3% of their overall spending takes place at Dollar General - behind other retailers including Walmart and Amazon, where they spend more.

Their favorite products to buy at Dollar General are candy, chips, and sodas, and they prefer brands like Coca-Cola, Reese's, and Lays.

More than three-quarters of Dollar General's revenue comes from consumables, like foods and drinks, although it makes a lower profit margin on those products. The rest of its sales come from apparel and home products, and its highest profits come from seasonal items.

Dollar General did not respond to a request for comment.