Are post-MBA salaries living up to the degree’s promise? In most cases, the answer is yes.
Using their rankings data, Bloomberg Businessweek analyzed MBA starting salaries from 2018 to 2022 compared to the inflation rate during the same period (17.6 percent). And they found growth that outpaced inflation in seven industries, including two of the most prominent for newly minted MBAs. These include Consulting (salary increased by 19.5 percent between 2018 and 2022), Technology (+18.8 percent), Defense and Aerospace (+20.9 percent), Government/Politics/Lobbying (+19.4 percent), Telecommunications (+27.3 percent), Education (+43.8 percent) and Construction (+20.8 percent).
The median salary growth for MBA alumni also outpaced inflation. The reported median earnings for MBAs six years post-graduation grew 28.1 percent between 2018 and 2022. The growth rate compares favorably to both the inflation rate (17.6 percent), and the national median earnings for all full-time workers (18.7 percent).
Poets & Quants created a similar analysis using their data to determine how the growth in median earnings between 2018 and 2022 compared to the inflation rate amongst top-ranked MBA programs. They found that at the top 27-ranked schools, the growth in starting base salary between 2018 and 2022 averaged 24 percent, well above the inflation rate, and at the top seven schools it averaged 26.7 percent. NYU Stern garnered the highest growth rate (36 percent), followed by Columbia, Chicago Booth, and Dartmouth Tuck. In fact, just three of the top-ranked schools posted median starting salary growth rates below the inflation rate: UCLA Anderson (16.8 percent), UNC Kenan-Flagler (8.3 percent), and Washington University in St. Louis (9.1 percent).