Pay transparency laws by state: what has to be in the job posting

As of October 2026, fourteen states and Washington, D.C. require covered employers to disclose a pay range in job postings. Connecticut became the fourteenth on October 1, 2026, when its on-request rule was replaced by a posting requirement. Two more states, Nevada and Rhode Island, require the range to be given to an applicant after an interview or on request rather than printed in the ad, and Delaware has enacted a posting law that takes effect September 26, 2027. Coverage turns on employer size and where the job is performed, not on where the company is headquartered, so a recruiter posting one role nationally can owe a range in some states and not others for the same posting.

State-by-state guides

Each row links to a full guide with the statute, the covered-employer test and the current penalties, checked against the state's own source as of September or October 2026.

States that require a pay range in the posting

These fourteen states plus Washington, D.C. require the range in the job posting itself, not only on request. The employer-size threshold, the statute and the effective date decide whether a given posting is covered.

Delaware is not in the table because its law, 19 Del. C. § 709C (85 Del. Laws c. 228), does not take effect until September 26, 2027; it will cover employers with 26 or more employees.

This list is not exhaustive. Several cities and counties layer their own posting ordinances on top of state law, and a handful of additional states require disclosure in narrower circumstances we could not confirm well enough to summarize in one line here. Check your specific state and any city or county ordinance before you finalize a posting.

City posting rules in a state without one

Ohio has no statewide pay range law, but two of its cities require ranges in postings, as of October 2026. Cleveland Codified Ordinances § 669.02(c) (Ordinance 104-2025) has required employers with 15 or more employees in Cleveland to give the salary range or scale in the notice, advertisement or other formal posting for a job since October 27, 2025. Columbus City Code 2335.03(C), added by Ordinance 2898-2025, requires employers with 15 or more employees in Columbus to give a reasonable salary range or scale in postings, and the ordinance says the city will not enforce it until January 1, 2027. Both count employment agencies acting for a covered employer as the employer. See pay transparency law in Ohio.

States that require the range only on request or after an interview

Two states require a wage range be disclosed, but not printed in the ad itself.

• Nevada (NRS 613.133, effective October 1, 2021): the employer or employment agency must provide the wage or salary range or rate to an applicant who has completed an interview for the position, whether or not the applicant asks. The Labor Commissioner may impose an administrative penalty of up to $5,000 per violation.
• Rhode Island (R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-6-22, effective January 1, 2023): the employer must give an applicant the wage range on request and should provide it before discussing compensation, and must give an employee the range for their position at hire, on moving into a new position, and on request.

Connecticut was in this group until September 30, 2026. Since October 1, 2026, Public Act 26-12 requires the wage range and a general description of benefits in every internal and public job advertisement, so it now appears in the posting table above.

For a recruiter, the practical effect of an on-request state is the same as a posting state: have the range ready before you post, because a candidate can ask for it at almost any point in the process.

What counts as a compliant range

Every statute above uses some version of "a good faith estimate of what the employer expects to pay," and regulators have been specific about what that rules out.

• No open-ended ranges. Colorado's implementing rules treat phrasing like "$30,000 and up" or "up to $60,000" as noncompliant; a range needs both a floor and a ceiling.
• No placeholder ranges. New York guidance gives the example of $1 to $1,000,000 as failing the good-faith standard on its face.
• The range must reflect what the employer would actually pay, built from an existing pay scale, the budgeted amount, or what people currently in equivalent roles are paid, not a number picked to look competitive.
• Benefits usually come with it. Washington, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota and, since October 2026, Connecticut all pair the pay range requirement with a general description of benefits in the same posting; California is a notable exception, requiring only the pay scale itself.

Remote roles and which state's law applies

A posting is not exempt because the employer is based somewhere without a pay transparency law. The statutes above generally reach a role if it can be performed, even in part, from the covered state, or if it reports to a supervisor, office or worksite there:

• New York's law covers jobs performed at least in part in the state and remote jobs that report to a New York location.
• Illinois covers positions performed at least in part in Illinois or that report to a supervisor, office or work site in Illinois.
• Maryland's disclosure duty applies to work that will be physically performed, at least in part, in the state.
• Connecticut, from October 1, 2026, covers positions performed in the state and positions performed elsewhere that report directly to a Connecticut supervisor, office or worksite.
• Vermont covers roles physically in Vermont and remote roles that will predominantly work for a Vermont office or work location.

A staffing agency posting one req to a national job board should treat it as covered by every state where a qualified applicant could actually do the work, not just the state where the client's office sits.

Penalties compared

Other states in the table enforce through their labor department or attorney general without a dollar figure we could confirm here. A missing number in this table means we did not find one on an official source, not that the state has no enforcement mechanism.

Pay transparency versus salary history and expectation questions

A pay transparency law tells the employer what it must disclose. A separate, overlapping category of state law restricts what the employer may ask the candidate about pay history. California, Colorado, Illinois, New York and several other states in the table above also ban or limit salary history questions, but the two rules do not always travel together: a state can require a posted range with no history ban, or ban history questions without requiring a posted range.

Recruiters who ask about pay expectations instead of pay history need wording that stays on the right side of both rules. See salary expectation questions for phrasing that asks about expectations without asking for history, and illegal interview questions for the broader list of topics federal and state law restrict in an interview.

A checklist before you post a role

1. Identify every state the role could be performed from, including remote candidates, not just the state where the office sits.
2. Check the strictest applicable threshold. If the role could be filled from Colorado or Maryland, the posting needs a range regardless of your company's headcount, since neither state has a size threshold.
3. Build the range from something real: a pay scale, a budget line or the pay of people already in equivalent roles, not a number chosen to sound attractive.
4. Give the range a floor and a ceiling. Reject any draft that says only "up to" or only "starting at."
5. Add the benefits line where the state requires it alongside the pay range.
6. Keep the source of the range on file. Several states, including California, require pay-scale and history records to be kept for years after the posting.
7. Re-check before every repost. A range that was accurate six months ago may no longer reflect what the employer would actually pay today.

For the separate question of which forms recruiters and staffing agencies need to be licensed to operate in a given state, see employment agency license requirements. For how AI tools used in screening are regulated state by state, see AI hiring laws by state.