A pay range defines the minimum, midpoint and maximum compensation considered appropriate for a specific role or job grade. It is the most granular unit of pay structure design — a defined corridor within which an individual's pay can be set, adjusted and reviewed over time, anchored to market benchmarks and the firm's stated compensation philosophy.

In consulting, pay ranges are typically constructed at each career level within a given line of business and geography, rather than for individual job titles. This reflects the reality that consulting firms employ many people doing substantially similar work under a wide variety of internal titles — and that a meaningful pay structure must be anchored to role responsibilities and market data rather than to the name on a business card.

The Three Points of a Pay Range

Every pay range is defined by three reference values:

  • Range minimum — The floor below which pay for this role should not fall. Typically set at P25 of the relevant market benchmark, it represents the lower boundary of competitive pay for the role. New hires or recently promoted consultants may enter at or near the minimum, with the expectation that pay will develop as they establish proficiency.
  • Range midpoint — The target pay level for a fully competent, fully contributing incumbent. The midpoint is anchored to the firm's chosen market percentile target — most commonly P50 (market median), though firms with an above-market philosophy may set it at P60 or P75. The midpoint is the most important of the three points: it is the reference against which individual pay positioning and compa-ratios are calculated.
  • Range maximum — The ceiling above which pay should not rise without promotion. Typically set at P75 or above. Consultants approaching the range maximum are candidates for promotion to the next level rather than further base salary increases within the current range.

Pay Ranges and Salary Bands

Pay ranges and salary bands are closely related and often used interchangeably. Where a distinction is drawn, it is typically one of scope: a pay range specifies the min/mid/max for a single role or grade; a salary band may aggregate several adjacent grades into a single, broader structure. In practice, most consulting HR teams use the terms to mean the same thing, and the design methodology is identical.

Building Pay Ranges from Market Data

A pay range is only as good as the market data it is built from. The standard approach is:

  1. Match the internal role to the appropriate external benchmark level using the Five-Tier System and the correct line of business
  2. Pull the percentile distribution from Vencon Research's Consultant Salary Survey for the relevant level, LoB and geography
  3. Set the midpoint at the firm's target percentile
  4. Define the minimum and maximum as a spread around the midpoint — commonly ±20–30% for consulting roles, giving a range ratio of approximately 1.5x between minimum and maximum
  5. Validate that promotion from one range to the next delivers a meaningful pay step — see Salary Progression

Using Pay Ranges in Practice

Pay ranges serve several practical functions in consulting HR management:

  • Offer setting — Ranges provide the framework within which offers to new hires are constructed. An offer at the minimum is appropriate for a new entrant; an offer above the midpoint requires justification based on prior experience, scarcity or negotiation dynamics.
  • Annual salary review — During salary reviews, pay ranges determine where each consultant sits within the market distribution — their compa-ratio relative to the midpoint — and guide the size of increase required to maintain or improve their competitive position.
  • Promotion planning — The step between adjacent pay ranges defines the minimum promotion increase. If the ranges are designed correctly, promotion should move a consultant from the upper part of their current range to the lower-to-mid section of the next, with room to grow.
  • Pay transparency compliance — Many jurisdictions now require employers to disclose pay ranges for advertised positions. A well-constructed pay range structure provides exactly the data needed for compliant disclosure. See Pay Transparency and EU Pay Transparency Becomes Law in 2026.
  • Internal equity management — Pay ranges enable systematic identification of outliers — consultants paid below the minimum or above the maximum — who require correction. See Internal Equity.

Pay Ranges Across Geographies

In international consulting firms, pay ranges must be constructed separately for each significant market, because the underlying benchmarks differ materially between countries and sometimes between cities within the same country. Applying a single global range will produce systematic misfit — overpaying in some markets and underpaying in others.

Vencon Research's Consultant Salary Survey covers more than 70 markets globally, providing the country- and city-level data needed to construct locally calibrated ranges. For a full list of markets, see markets we cover. The principles governing how ranges should vary across markets are explored in Geographic Differential.

Common Pay Range Mistakes

  • Ranges set too narrow — A range that is too tight leaves no room to differentiate pay for strong performers within a level, forcing artificial promotions or off-structure increases.
  • Ranges not updated regularly — Pay ranges built on benchmarks from two or three years ago will have drifted from the market. In fast-moving consulting markets, annual recalibration is the minimum standard.
  • Ignoring LoB differentiation — A single range applied across all lines of business at the same career level will underestimate market pay in high-demand specialisms and overestimate it in others.
  • Midpoints that don't reflect the firm's actual positioning target — If the midpoint is set at P50 but the firm's philosophy is to pay at P65, the range provides misleading guidance. The midpoint must be set at the firm's genuine target percentile to be useful.
  • No process for managing employees outside the range — Ranges are only useful if there is a mechanism for correcting pay that falls below the minimum or exceeds the maximum. Without governance, ranges become decorative rather than operational.