State pay transparency posting laws: which states require a pay range in the job posting

A range in the posting, set in good faith

Pay transparency is a bucket that holds three different rules, and treating them as one is why the state count you see runs from a dozen to nearly twenty. The first rule is the one this note covers: the employer has to put a pay range in the job posting itself, so an applicant sees it before applying. The second is disclosure on request, where the range is handed over only after an applicant asks or reaches a certain point in hiring. The third is the salary-history ban, which stops an employer from asking what a candidate earned before. A state can have one of these, two, or all three.

What follows is the first rule only. Eleven states and the District of Columbia now require a pay range in the posting, with three more on the calendar. States that only disclose a range on request, such as Connecticut and Nevada, or that only ban salary-history questions, are real laws worth knowing, but they do not put a number in the ad, so they sit outside this list.

The posting laws share a spine. The range has to be set in good faith, meaning it reflects what the employer expects to pay, and it cannot be open-ended, like "$60,000 and up," or so wide it tells the applicant nothing. Most reach internal postings and promotions, not just outside ads. Most reach a remote role a covered-state resident could fill. From there the details diverge, and the differences are where employers get caught.

Where a range is required in the posting today

Here are the eleven states and the District of Columbia that require a pay range in a covered posting as of June 2026, with the employer size that triggers each one, the date it took effect, and the core rule. The governing statute is noted on each. The thresholds are the headline difference: New York reaches an employer with four employees, while Hawaii does not bite until fifty.

What else has to go in the ad

A pay range is the floor. Several states require more in the posting itself, and three of those requirements trip people up because they are easy to miss.

A few states handle commission and tipped roles separately. Vermont requires a commission role to say it is commission-based and a tipped role to show the base wage. Maine, once it takes effect, lets a commission-only role skip the range as long as the posting says the job is paid solely on commission. When a role does not fit a clean range, read the specific state’s rule rather than guessing.

It is not only outside job ads

Two practical points decide whether these laws reach a posting more often than employers expect. The first is internal moves. Most of the posting states extend the range requirement to promotions and transfers and to internal postings, not just public job ads. New York, California, Vermont, Massachusetts, and the two 2026 laws all reach internal opportunities, and Illinois adds a timing rule: a promotion has to be announced to current employees within fourteen days of posting the role externally.

The second is remote work, and it is the reason a small employer in a state with no law can still be covered. A role that a resident of a covered state could perform is generally subject to that state’s posting rule, even when the employer sits elsewhere. California and Washington both reach remote roles that could be filled from within the state, and New York reaches remote roles that report to a New York office. An employer cannot dodge the rule by writing "not open to applicants in this state" into the ad.

Set a defensible range and keep the paper

Every posting law turns on the same two words: good faith. A compliant range reflects the pay the employer expects to offer at the time of posting. It is not a placeholder, and it is not open-ended. "$60,000 and up" fails. So does a band so wide it carries no information. California tightened its definition on January 1, 2026 to require the range the employer reasonably expects to pay, and Washington’s guidance rejects open-ended ranges outright. No statute fixes a width, but a band of roughly twenty to forty percent from bottom to top is a defensible practice, and a wider one should rest on a written reason.

Recordkeeping is where the states diverge most quietly. Illinois keeps the posting, pay scale, and benefits for five years, the longest. California holds job titles and wage history for the length of employment plus three years, and Maryland keeps the posting and range at least three years past the role. Colorado runs two years. Where a state sets no specific period, a three-year wage-record practice is the common default, and Maine and Delaware both build in a three-year rule. The range you posted, and the reasoning behind it, is the record that answers a complaint.

Two laws this summer, one in 2027

Three more jurisdictions are signed and dated. Two take effect within weeks, and the third is far enough out that an employer has time to prepare.

More states debate these bills every session, and several cities and counties have their own versions that can run stricter than the state, among them New York City, Jersey City, and Ithaca and Westchester County in New York. Treat any list, including this one, as a snapshot of a moving target.

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