In this in-depth analysis of the Chicago Booth MBA Employment outcome for the 2025 graduating class by job location, we cover: Midwest, Northeast, West, Southwest, South, and Mid-Atlantic.
• Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements in the United States: 94.9% Placements
• Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements in the Midwest: Booth’s home advantage
• Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements in the Northeast: New York as the Second Home
• Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements in the West: Technology and AI Placements
• Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements in the Mid-Atlantic: Public-Sector Transformation Projects
• International Chicago Booth MBA Salary and Placements: Limited Opportunities but it is a good Sign
United States: 94.9% Placements
The Chicago Booth MBA Class of 2025 exhibited a strongly domestic employment profile, with 94.90% of graduates accepting roles within the United States, at a median base salary of $175,000. This concentration reflects the structure of the 2024–2025 hiring market, where U.S.-based firms remained the primary drivers of consulting transformation spend, capital markets activity, enterprise technology deployment, and infrastructure investment. As global hiring softened and cross-border placements became more selective, Booth graduates benefited from proximity to U.S. regions where high-value decision-making, analytics-driven roles, and capital allocation activity remained concentrated.
Midwest: Booth’s home advantage
The Midwest accounted for 32.20% of total hires, making it the single largest regional destination for the Class of 2025, with a median base salary of $180,000. This dominance is overwhelmingly driven by Chicago, which alone absorbed 30.70% of total placements, also at a median base salary of $180,000. This concentration is not coincidental; it reflects Booth’s deep institutional integration with Chicago’s consulting, finance, and professional services ecosystem.
Chicago: A Resilient Consulting Hub
During Q3 2024 to Q2 2025, Chicago remained one of the most resilient consulting hubs in the United States, particularly for strategy, operations, cost transformation, healthcare consulting, and private equity diligence. Major consulting employers such as Boston Consulting Group (52 hires), McKinsey (35), Bain (30), L.E.K. (7), Strategy& (7), Kearney (5), EY-Parthenon (5), and Roland Berger (4) collectively explain the scale of Midwest hiring. These firms expanded or stabilised Chicago-based teams as clients across manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services sought analytics-heavy restructuring and efficiency programs.
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Question 1: How will a Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (Minimum 250 words, no maximum.)
Question 2: Chicago Booth appreciates the individual experiences and perspectives that all of our students bring to our community. This respect for different viewpoints creates an open-minded environment 
that supports curiosity, inspires us to think more broadly, and take risks. At Booth, community is about collaborative thinking and learning from one another to better ourselves, our ideas, and the world around us.
The photos below represent some of the values described above that we uphold at Chicago Booth. Select one and share how it resonates with one of your own values. (250-word minimum)
Chicago: The Reason Behind Booth’s Strong Diversified Financial Services Placements
Chicago’s finance ecosystem also contributed meaningfully. Investment banks, diversified financial services firms, and private equity funds with Midwest operations continued selective hiring tied to deal execution, valuation, and portfolio analysis. Booth’s analytical finance orientation aligns closely with these roles, reinforcing Chicago’s position as Booth’s single most important placement city.
Northeast: New York and Investment Banking
The Northeast accounted for 29.00% of total hires, with a median base salary of $175,000, making it the second-largest regional destination after the Midwest. Within this region, hiring was heavily concentrated in New York, which alone absorbed 26.70% of total placements, while Boston accounted for 2.10%.
New York: A Strong Investment Banking Feeder Location
New York’s dominance reflects its dual role during 2024–2025 as both a global financial centre and a major consulting hub. As capital markets activity partially reopened in late 2024 and early 2025, firms increased selective hiring in investment banking, investment management, and diversified financial services, all of which are core Booth strengths.
At the same time, consulting firms expanded New York-based teams focused on restructuring, AI-enabled transformation, and enterprise strategy, explaining why New York hiring remains robust despite volatility in traditional banking volumes.
The presence of employers such as Goldman Sachs (11 hires), JPMorgan Chase (11), Evercore (7), Citigroup (4), and Jefferies (4) reinforces New York’s importance as a finance-driven destination.
Boston: Smaller Share in Healthcare Consulting
Boston, while smaller in share at 2.10%, were largely tied to healthcare consulting, life sciences strategy, and analytics-driven advisory roles, areas that expanded modestly during late 2024 as healthcare systems and biopharma firms focused on operational efficiency.
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The skills that a writer/editor brings to the table are different from what a former admissions officer or a consultant who has limited writing skills brings
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The skills that a writer/editor brings to the table are different from what a former admissions officer or a consultant who has limited writing skills brings
Review Skills # Writing Skills
Movie Critics # Movie Directors
It is easy to comment, but it is tough to structure the essay from the perspective of the applicant and turn the essay into a winning application essay.
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West: Technology and AI Placements
The West accounted for 19.60% of total hires, with a median base salary of $180,000, making it the third-largest regional destination. Hiring within the West was distributed across several key technology-driven metros, led by the Bay Area, which absorbed 11.30% of total placements, followed by Seattle at 3.60%, Los Angeles at 3.20%, and San Diego at 1.10%.
Bay Area: Source of Chicago Booth’s Marketing and Technology Consulting Opportunities
The Bay Area’s prominence reflects Booth’s continued exposure to enterprise technology, platform strategy, and analytics-driven roles over consumer startups. During Q3 2024–Q2 2025, tech hiring in the Bay Area stabilised around AI infrastructure, cloud platforms, data tools, and enterprise software, favouring MBAs who could bridge technical teams and business decision-making. The higher median base salary of $185,500 in the Bay Area reflects the premium attached to these roles despite lower overall tech hiring volumes compared to earlier cycles. Employers such as Amazon (20 hires), Google (6), and Adobe (4) help explain this concentration.
Seattle: Operational Roles at Chicago Booth
Seattle’s 3.60% share, with a lower median base salary of $148,000, reflects more operations- and product-adjacent roles at large technology firms, particularly in cloud infrastructure and logistics. Los Angeles and San Diego placements were more diversified, spanning media-tech, enterprise services, and specialised technology roles.
Demand in Core platform engineering or strategy plateaued during 2024-25.
Southwest: Highest Median Salary Driven by Energy and Infrastructure
The Southwest accounted for 4.70% of total hires, but stood out for its highest regional median base salary of $190,000. Hiring in this region was distributed across Dallas (1.70%), Denver (1.10%), and Houston (1.10%), all with median base salaries above $190,000.
During Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, investment accelerated in energy infrastructure, power generation, private equity-backed industrial assets, and large-scale capital projects, particularly in Texas and surrounding states.
Booth graduates entering these markets were typically placed into finance, strategy, and operations roles tied to capital deployment and project execution.
South: Miami and The South’s Strong Median Base Salary
The South accounted for 4.70% of total hires, with a median base salary of $170,000, slightly below the national median. Miami absorbed 1.70% of placements, with a median base salary of $182,500, while Atlanta accounted for 1.30%, with a median base salary of $177,500.
These outcomes reflect the South’s growing role as a secondary hub for consulting, corporate strategy, and financial services operations. During 2024–2025, firms increasingly located cost-efficient but high-responsibility roles in these cities, particularly in logistics, telecom, and financial services. Booth graduates entering these markets were typically placed into execution-oriented roles. Opportunities in rotational leadership programs remained muted.
Mid-Atlantic: Public-Sector Transformation Projects
The Mid-Atlantic accounted for 4.70% of total hires, with a median base salary of $165,000. Within this region, Washington, DC represented 3.00% of placements, while Philadelphia accounted for 1.10%.
Hiring in Washington, DC was driven primarily by consulting and strategy roles linked to public-sector transformation, healthcare policy, defense, and regulated industries, where analytical rigor and economic reasoning are critical.
Philadelphia placements were more limited and skewed toward healthcare and financial services roles, reflecting the region’s industry composition.
International: Limited but structured global outcomes
International placements accounted for 5.10% of total hires, with a median base salary of $134,219, significantly below U.S. levels. Latin America and the Caribbean represented 2.10% of hires, Asia 1.30%, Europe 0.90%, Canada 0.40%, and Middle East and North Africa 0.40%.
These outcomes reflect compensation differentials, visa constraints, and slower adoption of consulting-led transformation and AI deployment outside the United States during the 2024–2025 period.
International placements were typically driven by prior commitments of the MBA candidates.
A low international placements is a good sign on the opportunities available for American candidates.
Region | % Hired | Median Base Salary |
| United States | 94.9% | $175,000 |
| Midwest | 32.2% | $180,000 |
| Chicago | 30.7% | $180,000 |
| Northeast | 29% | $175,000 |
| New York | 26.7% | $175,000 |
| Boston | 2.1% | $170,000 |
| West | 19.6% | $180,000 |
| Bay Area | 11.3% | $185,500 |
| Seattle | 3.6% | $148,000 |
| Los Angeles | 3.2% | $180,000 |
| San Diego | 1.1% | $157,100 |
| Southwest | 4.7% | $190,000 |
| Dallas | 1.7% | $190,000 |
| Denver | 1.1% | $191,000 |
| Houston | 1.1% | $191,000 |
| South | 4.7% | $170,000 |
| Miami | 1.7% | $182,500 |
| Atlanta | 1.3% | $177,500 |
| Mid-Atlantic | 4.7% | $165,000 |
| Washington, DC | 3% | $172,000 |
| Philadelphia | 1.1% | $165,000 |
| International | 5.1% | $134,219 |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 2.1% | $90,000 |
| Asia | 1.3% | $150,000 |
| Europe | .9% | NA |
| Canada | .4% | NA |
| Middle East and North Africa | .4% | NA |
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