Starting pay at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain hits $90K–$110K for new graduates as AI tools shrink grunt work. Fewer slots, higher bar for strategic judgment.
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AI is reshaping what consulting firms expect from entry-level hires, and compensation is rising to match. Starting salaries for new graduates at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain now range from $90,000 to $110,000, up roughly 10% from two years ago. Signing bonuses add another $5,000 to $15,000.
McKinsey raised its base for new MBA hires to $190,000 in 2024, according to a person familiar with the firm's compensation. BCG and Bain matched within weeks. For undergraduate hires, the three firms now pay between $90,000 and $100,000, up from $85,000 in 2022.
The pay bump reflects a shift in what firms expect from junior staff. The grunt work that used to occupy a first-year analyst's first six months – data cleaning, slide formatting, basic research – is shrinking. AI tools handle those tasks now. McKinsey's internal tool, Lilli, can summarize client documents and pull data from past projects in seconds. BCG's Gemini-based system does similar work. Analysts spend less time on spreadsheets and more on client-facing analysis.
The change is not uniform. Firms are cutting back on the number of entry-level analysts they bring in each cohort. McKinsey's 2024 analyst class was about 15% smaller than the 2022 class, the person said. Fewer slots, higher pay per slot.
Some partners worry the shift creates a skills gap. Junior staff who never did the grunt work may lack the instinct for what data is worth pulling. "You learn to spot bad data by cleaning it yourself," a former McKinsey engagement manager said. "AI gives you clean data, it doesn't teach you why it's clean."
The pay bump also reflects competition from tech and finance. Top MBA graduates who might have chosen consulting now have offers from AI startups and hedge funds. Consulting firms are raising pay to keep talent in the pipeline.
For current applicants, the message is mixed. The job pays more, the bar is higher. Firms want candidates who can skip the learning curve AI already covers. That means more case interviews focused on strategic judgment, less on Excel speed.
The next test will come in 2025 recruiting. If the economy slows, firms may cut class sizes further. If AI adoption accelerates, the analyst role may keep evolving toward what senior consultants do today.
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