McKinsey & Co. partners receive same salaries as VPs in banks
Banking and consulting are remarkably similar careers that appeal to remarkably similar people. There are certainly differences, from work-life balance to prestige, but the most important one has always been in banking’s favor: the compensation question.
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The extent of that difference (in compensation) is quite remarkable. Analysis of the H1b database shows that partners – those at the top of the consulting hierarchy – earned average salaries of $275k in 2024 at McKinsey & Co. At fellow MBB firm Boston Consulting Group, partner salaries were even lower: $268k.
To be a banker and earn that much salary is much, much easier. The H1b database shows that the average salary for an investment banking Vice President (VP), someone only six or so years into their career at most, is around $262k. Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, and William Blair, paid their VPs $275k salaries as a median. One bank – JPMorgan – even paid its VPs up to $285k.
Bonuses, however, are a different story. Management Consulted says a junior partner or principal consultant can expect a bonus somewhere between $375k and $575k at a consulting firm. A senior partner or director can expect a bonus of over $500k.
That’s more than any banking VP can expect to earn as a bonus. Selby Jenning’s salary and bonus guide last year said that a New York investment banking VP at a top bank can expect to earn a bonus somewhere between 40% and 150% of their salary. Even at the highest ends of that range, that bonus is still “only” $427.5k (using JPMorgan’s $285k figure).
Salaries and bonuses that high for VPs are quite rare, however: 100% of $260k (a more reasonable bonus expectation, and the average salary, per our research) would be a more likely outcome, and means a $520k total compensation package. That's a lot of money, but definitely below the $600k to $800k implied total compensation of McKinsey partners.
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