McKinsey & Company is the last, and highest paying Big 3 MBB consulting firm on this list. McKinsey is arguably the most prestigious consulting firm of all tier 1 companies and consistently attracts the top Fortune 500 clients to its offices around the world.
They are considered to be the most prestigious firms in the management consulting industry. In terms of employees, McKinsey & Company is the largest and leads by revenue. McKinsey is followed by Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company, respectively.
Bain and McKinsey pay $112K in base, followed closely by BCG at $110K. That's roughly 58% of MBB and PhD starting pay. Each MBB firm also furnishes a $5K signing bonus.
The highest paying salary package reported for a Management Consultant at McKinsey sits at a yearly total compensation of $445,500. This includes base salary as well as any potential stock compensation and bonuses.
At McKinsey, the salary for entry-level consultants (Analysts) ranges from $90,000 to $110,000 per year, while the figure for MBA-level/experienced Associates can go up to $233,000. Engagement Managers typically earn around $250,000, while Partners and Directors can earn up to $1,300,000.
While a job at McKinsey sets you up for a fantastic career in management consulting, it's also notoriously one of the hardest companies to get an offer from. Read on for our top tips to help you land that coveted first consulting role.
In 2022, McKinsey & Company was rated as the most prestigious consulting firm in the United States with a rating of more than nine.
For MBA and PhD hires, salaries and bonuses for the MBB firms remained unchanged, with Bain and BCG edging ahead of McKinsey in terms of total compensation for the second year running. Again, there are some nuances when it comes to perks for MBA and PhD hires.
McKinsey Consultant Salary & Bonuses
MBA graduates at McKinsey can earn performance bonuses up to $45,000, and a signing bonus of $30,000. For master's graduates, performance bonuses cap at $30,000, with a signing bonus of $5,000.
If you want to make the most money in consulting, Deloitte pays the best. However if you want to make the most money in auditing or tax PwC is likely your best bet.
The guide shows that advisory giant Accenture pays consultants the highest starting pay at all levels. The lowest pay varies by rank for Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC.
The uncertainty and unpredictability of consulting can make it difficult to make personal plans (see live a normal life) It can make the most normal of things (ex: scheduling a doctor's appointment) a truly difficult task. Here's the thing: Every job has its ups and downs.
While McKinsey almost reaches the score of 9, Bain and BCG are both above the score of 8.6; the highest score of the Big 4 group is only 7.1. Other firms, on the other hand, all scored below 7. In other words, the majority of people in consulting fields agree that MBB are the best firms when it comes to prestige.
There's a lot of factors to consider but BCG and McKinsey are generally on par in most aspects except for two: Specialization: McKinsey employs a vast number of true experts that are highly specialized, and a great value add in the interplay with client facing generalist consultants.
McKinsey is a company that needs no introduction. The company is consistently ranked as the #1 most valued brand in the consulting industry, making it the most prestigious company on the list. Since its founding in 1926, the company has grown to over 38,000 employees across more than 120 offices around the world.
McKinsey, Bain and BCG are renowned as the world's most prestigious strategy consulting firms. They attract the best talent, work with the best clients, and deliver the most high-profile projects.
McKinsey leads in terms of overall size and reach, with over 9,000 consultants globally. This is followed by BCG, with7,000 consultants, and then Bain, with 4,000 consultants. By virtue of being considerably bigger than BCG or Bain, McKinsey boasts the most diverse footprint and larger office network.
Avg. Base Salary (USD)
Bain Capital pays an average salary of $411,988 and salaries range from a low of $360,363 to a high of $474,413.
It's not so much that McKinsey consultants are smart (though they are), but that they are often from a prestigious pedigree. At McKinsey, your colleagues are nearly always from the likes of Oxford, Harvard, Stanford, and Yale. Or if they're older: INSEAD, Goldman Sachs, Google, or the military.
However, McKinsey, BCG and Bain tend to favor Business and Economics degrees and STEM majors (i.e. Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). In our analysis of pre-experience student hiring in the US and the UK, 42% of candidates had studied Business and Economics degrees.
This category includes the well known, "elite" heavyweights such as McKinsey & Co., BCG and Bain & Co.. Since these tier 1 firms have cemented their status over the years, many people simply refer to them as MBB - for McKinsey, BCG and Bain.
Gentin believes that young people in particular want more from their careers than conventional understandings of professional success. “The average age at McKinsey is 30,” he says.
Why people leave consulting after only two to four years. The typical length of time for consultants to stay at top firms like McKinsey, BCG or Bain is two to four years. Some statistics indicate that 2.7 years is the average length of time that a consultant works at a top management consulting firm before moving on.
About 32% of the employees at McKinsey & Company work eight hours or less, while 25% of them have a very long day - longer than twelve hours. The Majority of McKinsey & Company employees are satisfied with their work life balance and feel burnt out.