UCLA Anderson MBA Class of 2023 Employment Report: Rising Salaries in California and Across the U.S.

The UCLA Anderson Class of 2023 MBA employment report is out, and the cohort made some significant gains in the job market. 

Out of 365 graduates, 312 (or 85.5 percent) sought employment. Roughly 75 percent of those seeking employment received job offers by graduation, and nearly 87 percent received an offer by three months of graduation. Job acceptances reached 85.6 percent by three months after graduation. Out of the 11 percent reporting not seeking employment, 4.4 percent were starting their own businesses.

The annual base salary for the class reached a median of $150,000. For jobs in the United States, the median salary increased to $152,125 from $145,000 in 2022. Nearly 80 (78.2) percent of job offers included a signing bonus, with the median coming in at $30,000, while stock and/or equity compensation packages were reported by more than 28 percent. 

UCLA resources, including school-facilitated internships, campus recruiting, alumni and classmates, career conferences, and the Parker CMC were responsible for 71.9 percent of job seekers finding work. The report underscores why MBA students should never underestimate the power of a summer internship: this year, 39 percent of students received full-time offers from their summer internship employers, a 5 percent increase over last year. 

Industry and Regional Placement 

Consulting was the top choice for UCLA Anderson MBA graduates this year, with 27 percent reporting a median salary of $182,500. Technology followed at 25.8 percent of the class reporting a $142,800 median salary. Financial services employers recruited 13.9 percent of the class with a median salary of $175,000. Consumer products jobs account for 9 percent at a $120,000 median salary. The entertainment & media industry saw 8.2 percent of the class, who reported a median salary of $132,500. 

Though it didn’t break the top five, 50 percent more students chose careers in healthcare this year over 2022, representing 6.7 percent of the class and reflecting a median salary of $133,000.

Partially by virtue of its location, 70.8 percent of UCLA Anderson’s graduating class began their post-MBA careers in California. Another factor might be the nearly 10 percent increase in median salary for Southern California over last year, now at $155,000. The state as a whole boasted a median salary of $157,500. The Northeast region is where the next highest median salary was found at $163,550, with 8.6 percent of the class relocating there, an increase of 5.5 percent from last year. 

More grads, 3.4 percent, also moved to the Mid-Atlantic for work than last year, where the median salary was reported at $149,622. An identical percentage of the class moved to the Midwest at a $148,850 median salary, as well as to the Southwest, where the median salary was reported to be $146,278. The region with the lowest median salary was the U.S. West (excluding California) at $142,400, where 5.2 percent of MBAs found work. Just 1.9 percent of the class moved to the South, where the median salary was $146,800.