2026 PE Associate 1 Total Comp
I’m an AN1 who recently decided to pursue off-cycle PE recruiting after initially not being interested in the space. While I’ve found historical comp data, I know that offers for my class are still over a year out, so I’d love to gather some more up-to-date insights.
If anyone is open to sharing, it’d be great to see comp ranges based on the following: Fund Size: (preferably in $B ranges rather than subjective MM/UMM/MF labels), strategy: (PE, GE, VC, etc.), location (general COL as well if preferred for anonymity).
Transparency benefits everyone navigating recruitment, so any data points on what firms are offering PE Associate comp right now would be hugely helpful! Feel free to anonymize as needed.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s a snapshot of Private Equity Associate 1 compensation data from recent threads and reports:
Fund Size & Location:
General Compensation Trends:
Strategy Insights:
Regional Variations:
For more detailed insights, you might want to explore the 2023 Associate Compensation Megathread or similar threads on WSO. Transparency indeed helps everyone, and these data points should give you a solid starting point for navigating your recruitment process!
Sources: PE Associate Compensation in T3 cities?, 2023 Associate Compensation Megathread, From Private Equity Associate to VP in Private Equity, 2017 Private Equity Report – 8 Category Highlights, Is this associate compensation competitive?
Bump.
Just go look at the annual H&S compensation report. Seemed pretty on-point when I was an associate looking at compensation
Bump
Bump again, would love some data points for those incoming not from previous years.
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