Announcing the 2024 Vault Consulting 50 North America and Best to Work For!

We're pleased to announce our Consulting 50 Rankings for 2024, with Bain & Company ranking as the “Best Consulting Firm to Work For.” It’s the fourth year in a row that Bain takes the top spot. Meanwhile, Boston Consulting Group remains in the No. 2 spot, with Alvarez & Marsal rounding out the top 3 in a big jump from its No. 10 spot last year.

The rankings are derived from the annual Vault Consulting Survey. Conducted in the fall of 2023, the survey asked more than 8,000 consulting professionals in North America (and a total of 15,000 consulting professionals around the world) of all levels to assess their peer firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on prestige (they were unable to rate their own firms and asked to rate only firms with which they were familiar). They were also asked to rate their own firms in various quality of life categories, including compensation, hours, firm culture, business outlook, training, wellness, work/life balance, and overall job satisfaction. A weighted formula, which includes external prestige scores and internal quality of life scores, was applied to this data to create the Consulting 50.​

The 10 Best Consulting Firms to Work for in North America Based on Vault’s Annual Consulting Survey Are:

1. Bain & Company
2. Boston Consulting Group
3. Alvarez & Marsal
4. ghSMART
5. Oliver Wyman
6. EY-Parthenon
7. Putnam
8. The Bridgespan Group
9. Kearney
10. Roland Berger

No. 1 Bain & Company

Consultants at other firms call Bain “one of the best,” with a “very strong reputation” and “extremely intelligent people.” This “extremely prestigious” firm has stayed at the top of Vault’s Best Consulting Firms to Work For list for a reason: consultants say it has a “strong culture” and does “interesting work,” making it one of the “best in the biz.” Insiders at the firm say it’s “an amazing place to work” that provides an “amazing investment in growing people and pushing them to new heights.”

No. 2 Boston Consulting Group

Consultants say that BCG is the “gold standard”; a “top-tier consulting firm” that produces “strong work product.” The firm “pays well” and is “more exclusive” than others in the industry. Consultants who work at BCG say that there are “opportunities in every sector, every topic, [and] every geography” at the firm, and that “the empathy exhibited across case teams is far superior” to other consulting firms.

No. 3 Alvarez & Marsal

Peers of Alvarez & Marsal consultants say the firm is “big in the distressed space” and “the best at restructuring.” The firm is reported to be “fast-growing and diversifying,” as well as “very high paying” with “very driven people.” Folks at the firm say that work/life balance “is as good as you can get in consulting” and that the firm is “crushing it this year” regarding business performance.

ghSMART is the No. 1 Boutique

ghSMART reigns supreme as Vault’s top boutique firm. Peers at other firms say that the firm is a “very strategic leadership advisory” firm full of “very intelligent people.” Consultants at the firm itself say that it is a “high freedom and flexibility work culture” and that “mentorship and coaching are plentiful, thoughtful, and intentional.”

View the entire Consulting 50 Rankings, Prestige Rankings, Boutique Firm Rankings, Practice Area Rankings, Quality of Life Rankings, and Diversity Rankings.

With regard to the survey and the consulting industry, Eric Stutzke, SVP & General Manager of Vault had this to say, “Consulting remains an excellent career choice for professionals, including those early in their careers who want to learn a great deal on the job and have high levels of exposure to clients and their most pressing challenges." Stutzke added, “While firm culture and compensation remain key areas of focus for consulting candidates when evaluating a firm, our survey revealed that being staffed on quality engagements that provide the opportunity to perform substantive work is of nearly equal importance.”

###

About Vault

Vault is the leader in career research, exploration, and discovery for professionals and students. Through our proprietary data-driven Vault rankings, verified employee and intern reviews, and extensive network spanning more than 500 campuses and universities, we have been the trusted provider of career intelligence solutions for emerging talent for over two decades. Our exclusive data-driven rankings, in-depth employer profiles, and valuable employee and intern reviews encompass a wide range of industries, including Law, Banking, Accounting, Consulting, STEM, and the top Internship programs.