McKinsey, BCG, Bain Make First Starting-Pay Raise Since 2022

McKinsey, BCG and Bain have raised US starting base salaries for hires joining in 2027 to $120,000 for pre-MBA hires and $200,000 for post-MBA hires, according to a report published on 26 October 2026 by Management Consulted, a platform that collects consulting pay data. By its count, it is the first starting salary increase at the three firms, known as MBB, since August 2022.

None of the three firms announced the raise, Management Consulted says; it verified the figures through candidate offer letters with 2027 start dates, which Poets&Quants puts at more than 120. In plain words: entry-level pay at the three firms went up, at a time when, as Poets&Quants puts it, “Consulting is dying, you’ll hear,” with artificial intelligence able to “shoulder much of the research and data collection normally handled by junior consultants.”

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The New Numbers

Management Consulted’s table shows each firm adding $8,000 to $10,000 at both entry levels. All three firms now pay exactly the same base at each level, it says.

• Pre-MBA. McKinsey (Business Analyst) and Bain (Associate Consultant) go from $112,000 to $120,000, up $8,000 or 7.1%. BCG (Associate) goes from $110,000 to $120,000, up $10,000 or 9.1%.
• Post-MBA. McKinsey (Associate) and Bain (Consultant) go from $192,000 to $200,000, up $8,000 or 4.2%. BCG (Consultant) goes from $190,000 to $200,000, up $10,000 or 5.3%.
• Scope. The figures are US first-year base salary only; performance and signing bonuses are separate, according to the table published by Poets&Quants.

Namaan Mian, Management Consulted’s COO, told Poets&Quants that McKinsey appears to have moved first, with BCG and Bain following quickly. “Entry-level base at MBB is standardized, so offers at these levels don’t vary from candidate to candidate,” he said.

What Was Posted on X

Short Squeez posted that McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group are increasing starting salaries for new US hires for the first time since 2022, to $120,000 for first-year recruits without an MBA and $200,000 for those with MBAs.

Still Below 2022 in Real Terms

US prices are up about 13% since the last MBB increase in August 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures Management Consulted cites. That is more than any of the new increases, which means starting pay remains below 2022 levels in real terms, Poets&Quants reports. Mian called the figures “below inflation and muted by any historical measure.”

From 2012 to 2022, MBB starting base grew an average of roughly 3.5% to 5% a year, Mian said; spread over the four years since the last raise, the new increase works out to about 1% to 2% a year.

Where AI Comes In

Management Consulted ties AI to the raise in two ways. First, as a rival employer: “AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic barely registered with job seekers three years ago. Now they recruit the same top talent MBB wants, from new grads to experienced professionals – and a pre-IPO equity offer is hard for any base salary to match,” its report says. “We’ve seen candidates turn down MBB offers for big tech roles,” Mian told Poets&Quants.

Second, as a change in how the work is done. “Every firm added roughly the same dollars at both levels, which means pre-MBA hires got the bigger percentage bump,” the report reads. “That fits a shift we’ve tracked for several years: leaner project teams, more AI-assisted delivery, and a heavier reliance on pre-MBA hires over more expensive MBA talent.” By Mian’s estimate, more than 60% of MBB hires now come from outside the MBA pathway, including undergraduates, PhDs and lateral hires.

Connecting the Coverage

Mercor argued that official job data misses a large share of work, as we reported on 27 October. Amazon’s new engineering guide put outcomes above AI token use, as we reported on 27 October, and SAP’s finance chief described running more than 70 AI models to cut costs, as we reported on 28 October. The pre-IPO equity Management Consulted points to is on the table at Anthropic, which is weighing a large retail tranche for its listing, as we reported on 28 October.

What’s new here: a pay benchmark for entry-level knowledge work moved up, and the report ties the shape of the raise to AI-assisted delivery.

The Structural Read

As we read it, the raise is small in real terms: Management Consulted cites US prices up about 13% since August 2022, more than any of the new increases.

Management Consulted names two rival employers for the same candidates: big tech, which it says is hiring software engineers again, and AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which it says can offer pre-IPO equity.

Mian told Poets&Quants that more than 60% of MBB hires now come from outside the MBA pathway, including undergraduates, PhDs and lateral hires.

Three Implications

FOR CANDIDATES All three firms now pay the same base at each level, $120,000 and $200,000, Management Consulted reports, and bonuses are separate.

FOR OTHER CONSULTANCIES Mian expects Tier 2 strategy firms and boutiques to move faster than the Big 4, he told Poets&Quants.

FOR AI AND JOBS The report ties the shape of the raise to AI-assisted delivery, while naming AI labs as rivals for the same graduates.

The Business Engineer Lens

This story maps onto the Business Engineer framework Forward-Deployed Engineering.

The framework argues that “technical capability has far outpaced organizational readiness”.

As we read it, the consulting raise fits that gap: firms are paying more for entry-level people at a time when, according to Management Consulted, delivery is becoming more AI-assisted. The framework was published in November 2025 and does not discuss McKinsey, BCG, Bain or salaries.

What Is Not Established

None of the three firms has announced the raise; the figures come from Management Consulted’s analysis of candidate offer letters. The claim that this is the first raise since August 2022 is Management Consulted’s count, based on its annual salary data. We did not contact McKinsey, BCG or Bain, and beyond Poets&Quants we did not read reports on the raise by other outlets.

The Bottom Line

By Management Consulted’s count, McKinsey, BCG and Bain now pay the same US starting base of $120,000 before an MBA and $200,000 after one, their first raise since August 2022. The raises are $8,000 to $10,000, below about 13% inflation since then, and the report links the bigger percentage gain for pre-MBA hires to leaner teams and more AI-assisted delivery.