If you’ve ever seen a salary range like $60,000 to $500,000 posted in a job listing, congratulations: you’re as irritated as the rest of us. Shortly after pay transparency laws started sweeping across the country, those wide salary ranges in job listings became more common. 

This is partly because many pay transparency laws require employers to post a range they expect to pay in “good faith” without specifying how narrow the range must be, which also *unfortunately* allows them to continue to hold back on being fully transparent. But the majority of job listings aren’t like that, and some laws in certain states are more clear than others to prevent them from doing so. 

For example, Virginia’s new pay transparency laws, effective July 1st, 2026, prohibit employers from failing to set a wage or salary range in true good faith by including the wording, “Any analysis of whether the wage or salary range has been set in good faith shall consider, among other things, the breadth of such wage or salary range.” Breadth is the key word there. 

Either way, if the company is serious about its hiring plans, you’ll be able to see that in the salary ranges they post. But what exactly do those ranges mean?

Key points:

• A salary range is a set of the lowest and highest salary that’s set for a job.
• You’ll only be able to effectively read salary ranges in job listings if you also know your own market salary range. 
• How a company discloses (or doesn’t disclose) pay for a certain job says a lot about them before you ever apply.
• When there is no salary listed, ask as many questions about pay upfront before you get too deep into the hiring process (only to find out that the pay is much lower than you expected).

What is a Salary Range?

A salary range is the set of numbers that indicates the lowest and highest market salary amounts for a job, and there are typically two types. The first is your market salary range of the lowest to highest annual salary you want to be paid for at a job. The second is the salary range that appears on job listings, set by the company to show where the new hire could possibly fall (which also tells you if they’re willing to pay you your market rate and gives you a good starting point for salary negotiation talks).

To find what your market salary range is for what you do, download the FREE Market Research Guide!

How Do Employers Set Salary Ranges in Job Listings?

There are a few reasons why employers list salary ranges in job listings aside from having to comply with pay transparency laws in their state. They may also want to attract more applicants while filtering out people that have mismatched salary expectations. 

There’s also quite a bit of research that goes into setting those ranges. Employers will typically benchmark against current market data, which is what similar roles pay for the same title, industry, and location, and is similar to the market research you can do with our free guide. They’ll also factor in the budget they've allocated for the role, what current employees are getting paid for similar work, and what specialized skillset or amount of experience they need for the role.

The final range shows how much room they’re leaving for candidates at different levels, whether they’re entry-level or junior, mid-level, or senior level. A tighter range means they’re looking for a specific hire (at a specific level) and a broader range means they’re leaving space to pay more for someone who exceeds expectations.

How to Tell If a Salary Range Is Fair: Do Your Market Research

The only way to tell if a listed salary range is fair is to first know what your own market salary range is and if it fits into that. 

Your market salary range comes down to five factors:

• Job title (and alternate titles)
• Years of experience
• Location (or if you’re remote)
• Relevant education and skills
• Company size and industry

This is where your market research shines! Download our FREE Market Research guide to help determine what your market salary range would be. The guide will talk you through the process by first picking a salary source, like the Salary Database, Payscale, or BLS wage data. You’ll look at your job title, experience, and location and note the lowest, average, and highest salaries for that role. The lowest and highest will be your range, and your rough rate will be the average, which is the sum of the highest and lowest, divided by 2. 

Repeat this process across 3 to 5 sources so you’re not relying on a siloed data set that may not accurately represent the broader market. Don’t forget to talk to real people too. Talk to your coworkers about what they make and other professionals in similar roles and what they’d consider a fair market rate for their work. Start by being transparent about your own pay first to encourage them to open up.

Once you have your range, see where it sits in relation to the range in the job listing. If it’s below your market rate, it’s a low-paying listing for you. If it’s within it, it’s fair and worth applying with a target near the higher end of the range. And if it’s above your market rate? That’s a strong offer worth pursuing!

Where Will You Actually Land in the Range?

When looking at a salary range like $90,000 to $120,000 in a job listing, you’ll find where you fall by taking into account your qualifications, how new you are to the role, and how many of the requirements you meet.

For example, you’ll hit toward the lower end of the range if you’re newer to the role, the middle of the range if you hit most of the requirements and have directly relevant experience, and the higher end of the range if you exceed the requirements, have more specialized or in-demand skills (like the part of the job description that’s labeled “nice to have”), or a track record that maps directly to their needs in a way that makes them want to do whatever they can to get you onboard.

Red Flags to Watch For in a Posted Salary Range

The thing about salary ranges is while you’re scanning open jobs and what they pay, the companies are telling you exactly who they are before you ever apply.

This is what to watch out for:

• Absurdly wide ranges: They’re complying with pay transparency laws without actually revealing anything. 
• A range that sits surprisingly below the market pay for the title and location: They're hoping someone won't check or to get an entry-level hire that’s willing to work for less.
• "Competitive salary" or "DOE" with no numbers: A possible compliance dodge or a way to look transparent without actually being transparent. 
• A very narrow range paired with heavy senior requirements: A sign that the budget isn’t very flexible no matter how strong of a match you are.
• The recruiter dodges the number even after you ask directly: They’re probably waiting for you to give a number first, which is worth noting this may be how the company negotiates before you're even in.

However, none of these are a done deal. They’re all signs to dig into more research and ask questions early, so you don't waste days (or even weeks) in a hiring process with a company that was never going to meet your number to begin with.

What to Do When There's No Salary Range Listed

If you're job hunting in one of the states without pay disclosure requirements, you'll still find plenty of listings with no range at all. Still do your market research to find your market salary range and ask questions about the pay early in the process. Something along the lines of, “Are you able to share the compensation band budgeted for this role?” is a simple way to set expectations upfront to save everyone’s time. 

Also, know your rights! Some employers will try and pull a fast one on you and ask about what your salary was at past jobs. This is actually illegal in 20 states, including Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, and several others (as outlined in our pay transparency law report).

Turn Your Findings Into a Negotiation

Evaluating a range isn't just about deciding whether or not you should apply to a job. It also perfectly sets you up for the offer and negotiation stage. 

When you've got a data-backed number, you can negotiate a salary offer (or ask for a raise are your current job) with confidence instead of showing up unprepared and guessing your way through it. Be sure to have 2 to 3 sources ready for the meeting, show where you fall in the range and why, and tie your side of the negotiation to the specific skills and impact you bring (use past examples showing the impact you’ve made for previous employers or projects). 

Just knowing your market range makes the entire job search process so much easier. You’re willing to read job listings more clearly, manage your expectations, and be able to articulate your needs more effectively in negotiations. You’ll never look at a salary range in a job listing the same way again. 

That wraps it up for this week. I’m Daniella Flores, a former engineer who writes about tech, money, and careers, a former member of the CNET Money Expert Review Board, and career researcher that’s appeared in TIME, CNBC, and Investopedia (among many others). I’m extremely passionate about workers' rights and financial freedom, so it’s a pleasure to be able to bring you this type of content through the Resource Hub (thank you for the opportunity, Hannah!) You can also follow me on Linkedin and Threads. Chat soon!

If this guide helps you land a higher-paying job, let us know! Send us an email ➡️ hello@checksalaries.com

For more transparent resources:

• Want to join the movement? Explore thousands of individually reported salaries nationwide across all industries in our Salary Database!
• Do you know if you're being underpaid? Take our free quiz to find out!
• Need help negotiating your salary? Download our free Salary Negotiation Guide!