The "Kearney salary" number floating around prep forums is almost never a number Kearney published. The firm does not post a public ladder table. What it does publish, on many US job listings, is an expected base salary range for that role, plus a line that people are rarely hired at the top of the band.
That is the thesis of this piece: treat Kearney pay as a dated range with a named geography and a named source, or treat it as folklore. After you finish, you should be able to open a Kearney posting or a DOL wage filing, extract the usable band, and decide whether a verbal offer is inside the firm's own framing or outside it.
CoachNed is not affiliated with Kearney or any other consulting firm named here.
What Kearney's own US postings actually say
California-style pay transparency pushed many large employers to put a base range on the listing. Kearney's US postings use a near-identical paragraph. A current Kearney Activate Data and AI Business Analyst listing (Boston, Americas) states an expected base of $120,000 to $160,000 annually as of the posting checked in 2026, notes that compensation varies with experience and qualifications, and adds that it is "not typical" to hire at the top of the range. Eligible hires may also receive a discretionary performance bonus. Benefits named on the same posting include paid time off, 401(k) match and profit sharing, medical coverage, and related wellness items.
That posting is a specialist Activate / Data & AI track with four-to-seven years of experience expected, not the undergraduate generalist BA class. Do not paste its band onto a campus offer letter. Use it the way the firm wrote it: a 2026 US base range for that role and office, with bonus called discretionary rather than promised.
Other Kearney US listings follow the same pattern with different bands by specialty. Recent third-party mirrors of Kearney Activate architect and enterprise-architect postings quote firm language of roughly $130,000–$190,000 and $230,000–$275,000 base respectively. Prefer the live posting on Kearney's careers board when you can open it; the useful habit is the same either way: copy the range, the city, and the year you checked it.
Kearney's US experienced-hire page describes the ladder in words (business analyst, senior business analyst, associate) and the experience it expects at each step. It does not publish dollars. Role definitions live on general consulting roles. Pay lives on individual postings.
The second primary source: DOL LCA base wages
When Kearney sponsors an H-1B worker, it files a Labor Condition Application with the US Department of Labor stating a wage for that title and location. Aggregators that index those disclosures are useful because the wage is a filed base, not a Glassdoor guess.
Indexed LCA data for A.T. Kearney, Inc. (checked 2026) clusters like this for core consulting titles:
| Title (LCA) | Geography focus | Filed base pattern (as of 2025–2026 filings) | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Associate | New York and Chicago heavy | Often $157,000; higher NY filings at $188,000 | Base only |
| Manager | Multiple US cities | Often $212,000; band roughly $195,000–$225,000 across years | Base only |
| Principal | New York and other hubs | Roughly $240,000–$265,000 on recent NY filings | Base only |
| Partner | Sparse filings | Roughly $317,000–$400,000 base on indexed rows | Base only; not total partner income |
Sources for the table: New York filings listed on h1bdata.info for At Kearney Inc, and title-level medians on Ellis's Kearney H-1B salary page (updated April 2026). Ellis shows Associate median $157,000 (min about $120,000, max about $194,000), Manager median $212,000, Principal median $245,000, Partner median $325,000.
Three limits matter. First, LCA wages exclude bonus, signing, and profit share. Second, sponsorship filings overweight certain offices and titles; they are not a complete census of every US hire. Third, a filed wage is a floor the employer attested for that petition, not a promise that every domestic hire lands at the same number.
Still, if someone claims Kearney associates "make $250K base," the DOL trail disagrees. Plan associate base in the high $150,000s to high $180,000s US band for recent filings, then treat bonus and signing as separate, variable lines.
A worked example: three-year cash from a posted band
Suppose you hold a 2026 US associate offer letter that states base $170,000, a signing bonus of $25,000 in year one only, and a discretionary performance bonus "targeted" at 20 percent of base with no guarantee. You want a conservative three-year cash model before tax.
| Year | Base | Signing | Bonus assumption | Year cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $170,000 | $25,000 | Soft year: 10% = $17,000 | $212,000 |
| 2 | $170,000 | $0 | Mid year: 20% = $34,000 | $204,000 |
| 3 | $175,000 (small raise) | $0 | Mid year: 20% = $35,000 | $210,000 |
| 3-year total | $626,000 |
Redo the same table with a strong bonus year at 30 percent in years two and three and the total climbs into the mid-$650,000s. The point is not the exact total. The point is that bonus volatility at associate and manager is larger than most candidates model when they compare one headline total from a forum screenshot. Kearney's own postings call the bonus discretionary. Model a soft year and a mid year, not a single peak year.
Ned's rule. If a Kearney number arrives without a year, a city, and whether it is base or total cash, discard it. Ask for the offer letter line that matches the firm's posted band language, then negotiate inside that frame.
Where MBA employment reports fit
School reports are primary for what MBA consulting hires as a group received, not for what Kearney alone paid. Wharton's Class of 2025 industry table shows consulting median base $190,000 (25th and median both $190,000, 75th $192,000), with a median signing bonus of $30,000 among those who reported one (about 56 percent of consulting acceptances). That cluster is dominated by MBB and other large strategy firms. It is a ceiling reference for post-MBA US strategy offers in that year, not a Kearney-specific figure.
If your Kearney associate base lands meaningfully below the Wharton consulting median, that can still be a rational trade for practice mix, location, or likelihood of an offer. What it is not is evidence that "Kearney pays the same as McKinsey." Compare like with like: base to base, same year, same country.
For parallel ladders at peers, see McKinsey salary, BCG salary, and Bain salary. For other Tier-2 shops with filed federal data, L.E.K. salary and Oliver Wyman salary are useful companions.
Partner pay: ownership, not a salary band
Kearney's 2025 sustainability report describes a partner-owned firm with more than 5,700 people and 460 partners globally, plus the usual language that remuneration is market-based, merit-driven, and typically includes a discretionary performance bonus, with equity-style awards available to select non-partners. It does not publish partner P&L or a partner total-comp table.
LCA partner bases in the roughly $317,000–$400,000 band are base wages on sponsorship filings, not take-home after profit distributions. Partner economics at an independent partnership are mostly distributions that move with firm and individual performance. Treat any "$1M Kearney partner" claim you see online as folklore unless the speaker shows a primary document. When you interview for partnership later, ask for the compensation memo in writing; do not reverse-engineer it from a blog.
What actually moves on a Kearney offer
Inside the band, US recruiters usually have more room on signing, start date, and relocation than on base, because base sits on a firm grid. Outside the band, you need a competing letter or a scarce skill the posting already priced (data, digital, operations specialty).
Questions that produce usable answers:
- Is this base inside the posted range for this office and title in 2026?
- What is the historical bonus range for this level in a soft year versus a strong year, as percentages of base?
- Is signing clawed back if I leave inside twelve months?
- What is the 401(k) match and any profit-sharing contribution, in writing?
Anything phrased as "people usually get…" without a document is not an answer.
Practice the interview that unlocks the number
Pay only arrives after you clear the case. Do one timed structure drill today on a profit or growth prompt, then run a full voice case so you hear where you stall under pressure.
Start with the five-minute rep at /start (three typed turns, instant scores, no account required), or book the ~18-minute voice case at /interview. Everything is open for seven days with no card; then $120 for a recruiting season or $49 a month.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Kearney business analyst salary in the US in 2026?
Kearney does not publish a single BA ladder number. Use the base range on the specific posting you are applying to, with the city and year attached. Specialist Activate BA postings have listed expected base around $120,000–$160,000 (2026, Boston posting cited above). Undergraduate generalist offers are a different product; ask recruiting for the campus letter rather than copying a specialist band.
What does a Kearney associate make after an MBA?
Recent US DOL LCA filings for Associate cluster near $157,000 base with some New York filings at $188,000 (2025–2026). Total cash adds discretionary bonus and any signing; those are not on the LCA. Wharton's 2025 consulting median base of $190,000 is a cross-firm MBA benchmark, not a Kearney quote.
Does Kearney pay less than McKinsey, BCG, or Bain?
At post-MBA entry, school-reported consulting medians sit near $190,000 base for the Class of 2025 at Wharton, a market still led by MBB volume. Kearney associate bases on DOL filings often sit below that median. Whether the gap matters depends on your expected tenure, bonus outcomes, and exit path. Compare bases from the same year and country; ignore mixed total-comp screenshots.
How much do Kearney partners earn?
Public primary sources show partner base wages on some H-1B filings roughly in the $317,000–$400,000 range and confirm partner ownership in Kearney's own sustainability reporting. They do not publish total partner income. Profit distributions dominate at that level and are not a fixed salary.
Are Kearney salaries the same outside the United States?
No. Posted US bands and DOL filings are US instruments. UK, DACH, and Middle East packages differ in base, bonus, tax, and statutory benefits. Ask for a local offer letter; do not convert a New York LCA wage with an exchange rate and call it London pay.
Sources
- Kearney Activate Data and AI Business Analyst job posting — firm-stated US base range $120,000–$160,000, discretionary bonus, benefits language. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Kearney US experienced hires — official level definitions without dollars. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Kearney general consulting roles — BA / senior BA / associate role descriptions. Checked 2026-09-24.
- At Kearney Inc H-1B salaries (New York) — DOL LCA base wages by title and submit date. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Ellis: Kearney H-1B salaries by job title — aggregated LCA medians and ranges (updated Apr 2026). Checked 2026-09-24.
- Wharton MBA Class of 2025 full-time industry choices — consulting median base $190,000 and median signing $30,000. Checked 2026-09-24.
- Kearney Sustainability Report 2025 — partner-owned firm, ~5,700 people, 460 partners, remuneration principles. Checked 2026-09-24.