Pay transparency laws by state: the 2026 employer guide
As of mid-2026, more than a dozen US states plus Washington DC require employers to disclose a pay range, either in every job posting or on request. This guide lists each law, who it covers, and when it took effect.
Two caveats. These laws change quickly, and several were amended within a year or two of passing, so treat this as a snapshot as of mid-2026 and confirm details with the state labor agency or counsel before you rely on them. And thresholds count employees differently from state to state, so check the counting rule whenever you sit near a cutoff.
States that require ranges in job postings
These jurisdictions require a pay range in the posting itself, which is the strictest and fastest-growing model. Requirements summarized as of mid-2026:
| State | Requirement | Applies to | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | Pay range plus a general description of benefits in every posting; post-selection notice to employees | Any employer with at least one Colorado employee | Jan 2021, amended Jan 2024 |
| California | Pay scale in postings; scale to applicants and current employees on request; pay data reporting for larger employers | 15+ employees (posting rule) | Jan 2023 |
| Washington | Wage scale or salary range plus a general description of benefits in postings | 15+ employees | Jan 2023 |
| New York | Compensation range in ads for jobs performed in NY, including remote jobs reporting to a NY worksite; NYC had its own rule from Nov 2022 | 4+ employees | Sep 2023 |
| Hawaii | Hourly rate or salary range in postings | 50+ employees | Jan 2024 |
| Washington DC | Salary range in postings; healthcare benefits info before interview | Employers with at least one DC employee | Jun 2024 |
| Maryland | Wage range plus a general description of benefits in postings | All employers | Oct 2024 |
| Illinois | Pay scale and benefits in postings | 15+ employees | Jan 2025 |
| Minnesota | Salary range plus a general description of benefits in postings | 30+ employees | Jan 2025 |
| New Jersey | Pay range plus a general description of benefits in postings | 10+ employees | Jun 2025 |
| Vermont | Compensation range in job advertisements | 10+ employees | Jul 2025 |
| Massachusetts | Pay range in postings; range to employees on request | 25+ employees | Oct 2025 |
States with disclosure on request or at offer
An earlier wave of laws requires disclosure at specific moments rather than in the ad. Connecticut requires the range on request and by the time of an offer. Nevada requires it automatically after an interview. Rhode Island requires it on request and at hire. A few localities also have their own ordinances, including Jersey City, Cincinnati and Toledo, so multi-state employers should track cities as well as states.
What this means for remote postings
Remote roles are where these laws stack. Colorado took the position early that a remote job that could be performed by a Colorado resident needs a range, and New York covers remote jobs that report to a New York worksite. Screening out individual states in every ad is brittle and looks bad to candidates.
The simplest compliant policy is one range per role, built from a band you can defend everywhere you hire.
Practical compliance steps
- Build salary bands for every role you hire, before you write the posting. A range invented per requisition is the root cause of most violations.
- Derive the posted range from the band, typically a good-faith slice of it, and keep a record of the band, the source data and the date. A pay band calculator makes this a minutes-long task instead of a research project.
- Adopt one national posting policy that meets the strictest state you touch: range plus a benefits summary covers nearly every posting law above.
- Train hiring managers not to ask about salary history, which many of these states ban alongside the disclosure rules, and not to promise pay outside the posted range.
- Re-check the map twice a year. More states have bills pending as of mid-2026, and existing laws keep getting amended.
If you are a small team without a comp function, this is the core use case for salary benchmarking software: we built Wagelist for exactly this kind of small-business salary benchmarking problem, and it is in early access now.