Evanston, US · 21 months · class of 534
Kellogg MBA: cost, salary and payback
37.5% of Kellogg's class of 2025 went into consulting, and the school reports a $175,000 median base salary on a two-year bill of $254,512.
Paid back after graduation in
4.3 years
Total cost $412,012 · 10-year NPV $241,009
| Tuition and fees, whole program | $195,172 |
| Living budget | $59,340 |
| Salary given up, 21 months | $157,500 |
| Total cost | $412,012 |
| Salary after: median base salary | $175,000 |
| Signing bonus × share receiving it | $25,500 |
| 10-year net present value | $241,009 |
| Return on the cost (present values) | 59% |
US dollars at the ECB rate of the last update. Raises of 5% a year with the MBA and 3% without, discounted at 5%, before tax. How this is calculated.
Fees and budget read on October 13, 2026 · employment: Class of 2025 (Two-Year MBA) (MBA CSEA standard) · Built by Radif Partners · Method
- Tuition and fees
- $195,172
- Total cost, salary given up included
- $412,012
- median base salary
- $175,000
- Payback, reference person
- 4.3 years
The Kellogg Two-Year MBA costs $254,512 in tuition, mandatory fees and the school's own living budget, before any salary you give up. Tuition is $177,072, which is the 2026-27 rate counted twice, because Northwestern does not publish the second-year rate in advance. For a person earning $90,000 today, the 21 months away add $157,500 of pay and bring the total to $412,012; Kellogg reports internship pay by industry only, so no summer earnings are subtracted. The class of 2025 reported a median base salary of $175,000, which repays that total 4.3 years after graduation and leaves a ten-year net present value of $241,009. What sets Kellogg apart is how much of the class the strategy firms take: 37.5% went into consulting at a $190,000 median, and the four largest employers named in the report are Boston Consulting Group, Amazon, McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company.
Consulting, counted firm by firm
Kellogg is one of 9 schools out of 75 in our data that print hire counts next to employer names, and the counts make its consulting pipeline concrete. Boston Consulting Group hired 41 graduates of the two-year class, McKinsey 23 and Bain 22, 86 people between the three firms. If the consulting share of 37.5% held for the incoming class of 534, about 200 graduates would land in the industry. The consulting median of $190,000 sits above the school-wide $175,000, so this path repays faster than the headline: 3.7 years for the reference person, against 4.3 years on the overall median. That combination puts Kellogg number 2 of 38 schools in our consulting ranking.
Finance is smaller than consulting here, 20.6% of the class, but it pays at least as well where it is concentrated: private equity took 5% of graduates at a $200,000 median, the highest of any sector or segment in the report, enough for number 4 of 10 on private equity in our ranking.
Kellogg: where the class went
Share of the class
37.5%
| Salary reported | $190,000 |
| Graduates, about | 200 |
| Payback with that salary | 3.7 years |
Reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA.
Marketing and brand roles at a lower salary
The other side of the Kellogg report is marketing. 19.1% of graduates took a marketing or sales function, and 6.1% were hired specifically into brand management, next to 9% in product management at technology firms. On the share of the class in marketing roles and what they pay, Kellogg ranks number 3 of 29 in our function ranking. The catch is pay. Consumer packaged goods paid a $128,000 median, well under consulting, and the model puts the payback on that salary at 8.1 years. Someone choosing Kellogg for brand management should run the calculator with that figure rather than with the school median.
What the two-year bill contains
Tuition runs $88,536 a year. The $18,100 of fees cover the university health plan, student services and activity charges for both years plus a one-time first-year fee. The $59,340 living budget is the school's own figure for housing, food, books, travel and personal costs near the Evanston campus, with a computer allowance counted once. 94.4% of graduates who took a job stayed in the United States, so the salary in the calculator is an American one; the few who went to Asia reported $129,618, a figure worth testing if you plan to return there.
Kellogg: when the MBA pays back, for your salary
Payback after graduation
4.3 years
| Total cost with the salary given up | $412,012 |
| Salary after (median base salary) | $175,000 |
| 10-year NPV | $241,009 |
Same assumptions as the main calculator; US dollars.
Where Kellogg stands in our rankings
- #8 of 40 · Any industry (whole class)
- #2 of 38 · Consulting
- #17 of 39 · Finance, all segments
- #10 of 12 · Investment banking
- #4 of 10 · Private equity
- #9 of 40 · Technology
- #18 of 39 · Working in the United States
Our fit score, reference person earning $90,000 before the MBA (method). Third-party rankings play no part in it. For reference, Kellogg was ranked 11 in the FT Global MBA 2026.
What the Kellogg MBA costs
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition, whole program | $177,072 |
| Mandatory fees | $18,100 |
| Living budget, whole program | $59,340 |
| Salary given up: $90,000 a year for 21 months | $157,500 |
| Total cost, reference person | $412,012 |
Kellogg employment report: Class of 2025 (Two-Year MBA)
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median base salary | $175,000 |
| Signing bonus (median) | $30,000, received by 85% |
| Graduates who accepted an offer within three months | 85.5% |
Kellogg graduates by industry
| Industry, as the school names it | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting | 37.5% | $190,000 |
| Financial Services (total) | 20.6% | $175,000 |
| Technology (total) | 18.9% | $151,500 |
| Consumer Packaged Goods | 8.6% | $128,000 |
| Healthcare (total) | 5.6% | $142,500 |
| Manufacturing | 3.1% | $159,500 |
| Media/Entertainment | 2.2% | $150,861 |
| Government | 0.6% | not published |
| Energy/Utilities | 0.3% | not published |
| of which investment banking (investment banking (Investment Banking/Brokerage)) | 6.4% | $175,000 |
| of which private equity (private equity) | 5% | $200,000 |
| of which venture capital (venture capital) | 1.1% | not published |
| of which asset management (asset management (Investment Management)) | 1.9% | $175,000 |
Where Kellogg graduates went to work
| Region | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| US (US (total) + US Mid-Atlantic + US Midwest + US Northeast + US South + US Southwest + US West) | 94.4%* | not published |
| Europe | 0.3% | not published |
| Asia | 3.8% | $129,618 |
| Middle East | 0.6% | not published |
| Latin America | 0.9% | not published |
Kellogg graduates by job function
| Function | Share | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Consulting | 38.2% | $190,000 |
| Marketing/Sales | 19.1% | $150,000 |
| Product Management (Tech) | 9% | $169,050 |
| Brand Management | 6.1% | $128,000 |
| Finance | 15.9% | $175,000 |
| Investment Banking | 5.2% | $175,000 |
| Private Equity | 3.2% | $175,000 |
| Corporate Finance | 1.4% | $133,000 |
| Management - General Management | 11.3% | $150,000 |
| Corporate Strategy/Strategic Planning | 8.1% | $160,000 |
| Business Development | 3.2% | $170,000 |
| Operations/Logistics | 2.9% | $146,400 |
| Human Resources | 0.9% | not published |
Employers named by Kellogg
Boston Consulting Group (41) · Amazon (25) · McKinsey & Company (23) · Bain & Company (22) · Capital One (9) · PwC Strategy& (7) · Kearney (6) · PepsiCo (6) · Accenture Strategy (5) · Deloitte Consulting (5) · EY-Parthenon (5)
Number of hires in brackets where the school gives it.
The Kellogg class
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| International students | 37% |
| Average years of work experience | 5.1 |
| Class size | 534 |