Bain again tops Vault Consulting 50 North America

Bain & Company remained the top firm in the Vault Consulting 50 North America ranking for the fourth consecutive year.

The 2024 edition is the 18th year that Vault – a career research platform for professionals and students – has conducted the ranking.

Vault surveyed 8,000+ consulting professionals in North America in fall 2023, with respondents rating their firms on categories including compensation, work-life balance, and diversity.

The Vault Consulting 50 for 2024 ranking used the following weighted formula: 30% prestige, 15% firm culture, 15% satisfaction, 10% compensation, 10% work/life balance, 10% level of challenge, 5% overall business outlook, 5% promotion policies.

Though Bain and BCG took the top two spots, McKinsey was missing from the 2024 list. According to Vault’s participation policy, “Some years, firms choose not to participate, for whatever reason, which may explain why they don’t appear in the Consulting 50 or Quality of Life Rankings.”

McKinsey nonetheless ranked first in prestige and in nearly two-thirds of practice areas measured in the Vault survey.

Alvarez & Marsal jumped seven spots to third place in the 2024 list. The restructuring specialist ranked top-five in the key categories of compensation and business outlook.

GhSmart & Company, a leadership advisory firm, was the highest-ranked boutique consultancy on the list at fourth place. Rounding out the top five was Oliver Wyman, which returned to the Vault 50 after a one-year absence.

Vault’s top 50 consultancies in North America were:

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

11) PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services
12) L.E.K. Consulting      
13) Analysis Group, Inc.
14) OC&C Strategy Consultants 
15) The Cambridge Group           
16) Bates White Economic Consulting    
17) Keystone Strategy  
18) Cornerstone Research          
19) Aminad Consulting  
20) Charles River Associates       

21) Publicis Sapient        
22) NERA Economic Consulting
23) The Chartis Group   
24) Clearview Healthcare Partners           
25) Epsilon Economics and Epsilon Life Sciences
26) ScottMadden, Inc.
27) SciVida         
28) Arthur D. Little
29) Clarkston Consulting              
30) Heidrick and Struggles           

31) LifeSci Consulting    
32) DayBlink Consulting
33) Applied Value
34) Kenway Consulting
35) BPM Advisory
36) Kaiser Associates     
37) Eagle Hill Consulting LLC       
38) Coherent Economics              
39) Kepler Cannon          
40) DeciBio Consulting  

41) Censeo Consulting  
42) The Poirier Group    
43) Insigniam    
44) LeapPoint   
45) Health Advances, LLC             
46) Ignyte Group
47) Cicero Group             
48) PRECISIONMadvisors             
49) Eversana Consulting
50) Stax