Research Associate (No Bachelors): $25,000-60,000
First Year Analyst (bachelors degree): $40,000-80,000 (plus a bonus of $5,000-$10,000)
Second Year Analyst: (bachelors degree): $50,000-100,000 (plus a bonus of $5,000-20,000)
Management Consultant (MBA): $70,000 - 160,000
Senior Consultant (MBA + 2-5 years): $200,000
Junior Partner (MBA/Ph.D + 5 years or more): $300,000
Senior Partner (MBA/Ph.D + 5-20 years): $500,000 (bonus: up to $2,000,000)

Consider the following facts about consulting pay in the United States:

Starting salaries in management consulting are among the highest available to MBA students. A typical MBA is about 28 years old and has one to four years of prior work experience and two years of business education. A typical MBA would enter a consulting firm at a mid-level with the title of associate and would earn considerably below peak earnings potential.

The following aggregate placement data are for students graduating from MBA programs in 2000 and 2001.

School: MIT

Consulting Salary in 2000: $100,000 (+20K bonus)

Corporate Salary in 2000: $87,000

Top Consulting Recruiters: McKinsey (18), Booz Allen (13), Bain (7), BCG (6), Deloitte Consulting (6), Diamond Technology Partners (4), A.T. Kearney (3)

Consulting Salary in 1995: $85,000

Corporate Salary in 1995: $69,000

School: Carnegie-Mellon GSIA

Consulting Salary in 2000: $100,000 (+bonus)

Corporate Salary in 2000: $88,000 (+bonus)

Consulting Salary in 1995: $81,000

Corporate Salary in 1995: $64,000

School: Duke University

Consulting Salary in 2000: $100,000 (+21K sign-on bonus)

Corporate Salary in 2000: $79,000 (+14K sign-on bonus)

Consulting Salary in 1995: $78,000

Corporate Salary in 1995: $61,000

School: Wharton

Consulting Salary in 2000: $100,000 (+20K sign-on bonus)

Corporate Salary: $75,000 (+$15K sign-on bonus)

Top Consulting Recruiters: McKinsey (61), Bain (34), BCG (22), Deloitte Consulting (10), Diamond Technology Partners (8), A.T. Kearney (8), Marakon (7)

Consulting Salary in 1995: $83,000

Corporate Salary in 1995: $68,000

School: Harvard Business School

Year	Fraction of Students Choosing Consulting	Median Starting Salary
1965	4%	$10,500
1970	12%	$17,250
1974	9%	$20,000
1978	22%	$30,000
1985	22%	$54,900
1990	38%	$62,000
1995	35%	$80,000
2000	24%	$135,000(incl bonus)

These salaries show both that consultants (even at a near entry-level) are relatively well paid and that they earn a considerable premium over their counterparts in the corporate and management sectors. One question that may come up is whether the same firm will make different offers at different schools. If you knew this, it would be helpful in the negotiation process (assuming you were being lowballed). There is remarkably little evidence that this happens. So, for example, when Accenture offers $109,000 at MIT and then turns around and offers $55,000 at a Purdue, what is going on is that different parts of the organization are making the offers for different jobs. It is widely believed that entry level salaries among the top five or six firms are quite close to each other. One person we talked to mentioned that his firm would automatically give out raises to entry level consultants when it was learned that another rival firm had raised salaries. Salaries in consulting should not be compared to those in business and corporate management because the work is very different. Corporate managers have broader experience and administrate and implement. The work of management consulting, in contrast, is information collection and analysis. A skilled consultant will be able to use their expertise to analyze and integrate information to formulate courses of action to solve critical problems.

You may be interested in Abbott Langer's Consulting Pay Survey.

While there is substantial growth in expected compensation among consultants as they become more senior, starting wage rates are well above the national average for college students (obviously these data include more than college students though).

Salaries for senior-level consultants tend to be much higher than those for lower level consultants. Total compensation including bonus and other fringes would increase this significantly. For example at one office of a prominent Bix 5 consulting firm, the total compensation for partners ranges from $300,000 a year to over $1,000,000 a year.

Is Consulting Pay Related to the Size of the Firm?

In many businesses, pay is lower in smaller firms. For example, Robert Half International reports that in smaller accounting firms, partners earn significantly less than partners make in larger firms. An accounting partner (and for that matter a corporate administrator) is compensated for their management skills. Managers in bigger firms typically have larger responsibilities which translate to increased salaries. Interestingly, the consulting business does not work that way. The reason is that the best people may prefer the autonomy and impact that they can have in a smaller firm. The responsibilities of a consultant are significant, regardless of the size of the practice. Its much more like being an attorney; an attorney in a small firm can have a very large case. The largest firm in management consulting is Accenture. They do not offer the highest entry-level salaries in the industry. It is readily apparent from the literature that there isn't necessarily a relation between consultant pay and the size of consulting firms.

Why Do Consultants Get Paid What they Do?

The product consultants produce is ideas, advice and suggestions. Problem-solving and new ideas are essential to creating a successful, well-led and functional organization. Consultants add value by helping organizations do what they do better, faster, and cheaper. That's why most successful consulting firms rely on a small cadre of highly skilled, thoughtful professionals. A few really bright people can create much more value than a larger group. Consulting is a cerebral business where understanding, expertise and analytical skills are highly valued. Increasingly, consulting is done in the context of relationships which involve working with an organization over many years to ensure continued monitoring, discussion and implementation of new ideas. Because consultants are hired to produce results and because they have a high profile in a client organization, consulting firms typically hire the "best and the brightest." Most firms in consulting are relatively small, but use persons with superlative experience. Some of the brightest minds working for government and business (ranging from Henry Kissinger to Michael Hammer to Tom Peters) are in small consulting firms.