With another center, Amazon is boosting employment numbers in Stanislaus County
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Amazon will operate a 316,800 sq ft same‑day center in north Modesto.
- County transportation and warehousing jobs rose from 7,200 in 2014 to over 10,000 by 2024.
- Warehouse roles pay about $18/hr (range ~$16.70–$27.75), with high turnover.
Amazon is expanding its presence as a large employer in Stanislaus County.
The e-commerce giant confirmed last week it will operate a same-day fulfillment center in the 316,800-square-foot industrial building at Kiernan Avenue and Tully Road in north Modesto. The other two Amazon distribution centers in the county are more than three times larger.
The Patterson fulfillment center created a stir when it opened in 2013, even though it is 17 miles west of Modesto, not far from Interstate 5. The center, called OAK3, covers 1.1 million square feet and has 66 loading dock doors. A California Department of Transportation report in 2023 estimated the center has 2,500 employees.
Amazon’s Turlock fulfillment center expected to hire up to 1,500 employees when it was christened in October 2022. Called MCE1, the 1.1 million-square-foot facility is about the same size as the Patterson center.
What may become the king of distribution centers in the region was approved as “Project Zach” last year in Patterson. The proposed building will have five stories and 3.23 million square feet of space, at the southwest corner of Rogers and Zacharias roads.
Amazon hasn’t confirmed a connection to the project, but stories in local publications and on social media are calling it the “Amazon center.” The massive e-commerce facility is expected to boast the most advanced automation and technology.
The plans include parking spaces for 983 cars and more than 500 trailers. About 1,500 employees are projected.
Amazon hasn’t divulged the size of the workforce expected for the same-day fulfillment center on Kiernan. A same-day center in Sacramento that opened in 2022 reportedly had 300 employees.
Amazon also has more than a dozen warehouse and logistics centers in neighboring San Joaquin County, including three fulfillment centers in Tracy alone employing 4,600 workers.
Warehouse development also comes with a boost in employment for truck drivers and other transportation employees. In Stanislaus County, transportation and warehousing employment grew from 7,200 jobs in 2014 to more than 10,000 jobs in 2024, the Caltrans report said.
San Joaquin County has 62,863 people employed in transportation and warehousing, according to a San Joaquin Council of Governments report last year.
Wages for Amazon employees
Those Amazon paychecks are not that hefty, as warehousing has a reputation as a lower-wage industry. The Indeed employment site says the average pay for Amazon warehouse workers in Stockton is $18.43 an hour in a range from $16.70 to $27.75 per hour. Reported salaries for a variety of loading and stocking positions were $18 to $25.82 per hour.
The Patterson center was seeking to fill an Area Manager II position to support and motivate an hourly workforce. The advertised salary ranged up to $91,000 a year.
The fast-paced work environment in Amazon centers often is associated with high workplace injury rates and employee turnover.
For a 2020 study, the National Employment Law Project analyzed Census data showing high turnover rates among warehouse workers in counties where Amazon fulfillment centers operate.
The turnover was 100.9% in those counties in 2017, an indication that more workers left warehousing jobs than the total number of those workers in the respective area, the study said.
In San Joaquin County, where Amazon fulfillment centers opened in 2013 and 2016, the turnover rate increased from 40% in 2013 to 104% in 2017.
After the Patterson fulfillment center opened in 2013, the 38% turnover rate among warehouse workers in Stanislaus County increased to 89% by 2017, the study found.
Amazon said Monday that safety is a priority for employees at its fulfillment centers. “Over the past five years, we’ve invested more than $2 billion across our operations in our safety efforts and we’ve made measurable progress,” the company said in a statement.
The statement said that injuries requiring more than basic first aid are down more than 34%. Amazon said it is striving to become a benchmark of safety excellence across the industries in which it operates.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 2:35 PM.
