What Counts as a Valid Salary Range in a Job Posting?

Most HR teams know that pay transparency laws require salary ranges in job postings. Fewer know that the format and content of those disclosures are also regulated. A posting that says “competitive salary” or “$60,000+” is still a violation in every state with a posting requirement — even though some salary information is present.

What does not count

The following disclosures fail to satisfy the requirements of California, Colorado, New York, Washington, Illinois, and most other covered states:

• “Competitive salary” — gives applicants no information about actual compensation
• “Market rate” — same problem; undefined and unverifiable
• “DOE” (depends on experience) — a judgment about future pay is not a range
• A single number — “$80,000” is not a range; it has no minimum or maximum
• “$60,000+” — an open-ended figure with no upper bound
• An unreasonably wide range — “$50,000-$200,000” for a single role level signals the employer has not made a good-faith determination
• OTE only (on-target earnings) — total expected earnings including commission do not substitute for a base salary range

What does count

A valid salary range is a minimum and maximum compensation figure that the employer in good faith believes it would pay a qualified candidate for the role. The “good faith” standard — used in California, Colorado, New York, and others — means the range should reflect what you would actually pay, not the widest possible spread your budget could theoretically accommodate.

Examples of compliant disclosures:

• “$95,000-$115,000 per year”
• “$45.00-$55.00 per hour”
• “Base salary: $110,000-$130,000. This role is also eligible for annual bonus and equity.”

The third example illustrates how to handle variable compensation correctly: disclose the base salary range first, then note additional compensation components separately. OTE or commission expectations can be included but cannot replace the base range.

The good-faith standard in practice

California, Colorado, and New York all use a “good faith” or “reasonable expectation” standard for salary ranges. Enforcement agencies in these states have taken the position that a range is not in good faith if:

• The range spans more than approximately 50-100% of the midpoint without a documented rationale
• The employer consistently hires outside the posted range
• The same range is used across multiple significantly different seniority levels

A practical test: would a recruiter be comfortable telling a candidate “the range on this role is exactly what we posted”? If the answer is no because the real budget is narrower, the posted range is not a good-faith estimate.

Hourly roles

For hourly positions, the disclosure must be an hourly wage range — not an annualized figure. Posting “$41,600-$52,000 per year” for an hourly role (which implies $20-$25/hour) may technically satisfy the minimum-maximum requirement, but providing the actual hourly range is clearer and reduces ambiguity during enforcement.

State-by-state quick reference