Last updated: 8 October 2026. Salary figures are from Department of Labor filings (October 2025 to June 2026) and the Mergers & Inquisitions 2026 compensation report, both read that day. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.
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At large US banks, a first-year investment banking analyst earns a base salary of about $110,000 to $125,000, and $165,000 to $225,000 once the year-end bonus is added. Associates earn a base of about $175,000 to $200,000, and vice presidents about $275,000. Pay roughly doubles with each promotion, and at the senior levels the bonus is most of the pay.
Most salary guides rely on surveys or anonymous reports. The base salaries on this page come from somewhere harder to fudge: 480 salaries that US banks filed with the Department of Labor between October 2025 and June 2026 for investment banking hires. We cross-check them against the industry’s best-known compensation report for bonuses, and break them down by level, bank and city.
QUICK VERDICT
Bottom line: Expect a base salary of about $115,000 as an analyst, $175,000 as an associate and $275,000 as a vice president at a large bank. Bonuses add roughly $50,000 to $110,000 a year for analysts and far more higher up. The pay is consistent across the big banks; the price is the hours.
- Analyst base (median of 129 filings): $115,000; middle half $110,000 to $125,000
- Associate base (224 filings): $175,000; middle half $175,000 to $200,000
- Vice president base (59 filings): $275,000
- Analyst total pay with bonus: $165,000 to $225,000 (Mergers & Inquisitions, 2026)
Investment banking salary by level
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The table combines the two sources. The filed base salaries are the median and middle half (25th to 75th percentile) of Department of Labor filings. Total pay, which adds the bonus, is the range from the Mergers & Inquisitions 2026 salary and bonus report, which covers large New York banks.
| Level | Typical age | Filed base salary (median) | Middle half of filings | Total pay with bonus | Years at level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analyst | 22 to 27 | $115,000 (129 filings) | $110,000 to $125,000 | $165,000 to $225,000 | 2 to 3 |
| Associate | 25 to 35 | $175,000 (224 filings) | $175,000 to $200,000 | $285,000 to $500,000 | 3 to 4 |
| Vice president | 28 to 40 | $275,000 (59 filings) | $260,000 to $275,000 | $525,000 to $800,000 | 3 to 4 |
| Director / senior VP | 32 to 45 | $250,000 (26 filings, mixed titles) | $200,000 to $275,000 | $700,000 to $900,000 | 2 to 3 |
| Managing director | 35 to 50 | Too few filings to report | n/a | $1 million to $2 million and up | n/a |
Ages, total pay and years at level are from Mergers & Inquisitions; base salaries are from the filings. The two agree closely: M&I lists analyst base pay at $100,000 to $125,000, associate base at $175,000 to $225,000 and VP base at $250,000 to $300,000, and the filed medians sit inside every one of those ranges. The director row is less reliable, because banks use “director” for different levels: some filings are senior VPs at $350,000, others are closer to VP pay.
Where these numbers come from
When a US employer hires someone on an H-1B or a related work visa, it must file a Labor Condition Application with the Department of Labor stating the job title, work location and salary. The Department of Labor publishes these filings every quarter. Under the H-1B wage rules, the employer must pay at least the higher of two figures: the wage it pays its own workers with similar experience and qualifications, or the prevailing wage for that job in the area. That is why these filings are a good guide to what a bank pays everyone in the same seat.
We took the filings decided between 1 October 2025 and 30 June 2026 (437,496 in total), kept the 480 that were certified, paid annually and had “investment bank” in the job title, and grouped them by the level in the title. Three limits are worth knowing:
- Base salary only. The filings record salary, not the year-end bonus, which is where most of the variation in banker pay comes from. For bonuses we use the Mergers & Inquisitions report.
- Large banks dominate. JPMorgan filed 91 of the 480, followed by Jefferies (42), Citigroup (39), Barclays (37) and Bank of America (32). Smaller boutiques and regional banks file few or none, and many pay less at the junior levels.
- Titles vary by bank. Barclays files its associate-level bankers as “AVP,” and some banks use “director” for what others call senior vice president. We note where that matters. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley do not appear at all under an “investment bank” job title, so their pay is not in these figures.
How investment banking pay is structured
Banker pay has more moving parts than a normal salary. Mergers & Inquisitions breaks it into five pieces:
- Base salary, paid every two weeks. It stays flat for years at a time; at most banks the junior base salaries were last raised in 2022.
- Year-end bonus, paid after your first full year. Analyst bonuses are 100% cash; from associate up, part is deferred into stock, roughly 20% to 30% for associates and VPs and 30% to 50% for managing directors.
- Stub bonus for associates who join mid-year from an MBA program, typically about $35,000 to $50,000 for the first six months.
- Signing and relocation bonus for new analysts and associates, usually a small percentage of base salary.
- Benefits: health insurance, vacation and a 401(k) or profit-sharing plan.
Nearly all of it is salaried: 486 of the 489 investment banking filings list an annual salary rather than an hourly rate, so there is no overtime however long the week runs.
Investment banking analyst salary (the starting salary)
Analyst is the entry-level job, usually hired straight from an undergraduate degree. The 129 analyst filings are tightly bunched: 94% are at $110,000 or more, and the most common figures are $110,000 (37 filings), $125,000 (34) and $115,000 (22). Clustering at a few round figures suggests standard pay bands rather than individually negotiated salaries.
| Bank | Analyst filings | Median base salary |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan | 36 | $115,000 |
| Jefferies | 13 | $110,000 |
| Citigroup | 12 | $125,000 |
| UBS | 8 | $117,500 |
| TD Securities | 7 | $125,000 |
| Santander | 5 | $110,000 |
| Centerview Partners | 3 | $130,000 |
Monthly, a $115,000 salary is about $9,600 before tax. The bonus is paid separately, usually once a year, and Mergers & Inquisitions puts first-year total pay at $165,000 to $225,000. For comparison, the median pay for all financial and investment analysts in the US is $102,740 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025), and that figure covers every experience level and includes no banking-sized bonus.
Pay rises a little within the analyst years. The 15 filings for second- and third-year analysts (titled senior analyst, analyst II or analyst 3) have a median base of $125,000, against $115,000 for the rest. Mergers & Inquisitions notes that most banks now promote analysts to associate after two years, and that the few third-year analysts it tracked earned $200,000 to $270,000 in total.
Investment banking associate salary
Associates are either analysts promoted after two to three years or new hires straight out of an MBA. The 224 associate filings have a median base of $175,000, with a quarter at $200,000 or more.
| Bank | Associate filings | Median base salary |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan | 51 | $175,000 |
| Jefferies | 29 | $175,000 |
| Citigroup | 27 | $175,000 |
| Barclays (filed as AVP) | 27 | $175,000 |
| Wells Fargo (program associates) | 18 | $150,000 |
| Santander | 14 | $175,000 |
| Nomura | 13 | $175,000 |
| RBC Capital Markets | 7 | $200,000 |
| Perella Weinberg (PWP) | 7 | $185,000 |
| TD Securities | 6 | $200,000 |
| Deutsche Bank | 6 | $200,000 |
Total associate pay varies far more than the base. Mergers & Inquisitions gives a range of $285,000 to $500,000: the top of that range is close to double the bottom, depending on the bank, the year and the individual’s bonus rating.
Vice president, director and managing director pay
Above associate, base salaries flatten and bonuses take over. Vice president filings are the most uniform in the data: Bank of America filed 30 vice presidents across three internal grades, and every one was at $275,000. RBC’s five VP filings were also at $275,000. Mergers & Inquisitions puts VP total pay at $525,000 to $800,000.
Director and managing director pay is harder to pin down from filings. The 26 director-titled filings range from $135,000 to $350,000 because the title means different things at different banks, and there were only two managing director filings, both at $400,000. Mergers & Inquisitions puts director base pay at $300,000 to $350,000 and managing director base pay at $400,000 to $600,000, with total pay for managing directors of $1 million to $2 million and up, mostly from bonus.
How big are investment banking bonuses?
The bonus is the part of banker pay that moves. Subtracting the median filed base salary from the Mergers & Inquisitions total-pay ranges gives a rough bonus for each level: about $50,000 to $110,000 for an analyst on $115,000, about $110,000 to $325,000 for an associate on $175,000, and about $250,000 to $525,000 for a VP on $275,000. At managing director level the bonus can be several times the base.
Bonuses follow deal activity. Mergers & Inquisitions reports that bonuses paid for 2025, a strong year for M&A, raised total compensation by about 5% for analysts and associates, 10% to 15% for VPs and directors, and around 25% or more for managing directors. Most of the gains from a busy year went to senior bankers, and the same works in reverse: the bonus, not the salary, is what shrinks in a slow year.
Bulge bracket vs elite boutique vs middle market pay
At the junior levels, base salary barely depends on the type of bank. In the filings, the bulge-bracket banks (JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo) have the same medians as everyone else: $115,000 for analysts and $175,000 for associates. Jefferies, Nomura, Santander, RBC and the middle-market banks file at the same levels. The handful of elite boutique filings are higher: $130,000 for Centerview analysts and $185,000 for Perella Weinberg associates.
The differences show up in the bonus. Mergers & Inquisitions reports that Perella Weinberg and Centerview pay associates $50,000 to $100,000 or more above the ranges in our table, and pay those bonuses entirely in cash. At the analyst level, it found elite boutiques such as Lazard, Evercore and Moelis paying top-ranked first-year analysts about the same total as the bulge brackets, around $180,000 to $195,000. It also found that bonuses do not track a bank’s reputation closely: Bank of America paid some third-year associates $110,000 to $150,000 while most banks paid $200,000 to $300,000 or more, and Santander paid well for New York roles.
Investment banker salary in London
Pay outside the US is lower. Mergers & Inquisitions estimates a 15% to 30% discount to New York in London, with analyst base salaries of about £70,000 to £90,000 and total pay of £100,000 to £150,000. London associates earn a base of about £115,000 to £135,000, with bonuses of 80% to 100% of base. There are no comparable public filings for London, so these are estimates.
Investment banker salary in New York and other cities
New York accounts for 355 of the 480 filings, but the big banks pay the same base salary in their other US offices. These are the cities with at least three filings at a level:
| City | Analyst median (filings) | Associate median (filings) |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $115,000 (91) | $175,000 (177) |
| San Francisco | $115,000 (13) | $175,000 (27) |
| Houston | $110,000 (5) | $175,000 (8) |
| Chicago | $120,000 (3) | $200,000 (6) |
| Los Angeles | Fewer than 3 | $172,500 (4) |
| Charlotte | Fewer than 3 | $150,000 (3) |
Samples outside New York and San Francisco are small, so treat those rows as indicative. Smaller regional banks outside these hubs, which rarely file, generally pay less. Living costs differ far more than salaries, which makes a Houston or Charlotte offer worth more in practice than the same figure in Manhattan.
How investment banking pay compares with other careers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track investment bankers as a separate occupation, but its May 2025 medians for related careers show the gap. These figures cover every experience level and exclude banking-sized bonuses, so compare them with the analyst base salary, not total pay.
| Job | Median pay (BLS, May 2025) |
|---|---|
| Investment banking analyst, base salary only (filings) | $115,000 |
| Financial managers | $166,570 |
| Software developers | $135,980 |
| Financial risk specialists | $117,330 |
| Personal financial advisors | $105,070 |
| Financial and investment analysts | $102,740 |
| Accountants and auditors | $83,680 |
A first-year analyst’s base salary alone is above the median for most of these careers, and the bonus takes total pay well past all of them. Once you factor in the long hours, the gap per hour worked is smaller.
Is investment banking worth it for the pay?
Few jobs open to new graduates pay $165,000 to $225,000 in the first year, and the pay keeps climbing quickly for those who stay. The tradeoffs are well known: long and unpredictable hours, especially as an analyst; a competitive pyramid in which many people leave after two or three years; and bonuses that shrink in slow deal years. Many analysts use the job as a launch point for private equity, hedge funds or corporate development rather than staying to managing director.
If you are weighing the career against alternatives, our comparison of investment banking and corporate finance covers hours and exit paths, and our financial analyst salary guide covers the broader analyst market.
How to get an investment banking job
Most analysts are hired through summer internships, and banks screen hard on technical knowledge (accounting, valuation and modeling) and on networking. Our guide to how to get into investment banking sets out the timeline, the non-target playbook and the interview process, and our investment banking interview questions guide covers the technical round.
Our pick for interview preparation
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Frequently asked questions
How much do investment bankers make?
At large US banks, analysts earn a base salary of about $110,000 to $125,000 and associates about $175,000 to $200,000, according to the salaries banks filed with the Department of Labor between October 2025 and June 2026. With bonus, Mergers & Inquisitions puts analyst total pay at $165,000 to $225,000 and associate pay at $285,000 to $500,000.
What is the starting salary for an investment banker?
The typical first-year analyst base salary is $110,000 to $125,000, with a median of $115,000 in 129 analyst filings. Year-end bonuses lift first-year total pay to roughly $165,000 to $225,000 at large banks.
How much does a JPMorgan investment banking analyst make?
JPMorgan filed the most investment banking salaries of any bank in our data: its 36 analyst filings had a median base salary of $115,000, and its 51 associate filings a median of $175,000. Bonuses are on top of those figures.
How much do investment bankers make in New York?
New York accounts for about three quarters of the filings. The median base salary there is $115,000 for analysts and $175,000 for associates, the same as in San Francisco.
How much do investment bankers make per month?
An analyst on a $115,000 base salary earns about $9,600 a month before tax, and an associate on $175,000 about $14,600. The year-end bonus is paid separately, usually as a lump sum.
How big is an investment banking bonus?
For analysts, the bonus is typically worth roughly half to all of base salary: Mergers & Inquisitions puts total pay at $165,000 to $225,000 on a $100,000 to $125,000 base. At managing director level the bonus is most of the pay. Bonuses for 2025 rose about 5% for analysts and associates and about 25% or more for managing directors.
How fast does investment banking pay go up?
Each promotion brings a large step. Median filed base salary rises from $115,000 for analysts to $175,000 for associates and $275,000 for vice presidents, and total pay roughly doubles at each step from analyst to associate to VP. Analysts usually spend two to three years at that level, and associates and VPs three to four.
Are investment bankers paid hourly or salaried?
Salaried. Of 489 investment banking salary filings with the Department of Labor from October 2025 to June 2026, 486 list an annual salary, so bankers do not earn overtime. The year-end bonus is the main reward for long hours.
How much do investment bankers make in London?
Mergers & Inquisitions estimates London pay at a 15% to 30% discount to New York: analyst base salaries of about £70,000 to £90,000 and total pay of £100,000 to £150,000.
Is investment banking the highest-paying finance job for graduates?
It is among the highest. The median filed analyst base salary of $115,000 is above the $102,740 median for all financial and investment analysts in the US (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025), and the bonus widens the gap. The tradeoff is the hours.