How to Find Average MBA Salary Information

When you are doing research to find the career opportunities that completing your MBA will offer you, one of the most important aspects that you need to research is salary.

Not only do you need to establish the average MBA salary for your chosen business school, you also need to be able to link this to your own particular circumstances and experience. 

As a starting point, you should look at the differences in average graduating MBA salaries (at the business schools where you are planning to study) based on the career paths that previous MBA graduates have chosen, as there may be differences that exist because of location and industry. 

To help you place a value on your MBA qualification you should also seek to answer the following questions:

• What are the average starting salaries for MBA graduates with 5 or 10 years experience? This experience differential can be difficult to value and you may need to find a more personalized way of evaluating this, such as obtaining a Personal Salary Report (prices start at only $29). or you can use MBA360 MBA Salary Calculator
• What is the average MBA salary for the business school, or schools, that you are considering? How do these graduating MBA salaries compare with other business schools that you are considering?
• Do the average graduating MBA salaries vary by geographical location, i.e. will you need to move once you graduate to realize your full salary-earning potential?

Having established the types of questions that you need to ask, you can use the following MBA salary resources to help you find the answers that you need. Some of this information is freely available on the Internet, although items, such as a Personal Salary Report or some MBA salary surveys, are premium services, so you should aim to be certain at the outset what your requirements are and how much information you need. 1. General MBA Salary resources To start with general resources, you should visit the following two sites where you can find information on average salaries and earnings by occupation and industry. It may be difficult however to establish the value of your MBA when looking at the information in these sites, as the information is aggregated:

• Occupational Outlook Handbook 
  This is the online version of the handbook that is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The site provides you with "Earnings" and other detailed information for 250 occupations.
  
  
• Career Journal 
  The Salary and Hiring Data area of the Wall Street Journal's Career section provides average job salaries and profiles across industries. 
  

2. Specific MBA Salary Surveys There are a number of MBA salary surveys that have been completed where you can find details of average starting salaries for MBA graduates, average MBA salaries for business schools, and how graduating MBA salaries have changed over the years. Two of the most useful for your research are:

• Business Week MBA Salary Surveys 
  On the Business Week web site you can find a host of information on average starting salaries for MBA graduates, by Business school. Please note that you will need to spend some time looking through the site to find the information you'll need.


• Financial Times Rankings and MBA Salary Surveys 
  The FT Rankings and MBA Salary Surveys also provide an at-a-glance table with the current graduating MBA salaries and the increase achieved as a result of completing the MBA. These surveys cover the top MBA programs worldwide.
  

3. MBA Salary information for your personal circumstances
If you want to establish what your own average MBA salary would be, the best resource available is the Personal Salary Report (prices start at only $29 - available from Salary.com). This report is personalized to reflect your own years of experience, performance, education and other factors that are known to influence your pay. If you need information to help you in any salary negotiations, it is very important to be aware of the specific factors that are likely to affect your own salary, such as location and company size. To assist you with this, we have added an MBA Salary Calaculator