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How to answer "what are your salary expectations?"

This is not a question. It is an auction where they have asked you to bid against yourself, and most people cheerfully do it.

Somewhere between the second and third interview, someone cheerful from HR asks what you're looking for. It sounds administrative. A box to tick.

It isn't. It's the single highest-leverage sentence in the entire hiring process, and the person asking already knows the budget. You don't. That asymmetry is the whole point, and it is not an accident.

Why you should never go first

Whoever names a number first sets the ceiling. That's it. That's the mechanic.

If the role is budgeted at $78,000 and you say "around $65,000," you will be offered something close to $65,000 and told they were able to make it work. Nobody in that room is going to stop and say, "actually, we'd budgeted more, let's pay you the difference." The $13,000 does not go to you. It stays.

The reverse asymmetry doesn't exist. If you name a number above their range, you're rarely eliminated on the spot — you're told the range and asked whether it works. Going high costs you a conversation. Going low costs you thousands, every year, compounding into every future raise that's calculated as a percentage of it.

They may legally have to answer first

Here's the part most candidates don't know, and it's worth knowing before your next call.

There is no federal pay transparency law. But as of 2026, roughly 18 states plus Washington D.C. have statewide pay transparency laws, and around 13 of those require the salary range to appear in the job posting itself — California, Colorado, New York and Washington among them.

Others require disclosure on request or before an offer rather than in the advert. Connecticut, Nevada and Rhode Island work this way. In those states, asking is not cheeky. It is a right you are exercising.

And separately: salary history bans now exist in more than 20 states. Employers there cannot ask what you currently or previously earn. They can ask about your expectations — which is precisely why the question has migrated from "what do you make?" to "what are you looking for?" Same information, extracted through a door that's still legally open.

Two practical consequences:

Look up your state before the call. If the range is legally required to be posted and isn't, that is worth knowing about the employer.
Remote roles usually follow the state you'd work from, not the company's headquarters. A Florida company hiring a remote worker in Colorado generally has to comply with Colorado's rules.

The deflection, and how to say it

First move, every time. Polite, warm, and completely non-negotiable:

"I'd like to understand the role a bit better before I put a number on it. What range have you budgeted for this position?"

Then stop talking. The silence that follows is unbearable and it is not your problem to solve. Do not fill it. Do not soften it. The untrained instinct is to add "...but I'm flexible!" — a sentence that has never once helped a human being.

Most recruiters answer. It's a normal question, they've heard it a hundred times, and in a growing number of states they're required to.

If they push back

Some will bounce it straight back: "Well, we'd like to hear your expectations first."

Try once more, with a reason attached:

"Happy to — I just want to make sure we're not wasting each other's time. What's the band for the role?"

If they still refuse, that tells you something about the employer. But fine. Now you give a range — and you build it correctly:

Make the bottom of your range the number you actually want.

Not your floor. Not what you'd accept on a bad day. Your target. Because you will be offered the bottom of whatever range you say, every time, and the top of it will never be mentioned again.

If you want $85,000, you say "$85,000 to $95,000." You do not say "$75,000 to $85,000" and hope they're generous. They will not be generous. They will be arithmetic.

Attach one specific reason, framed as value to them — not need on your part:

"Based on the market for this role in this area and the fact that I've run this exact system for six years, I'm targeting $85,000 to $95,000, depending on the rest of the package."

"I have rent to pay" is not an argument. It's a fact about you, and it makes you cheaper, not dearer.

Where the number comes from

Do not invent it. Do not "feel it out." Go and find it:

The BLS wage data at bls.gov/oes gives the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 90th percentile pay for around 830 occupations, by metro area. It's free, it's federal, and almost nobody checks it before a salary conversation. See what a good wage actually looks like.
Posted ranges for similar roles in transparency states, even if you're not in one. A range legally posted in New York tells you a lot about what the job is worth.
Convert everything to the same unit before comparing. An hourly contract role and a salaried offer are not comparable until they are. Our calculator does that in one step — and set the hours field to what you'll actually work, not the fiction on the job description.

The application form with a required field

The online form that will not submit without a number, and won't take text.

Options, in order of preference:

Enter 0 or 1. Most systems accept it, and it reads as "prefer to discuss." Nobody has ever been rejected for this.
Enter your target, the real one, not a hedge. If it must be a number, make it a number that helps you.
Never enter a lowball "to be safe." It is not safe. It is a ceiling you built yourself and handed to a stranger.

Things not to say, ever

"I'm currently making $X." Irrelevant, and in more than 20 states they're not even allowed to ask. Your last employer's opinion of your worth is not evidence.
"Whatever you think is fair." They think a lot of things are fair. Most of them are cheaper than you.
"I'm flexible." Yes. Everyone knows. Saying it out loud converts your flexibility into their savings.
"I need at least…" Need is a weakness. Worth is a position. Only one of them gets paid.
Your number, then a nervous laugh. The laugh is a discount. Say the number like it's the weather.

Once they say a number

If they open with a range, you do not thank them and accept the midpoint. You anchor at or above the top, and you say why.

"That's helpful, thank you. Given the [specific thing you bring], I'd be looking at the upper end of that — around $95,000."

And if the number genuinely can't move — sometimes it can't — then negotiate the things around it: a signing bonus, a written six-month review with a specific figure attached, extra leave, a title that pays you at the next job. "We'll revisit it later" is not an agreement. "$95,000 at six months if X" is.

The whole thing, in one line

They are not asking what you're worth. They are asking what you'll settle for. Those are different questions, and only one of them has your name on it.

Make them go first. If you can't, make your floor your target. And whatever number you say — say it, then shut up.

General guidance, not legal advice. Pay transparency and salary history laws vary by state and change frequently — several took effect or expanded during 2026. Check your state labor department for current rules.