Tuck | Mr. Invest In Change
GMAT 710, GPA 3.1
Tuck | Mr. Chemical Engineer
GRE 326, GPA 3
INSEAD | Mr. Future AI Product Manager
GMAT 715, GPA 3.7
NYU Stern | Mr. Operations Strategy & Youth Leadership
GMAT 770, GPA 4
IE Business School | Mr. JD Garay
GRE GPA: 3.9, GPA 3.0
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Military To Entrepreneur
GMAT 745, GPA 2.38
London Business School | Mr. Decarbonisation
GMAT 695, GPA 3.5
Kellogg SOM | Mr. MENA Growth Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.4
Kellogg SOM | Mr. West Point Logistics
GRE 327, GPA 2.76
Harvard | Mr. Energy & AI PM
GRE 328, GPA 9.65
Tepper | Mr. Tech Mil-Veteran
GMAT TBD, GPA 3.35
Columbia | Mr. European MBB Consultant
GMAT 645 (Gmat Focus), GPA 8.2
MIT Sloan | Mr. Startup Strategy
GMAT 720, GPA 3.7
Stanford GSB | Mr. Mid-Market PE
GMAT 770, GPA 4
Stanford GSB | Mr. MBB Guy From Big 4 & Startup
GRE 325, GPA 3

MBA Pay By Occupation & Industry: Here’s How Much You’re Worth

A school-by-school look at how much MBA grads are earning in every industry

by: Jeff Schmitt on September 01, 2026 | 35 minute read

Baker Library | Bloomberg Center in the Spring
©Susan Young for Harvard Business School

FINANCE

The general public associates Finance with grueling hours and relentless pressure – along with big salaries and mind-blowing bonuses. When it comes to the former, MBA grads fared quite well. Just look at the top end of compensation, where a Harvard MBA negotiated a $470,000 base – beating out a Wharton grad who made $450,000. Reality is, Finance remains an enigma, a hit-or-miss proposition where numbers yo-yo across the board. Take average base pay. Northwestern Kellogg grads boosted their take by over $10,000 against the previous year. However, it was still more than $10,000 less than the school’s $176,901 high point in 2023. While the Wharton School’s $184,998 average was nearly $7K better than 2024, it was nearly identical to the $184,596 average it posted in 2023. Up-and-down. Hot-and-cold. Back-and-forth – a see-saw that’s maddeningly capricious. As a whole, Stanford GSB reported the highest bases in Finance at $202,294 – more than $17K more than runner-up Wharton. Among the outliers, Emory Goizueta grads pulled in a higher base than its counterparts at Chicago Booth and Cornell Johnson, both regaled as ‘finance schools.’ By the same token, a Miami Herbert grad hashed out a $260,000 base, higher than any Finance grad from Northwestern Kellogg, NYU Stern, or Dartmouth Tuck.

U.S. News Rank School 2025 Finance Low 2024 Finance Low 2023 Finance Low 2025 Finance Average 2024 Finance Average 2023 Finance Average 2025 Finance High 2024 Finance High 2023 Finance High
1 Stanford NA NA $80,000 $202,294 $204,868 $205,182 NA NA $500,000
2 Wharton $92,012 $100,000 $73,200 $184,998 $178,193 $184,596 $450,000 $263,000 $350,000
3 University of Chicago (Booth) $78,000 $82,500 $70,000 $165,468 $172,189 $170,962 $285,000 $400,000 $247,500
4 Harvard $78,000 $53,000 $75,000 $189,914 $182,343 $183,381 $470,000 $375,000 $425,000
4 Northwestern (Kellogg) $80,000 $60,000 $85,000 $166,277 $155,771 $176,901 $250,000 $225,000 $450,000
6 MIT (Sloan) $110,000 $120,000 $100,000 $177,233 $170,067 $173,142 $300,000 $250,000 $550,000
7 Columbia $73,000 $85,900 $81,000 $171,969 $169,835 $171,425 $400,000 $350,000 $309,000
7 New York University (Stern) $100,000 $80,000 $85,000 $170,784 $163,234 $166,182 $240,000 $225,000 $225,000
9 Dartmouth (Tuck) $120,000 $100,000 $100,000 $167,057 $164,922 $173,319 $225,000 $225,000 $275,000
10 California-Berkeley (Haas) $103,000 $90,000 $59,379 $162,060 $153,014 $156,770 $240,000 $250,000 $240,000
11 Virginia (Darden) $75,000 $95,000 $100,000 $158,402 $159,159 $167,073 $225,000 $220,000 $220,000
11 Yale SOM $40,300 $53,086 $93,388 $162,317 $150,573 $157,988 $204,169 $200,000 $204,169
13 Michigan (Ross) $120,000 $101,200 $120,000 $166,073 $167,642 $157,232 $245,000 $300,000 $225,000
14 Duke (Fuqua) $80,080 $70,000 $100,000 $151,543 $157,549 $161,358 $200,000 $185,000 $185,000
15 Cornell (Johnson) $90,000 $110,000 $79,000 $163,545 $165,721 $163,967 $185,000 $225,000 $200,000
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) $85,000 $95,000 $80,000 $143,715 $144,941 $143,556 $175,000 $175,000 $175,000
16 Vanderbilt (Owen) $90,000 $82,500 $50,000 $151,174 $150,841 $146,725 $175,000 $175,000 $185,000
18 Texas (McCombs) $95,000 $85,000 $48,000 $145,888 $149,319 $153,943 $185,000 $185,000 $225,000
18 UCLA (Anderson) $89,218 $70,000 $94,163 $155,936 $147,338 $152,138 $175,000 $175,000 $200,000
20 University of Washington (Foster) $85,000 $130,000 $87,400 $123,556 $142,469 $133,603 $160,000 $175,000 $175,000
21 North Carolina (Kenan Flagler) $65,000 $36,158 $80,000 $141,003 $137,639 $146,905 $185,000 $175,000 $185,000
21 Indiana (Kelley) $96,000 $95,000 $53,500 $129,733 $136,830 $136,907 $175,000 $175,000 $215,000
23 Emory (Goizueta) $117,000 $87,000 $54,510 $165,857 $158,966 $146,959 $185,000 $175,000 $175,000
23 Texas-Dallas (Jindal) $95,000 $90,000 $85,000 $120,000 $118,000 $106,000 $140,000 $165,000 $130,000
25 USC (Marshall) $100,000 $78,000 $80,000 $144,078 $143,961 $144,039 $175,000 $175,000 $200,000
25 Georgia (Terry) $125,000 $100,000 $95,000 $133,333 $134,000 $113,333 $150,000 $200,000 $130,000
27 Georgia Tech (Scheller) NA $125,000 $115,000 NA $143,333 $140,000 NA $175,000 $175,000
27 Washington U. (Olin) $77,500 $73,500 $80,000 $114,530 $132,806 $120,000 $165,000 $200,000 $138,000
29 Rice (Jones) $100,000 $90,000 $60,000 $151,476 $155,407 $148,974 $200,000 $175,000 $225,000
29 Arizona State (Carey) $70,000 $85,000 $100,000 $112,463 $111,383 $124,346 $155,000 $129,150 $160,000
31 Georgetown (McDonough) $27,465 $65,339 $92,000 $139,875 $143,093 $145,816 $185,000 $175,000 $200,000
32 Minnesota (Carlson) $83,200 $105,000 $85,000 $127,578 $142,143 $131,167 $175,000 $175,000 $185,000
32 Ohio State (Fisher) $72,488 $105,000 $85,000 $108,581 $125,400 $117,000 $128,000 $142,800 $135,000
34 Notre Dame (Mendoza) $95,000 $75,000 $60,000 $141,576 $136,564 $144,103 $185,000 $175,000 $180,000
34 Rochester (Simon) $115,000 $90,000 $110,000 $140,186 $135,100 $145,533 $175,000 $175,000 $175,000
36 Texas A&M (Mays) $65,000 $125,000 $75,000 $131,178 $130,000 $108,250 $212,600 $140,000 $150,000
36 SMU (Cox) $64,000 $75,000 $60,000 $114,538 $130,461 $120,923 $188,000 $185,000 $180,000
38 Iowa State (Ivy) $69,750 $70,000 NA $79,117 $82,000 NA $92,000 $105,000 NA
39 University of Miami (Herbert) $78,000 $60,000 NA $117,167 $101,000 NA $260,000 $150,000 NA
39 BYU (Marriott) $92,000 $95,000 $75,000 $118,375 $125,534 $122,325 $175,000 $175,000 $180,000
39 Florida (Warrington) $118,450 $70,000 $85,000 $129,113 $103,944 $113,400 $141,000 $135,000 $128,000
39 Utah (Eccles) $75,000 NA $90,000 $94,744 NA $118,240 $120,000 NA $150,000
43 Michigan State (Broad) NA NA $90,000 NA NA $116,250 NA NA $130,000
43 Tennessee (Haslam) NA NA $118,000 NA NA $122,000 NA NA $128,000
43 Maryland (Smith) $82,000 NA $130,000 $120,000 NA $153,750 $170,000 NA $200,000
46 American University (Kogod) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
46 Boston U. (Questrom) $87,000 $90,000 NA $110,500 $110,333 NA $130,000 $125,000 NA
48 Pittsburgh (Katz) NA NA $105,000 NA NA $118,750 NA NA $125,000
48 Wisconsin $43,128 $85,000 $80,000 $99,664 $107,000 $117,281 $175,000 $155,000 $175,000
48 Arkansas (Walton) $80,000 $75,000 NA $85,000 $84,313 NA $90,000 $105,000 NA
51 UC Irvine (Merage) NA $105,000 $75,000 NA $129,000 $100,500 NA $200,000 $124,000

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