The large consulting firms do not publish rate cards, and they ask clients not to share them. But governments buy consulting too, and governments have to disclose what they pay. That gives us three windows into what McKinsey, BCG, Bain and the Big Four actually charge: the US federal supply schedules, the UK National Audit Office, and the contract disclosures that follow a scandal.
This guide pulls those together. Every figure is from a public source, and where we do arithmetic on top of one, we say so.
The largest firms' fees, from the public record
Rates the largest consulting firms have been paid by public bodies, as disclosed in procurement schedules, audit reports and press disclosures. Commercial rates are typically higher.
- US federal rates
- General Services Administration supply schedule listings for McKinsey, BCG and Bain, 2024, as compiled by Slideworks. GSA rates are negotiated discounts for a volume buyer.
- UK Test and Trace
- Day rates disclosed to Sky News in October 2020 and reported by Consultancy.uk (BCG) and City AM (Deloitte); consultant numbers and average rates from the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee, 2021.
- UK government spend
- Tussell analysis of central government consulting spend for financial year 2024/25, reported May 2026.
- Worked examples
- Where we build a team cost from published hourly rates, the assumptions are stated inline. They are illustrations, not quotes.
ConsultingDemand, “Big Four vs MBB Consulting Fees”, data as of 28 September 2026. https://consultingdemand.com/blog/big-four-vs-mbb-consulting-fees/
What MBB charges
McKinsey, BCG and Bain are together known as MBB, or the Big Three. Their US federal rates, from GSA supply schedule listings: McKinsey and BCG from 2024, and Bain from its schedule for 2013 to 2018:
| Firm | Role | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|
| McKinsey | Senior partner | $1,193.57 |
| McKinsey | Engagement manager | $834.40 |
| McKinsey | Analyst or associate | $327.41–$498.23 |
| BCG | Senior partner | $1,116.17 |
| BCG | Project lead | $711.35 |
| BCG | Senior consultant | $629.35 |
| BCG | Associate | $404.18 |
| Bain | Team of three consultants plus half a manager | $110,554.16 a week |
| Bain | Team of four consultants plus a full-time manager | $160,806.05 a week |
Bain’s schedule is the most honest of the three, because it prices the way the firms actually sell: by the team, by the week. Nobody buys a senior partner by the hour. Here is what a McKinsey team costs when you build it from the published rates.
Illustrative McKinsey team, one week. One engagement manager at 40 hours ($33,376). Three associates at 40 hours each, at the bottom and top of the published band ($39,289 to $59,788). A senior partner for four hours ($4,774). That is $77,400 to $97,900 a week, or roughly $620,000 to $780,000 for an eight-week engagement, at government discount rates. Bain’s published team pricing implies $885,000 to $1.29 million for the same eight weeks.
These are the discounted rates. The GSA’s Office of Inspector General audited McKinsey’s earlier schedule in 2019 and found a business analyst, someone with an undergraduate degree and no experience, priced at $56,707 a week, or $2,948,764 a year. The report concluded the improper pricing “may cost the United States an estimated $69 million”, and the schedule was subsequently renegotiated. Commercial clients, who have no inspector general, should assume they pay more than the table shows.
For a day-rate view of the same firms, the UK public record is below: BCG charged £2,400 to £7,360 a day on NHS Test and Trace in 2020.
What the Big Four charges
Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG grew their consulting arms out of audit and tax, and their fees sit a tier below MBB, with a much wider range because they do a much wider range of work: technology implementation, programme management, and outsourced delivery as well as strategy.
The clearest public disclosure came from the UK’s NHS Test and Trace programme in 2020 and 2021.
| Disclosure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Deloitte consultants on the programme, October 2020 | 1,114 | City AM, citing Sky News |
| Deloitte day rates | Up to £2,360 | City AM, citing Sky News |
| Deloitte total, at peak | ”£1 million per day” | Consultancy.uk |
| BCG day rates on the same programme | £2,400 to £7,360 | Sky News, October 2020 |
| BCG total | £10 million for 40 people over four months | Sky News |
| Average consultant day rate on the programme | £1,100 | PAC report, October 2021, via Computer Weekly |
| Consultants on the programme, April 2021 | 2,239 | NAO / PAC |
Read those together and you have the whole pricing structure of the industry in one programme. BCG’s lowest reported rate (£2,400) was above the £2,360 Deloitte could charge per consultant, as Sky News reported it. Later reporting put some senior consultants on the programme, firm unnamed, at up to £6,624 a day, so treat that gap as one data point, not a rule. The programme-wide average of £1,100 a day is what Big Four delivery looks like at volume: mostly junior and mid-level staff on rates that a specialist contractor would recognise. And BCG’s £10 million for 40 people over four months works out at roughly £2,900 per person per day (assuming around 86 working days), which sits inside BCG’s own disclosed range of £2,400 to £7,360.
Fees and what they buy
Why the gap exists
Three things separate a £7,360 BCG day from a £1,100 Test and Trace average, and only one of them is the quality of the person.
Leverage. MBB staffs a small pyramid: one partner, one manager, three or four associates, for eight weeks. The Big Four staffs a large one for a long time. A large pyramid needs lower average rates to be sellable, and produces more revenue in total.
Brand as insurance. A board that commissions McKinsey and gets a bad answer has a defence. A board that commissions a boutique and gets a bad answer does not. Part of the MBB premium is that defence, and it is worth exactly as much as the board thinks it is.
What is being sold. MBB sells a decision. The Big Four mostly sells delivery. Decisions are priced on what they are worth to the buyer; delivery is priced on what it costs to provide, plus margin. The same distinction runs through our strategy versus management consulting guide.
Tussell's analysis of UK central government put consulting spend at a record £3.7 billion in 2024/25, up 6% on the year, despite a stated policy of cutting it. Deloitte alone has accumulated more than £400 million over five years. Consulting is 2% of public procurement, but it is the 2% that gets audited, which is why most of the firm-level disclosures in this guide come from government work.
When the premium is worth paying
Sometimes it is. These are the cases.
The decision is large and irreversible. A £2 billion acquisition, a market exit, a restructuring that touches thousands of jobs. When the downside of a wrong answer runs to nine figures, a seven-figure fee for the best available judgement is cheap, and the brand cover matters to shareholders and regulators.
You need the room to agree. Part of what MBB sells is the ability to get a divided executive team to accept a recommendation. Internal teams and boutiques struggle with this, not because they are wrong, but because they are not McKinsey.
The work needs a thousand people by Tuesday. This is the Big Four’s real product. No boutique can put 1,000 consultants on a programme in a month. If the problem is capacity, the Big Four’s fee is the price of that capacity, and it is not obviously worse value than hiring and then firing.
The regulator is watching. Audit-adjacent work, compliance remediation and regulatory reporting go to firms whose signature the regulator recognises. That is a Big Four strength, and it is priced accordingly.
How to pay less for the same firms
You will not negotiate McKinsey's rate. You can negotiate how many McKinsey hours you buy, at which grades, for how many weeks, and what happens after the strategy phase. That is where the money is.
Buy the strategy phase only. MBB’s implementation arms (McKinsey Implementation, BCG TURN, Bain’s results delivery) exist to keep the engagement going after the answer. Take the answer and put the implementation out to a mid-tier firm or a Big Four practice, and ask each for its rate per grade.
Ask for the pyramid. Insist on a staffing plan with a rate per grade, and check the time reports against it. Under a blended weekly fee, you cannot see whether you are paying partner rates for associate hours.
Fix the fee. The large firms will quote fixed fees for defined scopes. A fixed fee moves the estimation risk to the firm, which is where it belongs, because they have done this before and you have not.
Use alumni. The independent market is full of ex-MBB and ex-Big Four consultants who sell the same methods without the pyramid. UK interim managers averaged £907 a day in the IIM’s 2026 survey. Our consultant hourly rates guide covers what they charge, and our guide to hiring a consultant covers how to check they are as good as their CV.
Watch the public frameworks. In the UK, the Crown Commercial Service management consultancy frameworks cap day rates by grade. If you are a public body, the framework rate is the ceiling, not the starting point.
MBB, Big Four, or neither? Five questions
Question 1 of 5
How large is the decision or programme?
Does the board or regulator need a name it recognises?
How many people does the work need?
How divided is your leadership team?
What is the budget?
- McKinsey's US federal schedule bills $1,193.57 an hour for a senior partner, $834.40 for an engagement manager and $327 to $498 for associates; BCG's runs $404 to $1,116
- Bain prices by the team: $110,554 to $160,806 a week for three to four consultants plus a manager, on its 2013 to 2018 federal schedule
- On the UK Test and Trace programme, BCG's day rates ran £2,400 to £7,360 and Deloitte's up to £2,360; the programme-wide average was £1,100
- On the same programme, BCG's lowest reported day rate (£2,400) was above the £2,360 Deloitte could charge per consultant
- The gap is leverage, brand cover and what is being sold: MBB sells a decision, the Big Four mostly sells delivery
- You cannot move the rate; you can move the grades, the weeks, the scope and who implements
Frequently asked questions
How much does McKinsey charge?
On its 2024 US federal supply schedule, $1,193.57 an hour for a senior partner, $834.40 for an engagement manager and $327.41 to $498.23 for analysts and associates. Built into a typical team, that is roughly $77,000 to $98,000 a week at government rates, and $620,000 to $780,000 for an eight-week engagement. Commercial clients pay more, and the widely quoted range for a McKinsey strategy case is $500,000 to $1.25 million.
How much does it cost to hire McKinsey, BCG or Bain for a project?
Plan on a seven-figure budget for anything beyond a short diagnostic. Bain’s published federal team pricing implies $884,000 to $1.29 million for eight weeks. BCG’s UK Test and Trace work came to £10 million for 40 people over four months.
How much do the Big Four charge per day?
The Big Four publish no commercial rate cards. The best public data point is Deloitte’s Test and Trace day rates of up to £2,360 in 2020, alongside a programme-wide average of £1,100 a day across consultants from several firms.
Is MBB more expensive than the Big Four?
Yes, per consultant per day. On the same UK programme, BCG’s lowest reported day rate (£2,400) was above the £2,360 Deloitte could charge per consultant, and BCG’s top rate (£7,360) was more than three times that figure. The Big Four’s total engagement values are often larger, though, because their teams are bigger and run for longer.
Do the big firms charge by the hour?
They publish hourly rates for government buyers because procurement rules require it. Commercial clients are quoted by the week or by the engagement, usually as a fixed fee for a defined scope. Ask for the grade-level rates anyway; you need them to read the time reports.
Last updated: 28 September 2026