A graduation from Harvard Business School. HBS is the second MBA employment report we’ve seen this season. While this is an improvement over last year’s numbers for HBS graduates, it is too early to detect broad recruiting trends across all schools. Harvard Crimson Photo
The total salary of Harvard Business School MBAs graduating in 2025 rose 5.4% on average after two years of stagnation, a notable bright spot in the school’s latest employment report. Average total compensation was $232,800, $11,000 more than the previous class when hiring and performance bonuses are taken into account.
A not so bright spot? Employment of job seekers, while up, is still 5 percentage points behind previous highs.
Harvard is only the second major MBA jobs report we’ve reported for 2025, so it’s still too early to identify overall MBA hiring trends across all schools. Report from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business slow job offers and acceptances within three months of graduation, although both schools noted that six-month offers increased.
“Amid an ever-changing job market, employment rates for the HBS Class of 2025 show positive momentum,” said Rupal Gadhia, MBA director of admissions and financial aid. he wrote in a blog post. “Ninety percent of students seeking employment had received an offer three months after graduating, a figure that is now closer to 94 percent.”
Class of 2025
65%
90%
84%
35%
0%
Class of 2024
70%
85%
77%
30%
0%
Class of 2023
73%
86%
80%
27%
0%
Class of 2022
71%
95%
90%
29%
0%
Class of 2021
74%
96%
92%
23%
2%
Source: Harvard Business School
By 2025, HBS reports that 65% of its 925 graduates have sought employment, the lowest percentage in five years. Of them, 90% received a job offer within three months and 84% accepted.
This is a notable improvement over the previous two promotions, where around 85% of job-seeking candidates received offers, and just over a quarter had accepted in 2024. But it’s still six points below HBS’s seven-year high of 96% for the pandemic class of 2021.
Harvard’s employment rate is also on par with Darden, which reported that 90.2% of Darden MBAs received a job offer and 89.3% accepted one within three months of graduation. Six months after graduating, Darden’s MBA offers and acceptances have increased to 95%.
“(Darden’s) Career Services team points to this metric as an indication of continued change in the MBA market. Employers are taking a little longer than in previous years to make hires and students a little longer to accept jobs. This reflects both the market and student preferences,” a Darden spokesperson wrote to P&Q.
“More of them are taking the time and pursuing post-MBA careers in areas that are outside the traditional areas of consulting and banking. We are seeing, for example, a growing interest in entrepreneurship through acquisition among students.”
Both Harvard and Darden employment reports tracked data for 100% of their graduates, an important distinction given that some schools exclude cases of “lack of recent information,” which can artificially inflate employment percentages.
Interest in entrepreneurship also skyrocketed for 2025 MBAs at Harvard, already an MBA startup powerhouse. The school consistently ranks among the highest number of MBA founders in our Annual list of the 100 startups with the most funding. About 17% of 2025 graduates started their own businesses and 17% joined a startup within three months of graduation.
HBS’s 17% addition rate reinforces its reputation as a leading provider of early-stage companies. The school defines startups as private companies 10 years old or younger. Most startup graduates continued to cluster in technology. Seventy percent of startup hiring went to the technology sector, followed by smaller shares in healthcare and manufacturing, each at 11%.
HBS also remains one of the world’s strongest schools for aspiring founders. The Class of 2025 produced 155 new founders, most (61%) launched companies with a co-founder, and more than a third met that person at HBS. Sixty-two of these startups identified themselves as having a social impact mission.
Students also continued to use their two years at HBS as a launching pad for new ideas. While 31% arrived on campus already planning to start a business, many more made the decision during the program.
WHERE HARVARD MBAS GO TO WORK
Of the 35% of HBS graduates not looking for full-time jobs, 17% started their own businesses, 14% were company-sponsored or already employed, 1% were continuing their education, and 2% were not looking for unspecified reasons.
For those who sought and found employment, finance, technology and consulting remained the top three industries of choice. Technology even overtook consulting as the second-highest career choice, rising to 22%, or six percentage points higher than in 2024.
Meanwhile, consulting regained some ground after falling seven percentage points between 2023 and 2024.
Other industries attracted smaller proportions of the class. Healthcare accounted for 6% of hiring, manufacturing 5%, and government or nonprofit roles 4%.
Ninety-two percent of graduates seeking employment accepted positions in the United States and nearly half (48%) remained in the Northeast. The West grew as a destination, attracting 24% of employed MBAs. Only 8% traveled abroad, with Asia (3%) and Europe (2%) being the most common destinations. By comparison, 12% of Class of 2024 graduates worked outside the US.
As noted, Harvard MBA compensation continued its steady rise in 2025, setting records for total median compensation. The Class of 2025 posted a median base salary of $184,500, an increase of nearly $10,000 from last year. When bonuses were added, total median compensation increased to $232,800, up from $221,800 for the Class of 2024.
Signing bonuses remained stable at $30,000, a level that hasn’t changed since 2017. But slightly more students received them this year: 58% compared to 53% in the previous class. Meanwhile, 67% of graduates reported an average performance bonus of $46,100.
A broader view shows how sharply HBS salaries have risen since before the pandemic. Base salaries have increased nearly $50,000 since 2017, when the average was $135,000. Median total compensation grew even faster, from $174,300 in 2017 to $232,800 this year, an increase of more than $58,000 across eight graduating classes.
Technology
22%
$178K
$160 thousand – $200 thousand
$30K
46%
$33K
42%
Consultant
21%
$190K
$190 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
91%
$40K
91%
Private equity
14%
$188K
$175 thousand – $200 thousand
$30K
41%
$150K
87%
Investment/hedge fund management
7%
$183K
$175 thousand – $206 thousand
$50K
71%
$85 thousand
50%
health care
6%
$160K
$150 thousand – $185 thousand
$30K
59%
$25K
66%
Investment banking
6%
$175K
$175 thousand – $175 thousand
$50K
90%
$83 thousand
76%
Manufacturing
5%
$162K
$154 thousand – $175 thousand
$15K
54%
$21K
58%
venture capital
4%
$200K
$181 thousand – $250 thousand
$30K
33%
$50K
61%
Non-profit organization / Government
4%
$130K
$130 thousand – $140 thousand
N/A
—
N/A
—
Services
3%
$140K
$100 thousand – $150 thousand
N/A
—
$75 thousand
54%
Entertainment/Media
3%
$180K
$130 thousand – $210 thousand
N/A
—
$21K
69%
Other financial services
3%
$192K
$180 thousand – $200 thousand
$35K
56%
$44K
88%
consumer products
2%
$146K
$126 thousand – $164 thousand
$33K
60%
$20K
100%
Retail
<1%
N/A
N/A
N/A
—
N/A
—
All industries (in general)
100%
$185K
$160 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
58%
$46K
67%
Source: Harvard Business School
By industry, consulting remained one of the most lucrative paths for many MBAs with a median base salary of $190,000. It also had some of the highest bonus rates in its class: 91% of consultants received both a hiring bonus and a performance bonus. Tech salaries were also strong, with most offers ranging between $160,000 and $200,000.
Private equity attracted 14% of graduates and generated the most spectacular bonus payments, with an average performance bonus of $150,000 and 87% of PE hires receiving it. That adds up to a median starting salary of $188,000.
Northeast (USA)
48%
$180K
$170 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
54%
$48K
66%
West (US)
24%
$190K
$162 thousand – $200 thousand
$30K
54%
$44K
57%
Mid-Atlantic (US)
6%
$180K
$154 thousand – $190 thousand
$30K
75%
$35K
71%
Midwest (USA)
5%
$190K
$160 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
76%
$56 thousand
71%
Southwest (USA)
5%
$190K
$175 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
88%
$40K
76%
South (US)
4%
$191K
$186 thousand – $194 thousand
$30K
64%
$35K
77%
Asia
3%
$140K
$100 thousand – $170 thousand
$24K
46%
$50K
92%
Europe
2%
$145K
$102 thousand – $195 thousand
N/A
—
$80K
82%
Middle East and North Africa
1%
$128K
$110 thousand – $163 thousand
N/A
—
N/A
—
Canada
<1%
N/A
N/A
N/A
—
N/A
—
Latin America
<1%
N/A
N/A
N/A
—
N/A
—
United States (in general)
92%
$185K
$165 thousand – $195 thousand
$30K
59%
$46K
65%
International (general)
8%
$130K
$98 thousand – $168 thousand
$29K
47%
$50K
81%
All locations (total)
100%
$185K
$160 thousand – $192 thousand
$30K
58%
$46K
67%
Source: Harvard Business School
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