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What does investment banking actually pay?
Base, bonus, and total comp by level and firm type — compiled from public reporting and survey data, shown as honest ranges with every source named. Then the number nobody posts: what's left after New York taxes.
Level
Firm type
Base salary*
$100,000–$120,000
Implied bonus*
$45,000–$125,000
Total comp*
$165,000–$225,000
Year-1 stub bonus*
$30,000–$35,000 ~5–6 months in
Analysts start in the summer, so what the first payout looks like depends on the firm's cycle. Traditionally the first bonus is a full one, paid ~12 months in. But firms are increasingly moving analysts to a December year-end: a stub of roughly this size lands at your first calendar year-end, and the first full bonus comes 12 months after that.
The bonus and total ranges above reflect a full bonus cycle — where the stub model applies, first-year cash in hand is base + stub. Public sources don't break stubs out by firm type, so this figure is the same across the tiers here.
Rough take-home at the range midpoint ($195,000)
≈ $126,750 / year · $10,563 / month
The 35% default is a computed all-in EFFECTIVE rate (federal + FICA + NY state + NYC local, 2025 brackets, single filer, standard deduction) at analyst-level income (~$195K); associate-level totals push the effective rate to ~40%+, so slide it up for those. Your marginal rate is higher still. Rough planning math only — not tax advice.
*All figures are ranges for New York front-office roles, pre-tax, base + a full-cycle year-end bonus only (no signing bonuses or benefits; the partial first-year “stub” payout is shown separately on first-year rows), roughly 25th–75th percentile, compiled from the public sources below (press-derived and self-reported survey data — not offers, not guarantees). Pay varies materially by bank, group, performance bucket, and year. Last reviewed July 2026.
- Mergers & Inquisitions — Investment Banker Salary Report (2026 update) — 25th–75th percentile, New York, base + year-end bonus, pre-tax
- Wall Street Prep — IB Analyst Salary Guide — base by analyst year, low/mid/high bonus buckets, and the year-1 stub-bonus convention
- CNBC / Banking Dive — Goldman Sachs raises first-year analyst base to $110K (Aug 2021; street-wide match followed) — press-reported firm decisions; bases have held ~flat since
- Prospect Rock Partners — 2025 IB Analyst Compensation Market Analysis — recruiting-firm dataset; 2025 season: A1 bonuses averaged ~$62K, A2 ~$91K, bases flat
- Wall Street Oasis — Compensation Report (2025–26) — self-reported member submissions; averages include non-NY offices
The paycheck is the outcome. The interview is the gate.
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