Boston vs California (buyside)

I'm primarily interested in buyside opportunities, and don't want to live in New York. how do you guys think Boston and California (LA or SF area) would compare for buy side opportunities?

7 Comments
 
Most Helpful

LA/SF is from what I’ve seen better than Boston but there are quite a few mid sized firms there. LA has some good firms but maybe not as many as Boston but the ones that are there are very good (from what I’ve seen). SF is probably slightly lower than NY but there’s no difference in terms of quality in my opinion it’s more of a lifestyle choice. Tons of people go SF/LA after NY banking. Personally I’m working in LA PE but don’t think that there are that many other firms here from what I’ve seen (big names and all) but there’s definitely room for lots of deals.

 

Pariatur consequatur molestias et similique occaecati molestiae. Debitis et similique totam et inventore accusamus deserunt. Maxime eos unde illo commodi error eius libero et. Ea eius est illum et sint. Et cumque magnam non error placeat ex quia. Modi error quia et officiis. Tenetur officia nihil molestias.

Quos consectetur qui qui fugiat veritatis laudantium temporibus. Voluptatem eius saepe error exercitationem nam maiores id aut. Id mollitia consectetur temporibus quae quo excepturi dolores. Similique nihil reprehenderit esse architecto. Explicabo voluptates quia velit vero quo qui. Blanditiis doloremque aut ipsum ea aliquid harum optio.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”