Pay disclosure is reshaping how recruiters attract talent, and the rules are changing faster than most teams can keep up. Here’s where things stand—and why it matters for your hiring strategy.
A hiring manager in Denver posts a senior analyst role with a salary range of $75,000 to $140,000. On paper, the range checks all the boxes for Colorado’s pay transparency rules. In practice, it creates a ripple of problems.
Some candidates look at a range like that and assume they’ll end up closer to the bottom than the top, which makes the role feel less attractive. Candidates with strong salary expectations might bail out early too; they read a wide salary range as a sign that the employer hasn’t done the work on what the role is worth, or is trying to keep its options open at the cheapest possible rate. Internal employees earning $90,000 see the job ad and start asking pointed questions about how that range was set, and where their own pay fits inside it.
That single job ad has now triggered doubt in three different groups the team cares about. What started as a positive step toward fairness suddenly feels like a new source of friction.
The Current State of Play
Proactive laws requiring employers to disclose pay information in job postings started in California in 2018 and now cover large slices of the U.S. job market. They’re not “a talking point” or “examples of best practice” – these are laws, with enforcement mechanisms and fines attached, and recruiters have to comply with a patchwork of slightly different rules from state to state.
Few of those laws are truly prescriptive about how to build salary ranges. This means talent teams are responsible for scoping roles properly, setting defensible salary bands, writing job descriptions that match them, and negotiating offers in a way that stands up to internal and external scrutiny.
Before getting into the weeds of how to respond, it helps to anchor where things stand today. Here’s a quick run through of the pay transparency laws currently in force and coming soon.
DISCLAIMER: We’re not lawyers and this isn’t legal advice, so please read the full rules that apply to your organization.
States with Active Pay Transparency Requirements
California – Employers with 15 or more employees must include pay scales in job postings and provide pay scale information to current employees for their position upon request. This applies whether the organization posts directly or through third parties.
Colorado – The gold standard for salary disclosure, Colorado requires that all job postings must include the hourly or salary compensation range, a general description of all benefits and other compensation, and the application deadline (or state that applications are accepted on an ongoing basis). This applies to all postings, including remote jobs that could be performed in Colorado, and the law is actively enforced with fines for noncompliance.
Connecticut – Employers must disclose wage ranges to applicants upon request or before making an offer, whichever comes first, and must share wage ranges with employees when they are hired, when their position changes, or on request.
District of Columbia – Employers must provide the minimum and maximum projected salary or hourly pay in all job listings and disclose the full schedule of benefits before the first interview.
Hawaii – Employers with 50 or more employees must include hourly rates or salary ranges in job listings for positions to be performed in Hawaii, including remote roles that will be performed in the state.
Illinois – Employers with 15 or more employees must disclose the pay scale and benefits in job postings and notify current employees of promotion opportunities within 14 days of posting externally. Civil penalties can apply per violation.
Maryland – Employers must provide wage ranges for positions to applicants on request and, under recent amendments, include wage ranges and a general description of benefits and other compensation in job postings.
Massachusetts – Employers with 25 or more employees must disclose in job postings the pay range they, in good faith, plan to pay for the role.
Minnesota – Employers with 30 or more employees must include a starting salary range (or fixed pay rate if no range exists) and a general description of benefits in all job postings.
Nevada – Employers must provide wage or salary ranges to applicants who have completed an interview and to employees applying for promotions or transfers after an interview.
New Jersey – New Jersey’s evolving framework includes local pay transparency ordinances and statewide pay equity and transparency obligations that require covered employers to disclose salary information and, in some cases, benefits in postings and to publicize promotion opportunities.
New York – Statewide, employers with four or more employees must include compensation ranges in advertisements for jobs, promotions, or transfer opportunities that will or can be performed in New York State.
Rhode Island – Employers must provide wage ranges to applicants on request and before discussing compensation, and must provide wage ranges to employees on hire, when they move into a new position, and on request.
Vermont – Employers must provide a minimum and maximum hourly/salary range that they, in good faith, believe they will pay for a role, including for remote roles that will be predominantly performed in a worksite in Vermont.
Washington – Employers with 15 or more employees must include wage scales or salary ranges and a general description of benefits and other compensation in job postings for positions that will be performed, at least in part, in Washington.
Municipal Ordinances Adding Local Requirements
New York City, NY – Most employers with four or more employees must include a “good faith” minimum and maximum salary (or hourly wage) in any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity that can or will be performed in New York City, including certain remote roles.
Cleveland, OH – Effective October 27, 2025, employers with 15 or more employees in the city must include salary ranges in job postings.
Cincinnati and Toledo, OH – Cincinnati and Toledo do not currently require salary ranges in job postings, but employers with at least 15 employees must provide the pay scale for a position on request once an offer stage is reached.
Laws Taking Effect Soon
Delaware –From September 26, 2027, employers with more than 25 employees must include pay ranges and a general description of benefits in job postings for Delaware‑based positions and for remote roles that may be performed in Delaware.
Columbus, OH – Columbus has adopted a pay transparency ordinance that will require covered employers to include salary ranges in job postings. The ordinance is scheduled to come into force on January 1st 2027, so multi‑location employers have lead time to adjust their posting templates and recruiting workflows before the deadline.
Why Compliance Is More Difficult Than You Think
There are many positive benefits of salary transparency for both sides of the hiring table. It helps candidates decide quickly whether a role is worth their time. Candidates want pay transparency, so disclosing a range drives more organic traffic to your roles, minimizing your ad spend. It avoids those tricky eleventh-hour conversations where expectations and budgets are miles apart, and it nudges employers toward more consistent, defensible pay practices. Most recruiters know that story already, so the real challenge in 2026 is not whether transparency is “good” but how to stay compliant when the rules keep shifting underneath live hiring campaigns.
That difficulty shows up in some very practical ways for talent teams:
- Different states and cities define who is covered, what must be disclosed, and when, so one role can technically need several “compliant” versions of the same job ad.
- Some laws trigger based on where the work can be performed (including remote), not where the company is based, which complicates compliance for “remote anywhere” or hybrid roles.
- Thresholds often vary by headcount, so growth, acquisitions or downsizing can quietly change whether a particular law applies to you.
- Many statutes say “post a range” but are vague about how narrow or specific that range should be, leaving teams to interpret what looks like a “good faith” band.
- Requirements around benefits and other compensation differ, forcing talent leaders to decide how much detail to standardize into every posting.
- Local ordinances can layer on top of state law, meaning city boundaries change what has to go into a job description.
- Several states brought entirely new pay transparency regimes online in 2025, while others tightened existing laws. It’s a constantly moving target and templates that felt “fine” a year ago can now be out of date without any obvious, headline-grabbing change to the statute itself.
Action Steps: What Talent Acquisition Teams Should Do Right Now
Obviously, you need to understand the laws that apply to your jobs, but what really matters is how you put them into practice day to day. Here’s where to focus.
Audit your current job postings
Review all active job postings across your ATS, career site, and third‑party platforms. Map which positions fall under pay transparency requirements based on headcount thresholds, work location, and where the role can reasonably be performed, and look for gaps. Are ranges present wherever they need to be? Do they reflect a genuinely good‑faith estimate rather than a placeholder band? Are benefits and other forms of compensation described with enough detail to meet stricter jurisdictions, not just the easiest ones?
Build consistent compensation frameworks
Before publishing ranges, run pay equity analyses to surface gaps by gender, race, or other protected characteristics, then close those gaps where you can. Use a mix of internal pay data and external market benchmarks to set ranges that are competitive and defensible. Define what a “good‑faith” range looks like for your organization, and avoid bands so wide they read as fiction.
Update templates and workflows
Update your standard job description templates so that salary ranges, benefits summaries, and any other required disclosures are baked in rather than added case by case. Where your ATS allows it, configure rules that auto‑populate ranges and disclosures based on location or requisition fields, so you’re not relying on every recruiter to remember each nuance.
Train recruiters
Train recruiters and hiring managers to talk confidently about salary disclosures – how ranges were set, where a typical hire might land, and what it takes to move up. Give them simple, consistent language that connects your pay philosophy to what candidates see in the posting and what they are likely to ask at interview.
Communicate clearly with candidates and employees
Transparency is as much about explanation as disclosure. Anticipate that internal employees will compare their pay to posted ranges in your job descriptions, and you will get pushback. Prepare straightforward explanations about how you handle market adjustments, progression within a band, and promotion opportunities, so those conversations don’t catch leaders flat‑footed.
Integrate compliance into your tech stack
Evaluate whether your current ATS and job distribution tools actually support pay transparency at scale. Many now offer location‑based rules, field‑level validations, or posting workflows designed around salary ranges instead of leaving them optional. JobSync’s platform is built on compliance and can help push consistent salary data and required disclosures across job boards without manual edits to every posting.
Monitor enforcement and avoid common pitfalls
Make someone explicitly responsible for tracking new and amended laws, then reviewing your templates and processes at a regular cadence. Set up alerts or subscriptions from a small, curated set of employment law sources rather than trying to watch everything ad hoc.
Common missteps to watch for:
- Posting ranges that you never realistically use in offers.
- Forgetting that remote and hybrid roles can be pulled into stricter state or city regimes.
- Ignoring internal transparency requirements, especially around promotions and employee requests for pay information.
- Letting third‑party recruiters or staffing agencies post non‑compliant ads under your brand.
Handled well, a compliance exercise like this will help you create a pay story that holds up under scrutiny from regulators, candidates and your own employees. And if it also keeps you out of the headlines and away from fines, even better.
About The Author
