Investment Banking Salary & Bonus Report: Analyst to VP

Q: How much do first-year investment banking analysts make?

Street pay for a first-year analyst is a $100-110K base plus a $65-100K cash bonus, so roughly $160-200K all in. Base is close to standardized: bulge brackets sit near the bottom of the band, elite boutiques a touch higher, and base climbs toward $125K by the third year. Top-ranked second-year analysts at boutiques like Evercore, Centerview, PJT and Perella Weinberg can clear about $250K all in.

Q: What is the bonus structure in investment banking?

Compensation is base salary paid bi-weekly plus a year-end bonus. Analyst bonuses land in August; associates and above are paid in January or February. The bonus is the bigger swing and the reason the golden handcuffs work. First-year associate bonuses run about 60-70% of base and scale toward 100% or more by year three, and at VP level a slice of the bonus shifts into deferred stock.

Q: How much do investment banking associates and VPs make?

First-year associates (post-MBA hires or promoted analysts) run about $150K base with a $90-130K bonus, roughly $240-285K total. Across the associate years base moves to $175-225K and total comp can reach about $450K. Vice presidents earn $250-300K base plus a $200-500K bonus, so $500-800K total, with part of that bonus deferred in stock. These are New York Street figures, and elite boutiques such as Centerview and Perella Weinberg can pay $50-100K above bulge-bracket associate comp.

Q: Do investment banks pay sign-on bonuses?

Yes, and they can be large. Sign-ons for post-MBA associates at elite boutiques have been reported past $70K. My own summer internship paid a $15K sign-on, with roughly another $10K at start. Those are individual data points, so the figure moves by bank and by year.

Q: How much can an MBA summer associate make in investment banking?

One real data point: across the ten weeks of my summer associate stint at Centerview I came out around $80,000. Before business school I was at Deloitte, up around $125K. It is one path at one elite boutique in one year, so treat it as a data point rather than a band you can plan against.

The real numbers. We break down Investment Banking Analyst, Associate, and VP compensation (Base + Bonus) at Bulge Brackets vs. Elite Boutiques.

Michael Neal·4 min read·updated August 2026

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Compensation structure
Analyst
Associate
Vice president
Sign-on money
What one MBA summer paid me
Stub bonus
Tax reality
Sources

Compensation structure

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Investment Banking compensation is Base Salary (paid bi-weekly) + Year-End Bonus (August for Analysts, Jan/Feb for Associates and up). The bonus is where the money is, and the golden handcuffs.

Figures below are New York / Street front-office pay for the current cycle. Two caveats: national and global survey averages run lower than top-group NY pay, and bonuses swing with the deal cycle. Treat every number here as a range.

Analyst

Straight from undergrad, ages ~22-24.

Component	First-Year	Second / Third-Year
Base Salary	$100k-110k	$105k-125k
Bonus (cash)	$65k-100k	$85k-145k
Total Comp	$160k-200k	$185k-230k

Base is largely standardized across the street. The analyst band runs $100k to $125k over the three years: first-years anchor near the bottom of it, and base climbs toward the top by the third year. Bulge brackets sit low in the band, elite boutiques a touch higher.
Elite boutiques (Evercore, Centerview, PJT, Perella Weinberg) push the top: top-ranked Year-2 analysts can clear ~$250k all-in.
Third-year analysts are now rare, since most banks promote to Associate after two years.

Associate

Post-MBA hires (A1) or promoted analysts. Owns execution and manages analysts.

Component	First-Year (A1)	Across associate years
Base Salary	~$150k	$175k-225k
Bonus	$90k-130k	scales to 100%+ of base
Total Comp	$240k-285k	up to ~$450k+

Elite boutiques pay materially more. Centerview and Perella Weinberg can run $50-100k+ above bulge-bracket associate comp, often all cash.
First-year (A1) bonuses are typically ~60-70% of base and scale toward 100%+ by Year-3.

Vice president

Runs deal processes; not yet originating clients.

Component	Range
Base Salary	$250k-300k
Bonus	$200k-500k (a slice deferred in stock)
Total Comp	$500k-800k

VP total comp rose roughly 10-15% on the end-of-2025 cycle. Bulge brackets and elite boutiques both land in this band; at this level a chunk of the bonus shifts to deferred equity.

Sign-on money

Sign-on bonuses are large. For post-MBA associates at elite boutiques I have heard numbers past $70k. My own summer internship paid a $15k sign-on, and there was roughly another $10k at start. Banks throw a lot of money at you on the way in.

Those are individual data points.

What one MBA summer paid me

Before business school I was at Deloitte, up around $125k. Living pretty well in Chicago, saving a lot of it. I went back for the MBA on a partial scholarship, and I recruited into a summer associate seat at Centerview.

The sign-on hit as soon as I signed. A second bonus came when I started. Ten weeks of work that summer, and I came out around $80,000.

One path, one year, one firm. The shape is the part worth keeping: the money shows up in lumps, and a piece of it lands before you have done a single day of work.

Stub bonus

Mid-year starts (a July Associate, for example) get a prorated "stub" bonus at the next cycle so the payout lines up with the fiscal calendar. How the proration gets calculated is murky. Do not expect a full-year number for a partial year. The figures people report tend to land around $20k-40k.

Tax reality

On $200,000 of gross income in NYC:

Category	Amount
Federal Tax	~$45k
State + City Tax	~$18k
FICA	~$10k
Take Home	~$125k (~$10.4k / month)

Significant income. Not "rich" until VP.

Sources

Figures triangulated across the current-cycle reports below (New York / Street front-office; broad survey averages run lower):

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much do first-year investment banking analysts make?

What is the bonus structure in investment banking?

How much do investment banking associates and VPs make?

Do investment banks pay sign-on bonuses?

How much can an MBA summer associate make in investment banking?