Salary Range in a Job Posting: How to Read It Right

Most ranges exist because the law demands them, not because companies got generous. A few states started requiring posted pay, more keep joining, and running different ads for different states costs money. So plenty of national employers now post ranges everywhere, including in states that don't ask for them.

That origin story changes how you should read one. A range written to satisfy a statute comes from HR and legal, not from the hiring manager who knows the real budget. The number the manager can actually approve sits somewhere inside the published band. Your job is figuring out where.

Companies set pay in internal bands. Picture a Software Engineer II band that runs $95k–$140k, where the bottom is someone freshly promoted into the level and the top is someone about to be promoted out of it. When a posting shows the full band, you're looking at pay for everyone who has ever held that level, not the offer they plan to make you.

So anchor on the middle. Comp teams aim new hires near the midpoint of the band, because starting you at the top leaves no room for raises. If a posting says $80k–$120k, read it as roughly $95k–$105k for a strong candidate. The top exists. It goes to internal veterans, not external hires.

A narrow range is a good sign. Something like $72k–$84k says the company knows what the role is worth and budgeted for it. The tighter the band, the more the number means.

A wide range is decoration. $50k–$150k for a single title means the company stacked several seniority levels into one posting, or pasted its entire internal band to check a legal box. You've seen the listings offering $40k–$400k. Those exist to satisfy a statute, not to inform you, and they tell you how seriously to take the rest of the ad.

On City Jobs, pay shows up when the employer lists it. We never invent or estimate a range, so any number you see came straight from the company. Listings also expire automatically when they leave the employer's own careers feed, which means the range you're reading is current, not six months stale.

A posted range hands you something candidates never used to get: the company's number, in writing, before you say a word. Use it. When the recruiter asks about your expectations, point at their own posting. The listing shows $90k–$120k, so you say you're targeting the upper half of that based on your experience. You haven't named a number. They already did.

If they push for a specific figure, give a range whose bottom sits at their posted midpoint. Posting says $80k–$110k, you say $95k–$115k. Their midpoint just became your floor, and the whole conversation moves into the top half of their band. Never open below the posted midpoint. The posting already proved they can pay more.

A missing range means one of three things. The employer doesn't hire in a transparency state and hasn't bothered. The pay is below market and they know it. Or the role is senior enough that comp is genuinely custom, which is true for executive jobs and an excuse for everything else.

Treat it as a yellow flag, not a red one. Plenty of small employers just haven't caught up with the trend. But it changes your order of operations: ask for the budgeted range in the first conversation, before you've sunk hours into interviews. Asking what's budgeted for the role is a normal question in 2026. A company that dodges it twice is answering it.