Skip to content
FairHire provides informational tools and templates, not legal advice. Using FairHire does not create an attorney client relationship and does not guarantee compliance with any law. Always have qualified employment counsel review your hiring questions and process before you use them.
← Hiring question answers
Risky / jurisdiction-dependentPay transparency

Do you have to include a salary range in a job posting?

It depends where the role can be performed. A growing list of states and cities now require a pay range in the posting itself; many other places don't. If any covered location is in play, the safer move is to include a good-faith range.

Pay-transparency laws have spread quickly. California, Colorado, Washington, New York State, New York City, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Hawaii and others now require employers to disclose a pay range, often in the posting and sometimes on request. Coverage rules, employer-size thresholds and exactly what must be disclosed vary by jurisdiction and change often.

Because remote and multi-state hiring can pull a single posting into a covered jurisdiction, many employers include a good-faith range everywhere rather than track each rule. Confirm the current requirement for every location your role touches.

Risky phrasing

“Software Engineer, competitive salary, DOE. (No range listed.)”

Compliant rewrite

Software Engineer, $120,000–$150,000 per year, based on experience. (Include a good-faith range where any covered jurisdiction may apply, and confirm current local requirements.)

The law at a glance

Law
No single federal statute — a patchwork of state laws (e.g., Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, California Labor Code § 432.3)e.g., C.R.S. § 8-5-101 et seq.; Cal. Lab. Code § 432.3
In effect
Varies by state — Colorado's posting requirement was first (January 1, 2021); the newest, Virginia's, took effect July 1, 2026, and Maine's follows on July 29, 2026
Who’s covered
Varies widely by state — from essentially all employers (Colorado, Virginia, Washington D.C.) to 4+ employees (New York), 5+ (Vermont), 10+ (New Jersey), 15+ (California, Illinois, Washington state), 25+ (Massachusetts), 30+ (Minnesota) and 50+ (Hawaii)
Penalties
Penalties vary by jurisdiction and are generally civil fines rather than automatic liability — for example, California's Labor Commissioner can assess $100 to $10,000 per violation, Colorado's labor department can fine $500 to $10,000 per violation, and Virginia's Attorney General can seek up to $1,000 for a first violation and up to $5,000 for each subsequent one. Washington's amended law sets statutory damages at $100 to $5,000 per violation.

What that means for a posting

  • As of this writing (July 2026), a dozen states plus Washington, D.C. generally require a pay range in the posting itself: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York (with extra local rules in New York City and several other localities), Vermont, Virginia and Washington state.
  • A second family of laws requires disclosure on request or at a set point in hiring rather than in the posting: Connecticut (on request or before an offer, whichever comes first), Nevada (automatically after an interview) and Rhode Island (on request, at hire and before compensation is discussed).
  • Posting states generally want a good-faith minimum and maximum you actually expect to pay — not a token '$30,000–$300,000' spread. Several (Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington among them) also require a general description of benefits and other compensation such as bonuses or commissions.
  • Employer-size thresholds differ by state, so a 20-person company can be covered in New York (4+) and Illinois (15+) but outside Massachusetts's 25-employee line — check each state your posting touches.
  • More laws are queued up: Maine's posting requirement (employers with 10 or more employees) takes effect July 29, 2026, and Delaware's (employers with more than 25 employees) is slated for September 2027.
  • A remote or multistate posting can be pulled into a covered state's rules even if you have no office there — if the job could be performed in that state, the safer assumption is that its law applies.

Remote and out-of-state postings

Most posting states apply their rule to any job that can be performed in the state, including remote work. Colorado's official guidance (INFO #9) reaches any remote posting for work performable anywhere — and states expressly that a remote posting remains covered even if it says Colorado applicants won't be considered; the state's labor department has sent compliance letters to employers that tried that exclusion. Washington's law likewise covers postings recruiting Washington-based candidates. One nationwide remote posting can therefore land inside several states' rules at once, which is why many multistate employers now include a good-faith range in every posting instead of trying to geo-fence coverage.

How it’s actually enforced

State labor agencies do most of the enforcing — the Labor Commissioner in California, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and their counterparts elsewhere; Virginia instead routes public enforcement through its Attorney General. Early enforcement has generally leaned toward getting employers into compliance rather than maximum fines: Colorado's agency reports that the vast majority of posting complaints are resolved through voluntary-compliance letters (though it has issued citations with substantial fines in a small number of cases), California generally waives the penalty for a first posting violation the employer cures across its open postings, and Virginia gives employers 15 business days to fix a posting before a suit can be brought. Washington has been the litigation hotspot — its private right of action produced a wave of class actions — but a 2025 amendment (SB 5408, effective July 27, 2025) set statutory damages at $100–$5,000 per violation and added a five-business-day cure window for noticed postings that runs through July 27, 2027.

Common follow-ups

Is there a federal law that requires salary ranges in job postings?+

No. As of this writing there is no federal posting requirement — pay-range rules are a patchwork of state and local laws. That is why the same national posting can be fine in one state and non-compliant in another, and why the answer always starts with where the role can be performed.

Do pay-range laws apply to remote jobs and out-of-state employers?+

Generally yes. Most posting states cover any role that could be performed there, including remote roles, and being headquartered elsewhere usually doesn't take you out of scope if you're recruiting people in a covered state. Many multistate employers simply include a good-faith range in every posting rather than track each state's reach.

Do staffing agencies and third-party job boards have to include the range?+

Postings made through recruiters, staffing agencies and job boards are generally covered too — California's law, for example, requires employers to give the pay scale to the third party, which must then include it in the posting, and several states place duties on employment agencies directly. Practically, the hiring employer usually stays responsible for what appears in the ad, so give your agency the range in writing and confirm the specific state's rule.

Do you have to disclose bonuses, commissions and benefits too?+

It depends on the state. Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Washington are among the states that also require a general description of benefits and other compensation in the posting; others focus on the base salary or wage range. Some laws address commission-based pay directly — Maine's new law, for instance, lets a posting state that the position is paid on commission instead of listing a range.

Can applicants sue over a missing salary range?+

In a few states, yes. Washington allows private suits — its 2025 amendment set statutory damages at $100 to $5,000 per violation and added a five-business-day cure window through July 2027 — and Virginia's new law lets applicants and employees sue for actual damages within one year, after a 15-business-day cure period. In many other states, including California, Colorado and New York, the main route is a complaint to the state labor agency, which can order civil penalties.

Do internal promotions and transfers count?+

Often yes. New York, New York City, Massachusetts and Virginia expressly cover promotion and transfer postings, and Colorado has separate notice rules for career-progression and job opportunities. If you post roles internally, apply the same range discipline you use on public job boards.

Check your own posting in seconds.

Paste a job posting. FairHire quotes the exact line that carries risk — a missing range, age-coded wording, a vague pay promise — and shows a safer way to say it.

Audit my job post free

Sources

Last reviewed July 8, 2026. Laws change — always confirm current rules for your jurisdiction.FairHire is an informational tool, not legal advice. Have qualified counsel review your hiring questions before use.

Related questions