For a long time, the salary range for a new role lived in a spreadsheet that only a few people ever saw. Candidates learned the number late in the process, usually after a few rounds of interviews, and current employees rarely learned it at all. In a growing number of places, that has changed.
As of 2026, the states that require a pay range in job postings include California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and Washington, along with Washington, D.C. More laws were passed or took effect in 2025 and 2026, and the list keeps getting longer. For a company of 50 to 200 people, this affects more than the job posting. It changes how offers get made and how pay conversations go with the people you already employ.
Who These Laws Cover
Coverage depends on company size and varies by state. Colorado's law applies to employers of any size, while other states set a minimum number of employees before the rules kick in. Some cities have their own rules as well. New York City had its own salary range law before New York State passed one. In other places the requirement is lighter, and employers only have to share pay information when a candidate asks for it.
The part that tends to catch growing companies off guard is remote work. Several states apply their posting rules to remote roles that could be filled by someone living in that state. So a company with no office in Colorado or Washington can still be covered if it posts a remote job that people there can apply for.
Requirements vary by state and city and change often, so confirm the details for your company with employment counsel before your next role goes up.
What Changes When the Range Is Public
When the range sits in the posting, the negotiation starts in a different place. Candidates show up knowing what the role pays, and many will expect an offer toward the top of it. A very wide range can raise its own questions, since candidates will wonder what it takes to get the higher number.
The bigger change happens inside the company. Your current employees can read your job postings too. Say an engineer who has been with you for four years sees a posting for the same role, and the range starts above what they make today. They will notice. Some will come and ask about it. Others will quietly start looking at other jobs.
That makes pay transparency as much a retention issue as a hiring one. Whatever a posting says about how you pay, your team will see it.
Every range you post is also a message to the people already doing that job.
Set Ranges Before You Need Them
Many companies this size set pay one hire at a time. A manager has a budget, a candidate has a number in mind, and the offer lands somewhere in between. That works fine until someone has to write the range down where everyone can see it.
It is much easier to set ranges for each role, or for groups of similar roles, before the next posting goes up. A few things help.
- Base each range on current market data for the role and location, from a salary survey or a compensation data provider.
- Keep ranges realistic. The range should reflect what you would actually pay, so nobody who reads it is surprised later.
- Decide how location affects pay for remote roles, and apply it the same way every time.
- Write down who can approve an offer outside the range, and for what reasons.
- Review ranges at least once a year, since the market moves.
Check Current Pay Against Your Ranges
Once the ranges exist, compare every current employee's pay against the range for their role. This step often gets skipped, and it is the one that heads off the most uncomfortable conversations.
You will probably find a few people below the bottom of the range. Often they are long-tenured employees who started when the market was lower and have had modest raises since. Gaps like this tend to open up when hiring rates climb faster than annual increases.
Here is some example math. Say you have six people in a role, and three of them are paid an average of $6,000 below the new range. Bringing them up to the minimum costs $18,000 a year. That is a real expense, and you can phase it in over a couple of quarters if you need to. Compare it with the cost of replacing even one of those people once they start looking, which includes recruiting time, an open seat, and the months it takes a new hire to get up to speed.
You may also find people above the top of the range. That rarely calls for a pay cut, but it is worth asking whether the range is off or whether those people have grown into a bigger role than their title suggests. And if the gaps seem to follow a pattern that has nothing to do with experience or performance, talk to employment counsel about how to address them.
Prepare Managers to Talk About Pay
Most managers have never had to explain a pay range, and plenty of them would rather not. When an employee asks why a new posting shows a higher range than their own salary, a vague or defensive answer makes things worse. Before postings go out, give managers a short guide that covers a few basics.
- How the ranges were set and what data they are based on.
- What decides where someone falls within a range, such as experience, skills, and performance.
- What the manager can answer on the spot, and when to bring in HR or leadership.
- How and when pay reviews happen at your company.
A manager who can explain how a range was built and what moves someone up within it will usually keep the conversation calm. A manager who shrugs and blames the market leaves the employee to fill in the blanks on their own.
Making Offers When the Range Is Already Known
Once a candidate has seen the range, the offer needs to make sense next to it. Decide ahead of time where a candidate's experience puts them in the range, and be ready to explain why. If you post $90,000 to $120,000 and offer $92,000 to someone with strong experience, expect pushback, and possibly a declined offer.
It also helps to talk about pay early. Confirming on the first call that the posted range works for the candidate can save both sides weeks of interviews that end in a gap nobody can close.
Keep an eye on offers that go above the range to land a candidate. Sometimes that is the right call. It raises the same questions with current employees that a posting would, though, so make that choice on purpose and update the range if the market has moved.
Where to Start
Start with the roles you plan to hire for in the next six months. Set ranges for those, compare current employees in the same roles against them, and close any gaps you decide to close before the postings go live. Then brief the managers who will be fielding the questions. Over the next few quarters, extend the same work to the rest of the company.
If you do not have the compensation data or the time to build ranges in-house, a talent consulting partner can help set them up and keep your offers consistent as you grow.