---
title: "Pay transparency laws by state: who posts salaries (October 2026)"
description: "Salary disclosure in job postings tracks the law closely: the 14 states with the highest share of postings showing pay all have a posting law."
canonical: https://jobspipe.dev/blog/pay-transparency-by-state
date_published: 2026-10-11
date_modified: 2026-10-11
author: Dvir Atias
---

# Pay transparency by state, October 2026: how many job postings show a salary where the law requires it

Salary disclosure in job postings tracks the law closely: the 14 states with the highest share of postings showing pay all have a posting law. Measured on Indeed and company career sites, 73.3% of postings in established-law states show a range, 63.8% in states whose law started in 2026, and 44.1% where no law applies.

15 US jurisdictions now require a pay range in the job posting itself. Measured on Indeed and company career sites, 73.3% of postings in states with an established law show a salary, against 44.1% in states without one. That still leaves 1 in 4 postings in law states with no range at all.

Where the law requires a pay range, most job postings show one, but far from all. Measured on Indeed and company career sites, 73.3% of job postings in states with an established pay-range law show a salary, against 44.1% in states with no such law. That is a gap of 29 percentage points. It also means 26.7% of postings in those states, about 1 in 4, carry no range at all.

The state ranking makes the law effect hard to miss: the 14 states with the highest share of postings showing pay all have a posting law. Oregon is the best state without one, at 60.2%.

73.3%

Established-law states

postings showing a salary

63.8%

Laws new in 2026

Virginia, Maine, Connecticut

44.1%

No posting law

postings showing a salary

1 in 4

No range despite a law

established-law states

## Which states require a salary range in job postings

As of October 2026, 15 jurisdictions require the pay range in the job posting itself, not only on request. Thresholds and remote-work coverage differ; the effective dates below are for the posting requirement. Nevada and Rhode Island require disclosure on request or after an interview, so they count as no posting law here. Delaware’s law starts in September 2027. This is a summary for analysis, not legal advice.

| Jurisdiction | In force from | Covers | Group in this study |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Colorado | 2021-01-01 | 1 or more employees | Established |
| California | 2023-01-01 | 15 or more employees | Established |
| Washington | 2023-01-01 | 15 or more employees | Established |
| New York | 2023-09-17 | 4 or more employees | Established |
| Hawaii | 2024-01-01 | 50 or more employees | Established |
| District of Columbia | 2024-06-30 | 1 or more employees | Established |
| Maryland | 2024-10-01 | 1 or more employees | Established |
| Illinois | 2025-01-01 | 15 or more employees | Established |
| Minnesota | 2025-01-01 | 30 or more employees | Established |
| New Jersey | 2025-06-01 | 10 or more employees | Established |
| Vermont | 2025-07-01 | 5 or more employees | Established |
| Massachusetts | 2025-10-29 | 25 or more employees | Established |
| Virginia | 2026-07-01 | any employer | New in 2026 |
| Maine | 2026-07-29 | 10 or more employees | New in 2026 |
| Connecticut | 2026-10-01 | any employer | New in 2026 |

## Salary disclosure by state

Every state with enough postings, ranked by the share of postings on Indeed and company career sites that show a salary. The second column covers every board we collect, including LinkedIn, and runs lower for the reason explained below.

| State | Posting law | Salary shown: Indeed + career sites | Salary shown: all boards |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| New York | Yes, 2023 | 77.1% | 58.7% |
| Washington | Yes, 2023 | 77.0% | 59.7% |
| Colorado | Yes, 2021 | 76.1% | 61.8% |
| California | Yes, 2023 | 75.1% | 58.5% |
| Minnesota | Yes, 2025 | 73.7% | 61.0% |
| Illinois | Yes, 2025 | 70.8% | 57.1% |
| Massachusetts | Yes, 2025 | 69.9% | 56.3% |
| Vermont | Yes, 2025 | 69.8% | 55.1% |
| New Jersey | Yes, 2025 | 67.6% | 54.6% |
| Maine | New, 2026-07 | 67.5% | 56.3% |
| District of Columbia | Yes, 2024 | 67.0% | 55.1% |
| Maryland | Yes, 2024 | 66.9% | 55.0% |
| Virginia | New, 2026-07 | 65.3% | 52.9% |
| Hawaii | Yes, 2024 | 64.5% | 51.4% |
| Oregon | No | 60.2% | 46.6% |
| Connecticut | New, 2026-10 | 57.7% | 45.0% |
| Rhode Island | No | 54.1% | 44.0% |
| North Dakota | No | 52.8% | 41.9% |
| New Hampshire | No | 52.6% | 40.3% |
| Utah | No | 51.5% | 40.2% |
| New Mexico | No | 50.6% | 37.8% |
| Nevada | No | 50.3% | 39.5% |
| South Dakota | No | 49.9% | 37.9% |
| Wyoming | No | 49.8% | 39.0% |
| Montana | No | 49.6% | 38.9% |
| Idaho | No | 49.5% | 39.5% |
| Arizona | No | 49.3% | 37.4% |
| Delaware | No | 48.0% | 38.3% |
| Wisconsin | No | 46.6% | 36.6% |
| North Carolina | No | 45.9% | 34.8% |
| Ohio | No | 45.5% | 35.3% |
| Florida | No | 45.5% | 34.0% |
| Missouri | No | 44.4% | 34.2% |
| Pennsylvania | No | 44.0% | 33.4% |
| Nebraska | No | 43.9% | 35.3% |
| Georgia | No | 42.7% | 31.6% |
| Michigan | No | 42.5% | 31.8% |
| Kansas | No | 42.0% | 32.7% |
| Texas | No | 41.7% | 31.0% |
| Indiana | No | 41.3% | 32.8% |
| Alaska | No | 41.3% | 31.6% |
| Tennessee | No | 41.0% | 31.7% |
| Iowa | No | 40.9% | 32.1% |
| Arkansas | No | 40.5% | 30.9% |
| Kentucky | No | 39.9% | 31.9% |
| Oklahoma | No | 39.9% | 30.7% |
| South Carolina | No | 39.2% | 29.6% |
| Louisiana | No | 38.8% | 29.1% |
| West Virginia | No | 38.5% | 30.3% |
| Alabama | No | 37.6% | 29.3% |
| Mississippi | No | 33.8% | 24.6% |

Hawaii has the lowest share among established-law states, at 64.5%. Connecticut’s requirement started on 1 October 2026, so most of its live postings were published before the law applied; it belongs in next month’s comparison more than this one.

## Why we measure on Indeed and company career sites

LinkedIn shows pay in a separate field that our collector does not read, so a LinkedIn posting only counts as showing a salary here when the range is written in the description. That understates LinkedIn disclosure. Indeed and applicant tracking systems pass the employer’s stated range as structured data, so they give the cleaner measure. The pattern is the same on every board:

| Board | Established law | New in 2026 | No law |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Indeed | 73.0% | 63.9% | 44.1% |
| Company career sites | 75.8% | 62.6% | 44.3% |
| LinkedIn (description text only) | 44.7% | 38.9% | 22.6% |
| All boards | 58.0% | 51.5% | 33.6% |

## Small employers disclose least

Several laws exempt the smallest employers, and small employers disclose least everywhere. In established-law states, 45.5% of postings from companies with fewer than 50 employees show pay, against 64.2% from employers with 10,000 or more. Without a law, the largest employers still disclose most, but the whole curve sits lower.

| Employer headcount | Established law | No law |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Under 50 employees | 45.5% | 32.3% |
| 50 to 249 | 49.0% | 25.3% |
| 250 to 999 | 55.9% | 23.9% |
| 1,000 to 9,999 | 62.9% | 29.1% |
| 10,000 or more | 64.2% | 38.2% |

## Why a posting in a law state can lack a range

A missing range is not automatically a violation. Employers under the size threshold are exempt, some laws cover only roles performed in the state, and a national employer may post one listing that a board geolocates to a state it does not apply to. Some ranges sit in an attachment or a linked page rather than the posting text. The share without a range is the upper bound on non-compliance, not a count of it.

## Pulling salary-bearing postings with the API

`min_salary_usd` only matches postings with a stated salary, so setting it to 1 returns every posting with a range. `region_or` takes ISO 3166-2 state codes:

```
curl -X POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/jobs/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JOBSPIPE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "job_title_or": ["account executive"], "region_or": ["US-CO", "US-WA", "US-NY"],
        "min_salary_usd": 1, "status": "active", "limit": 25 }'
```

For salary analysis at scale, [the salary data API guide](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/salary-data-api) covers the normalized annual USD fields, and [the salary dataset post](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/salary-dataset) covers bulk export.

How this was measured

Measured from active US postings with a known state, each counted once. Generated 2026-10-11. Shares only: JobsPipe publishes percentages, not counts.

A posting shows a salary when the employer states a range in a structured field or in the description. Estimated salaries are never counted. Law list and effective dates checked against state pages and law-firm trackers in October 2026.

```
curl -X POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/jobs/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $JOBSPIPE_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"region_or":["US-CO"],"min_salary_usd":1,"status":"active","include_total_results":true,"limit":1}'
```

Use this data

Free to cite, chart and republish with a link back. Download the full table as [CSV](https://jobspipe.dev/data/pay-transparency-by-state.csv). Suggested citation:

JobsPipe, “Pay transparency by state, October 2026”, October 2026. https://jobspipe.dev/blog/pay-transparency-by-state

Journalists and researchers: for a cut by state, occupation or company size that is not in the tables, email [dvir@jobspipe.dev](mailto:dvir@jobspipe.dev).

## Sources

-   [New York State Department of Labor: pay transparency](https://dol.ny.gov/pay-transparency)
-   [Washington RCW 49.58.110](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.58.110)
-   [Minnesota Statutes 181.173](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/181.173)
-   [Mass.gov: pay transparency in Massachusetts](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/pay-transparency-in-massachusetts)
-   [Foley: Connecticut expands pay transparency requirements](https://www.foley.com/insights/publications/2026/09/connecticut-expands-pay-transparency-requirements-starting-october-1-2026/)
-   [Morgan Lewis: Virginia pay transparency law](https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2026/05/virginia-law-will-require-pay-transparency-restrict-employers-from-seeking-wage-history)
-   [Morgan Lewis: Maine passes pay transparency law](https://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/2026/05/maine-passes-pay-transparency-law)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Which states require salary ranges in job postings?

As of October 2026: Colorado, California, Washington, New York, Hawaii, District of Columbia, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maine, Connecticut. Virginia, Maine and Connecticut started in 2026. Nevada and Rhode Island require disclosure on request rather than in the posting, and Delaware's posting law starts in September 2027.

### Do employers follow pay transparency laws?

Mostly. On Indeed and company career sites, 73.3% of postings in established-law states show a salary, against 44.1% in states without a posting law. The 26.7% without a range includes exempt small employers and roles the law does not cover, so it is an upper bound on non-compliance.

### Which state has the highest share of job postings with salaries?

In October 2026, New York (77.1%), Washington (77.0%), Colorado (76.1%) ranked highest on Indeed and company career sites. All three have a posting law.

Related

## Keep reading

-   [Guide · Jul 28, 2026Salary data APIs in 2026: the real options, honestly compared](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/salary-data-api)
-   [Reference · Aug 3, 2026Salary datasets: 8 real sources beyond the Kaggle CSVs (2026)](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/salary-dataset)
-   [Reference · Oct 11, 2026Job market report, October 2026: what millions of live job postings say about hiring right now](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/job-market-report)
-   [Reference · Oct 11, 2026Ghost Job Index, October 2026: how many job postings are ghosts, by board, company size and country](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/ghost-job-index)
-   [Product · Apr 28, 2026AI salary parsing: from $180k-DOE strings to structured ranges](https://jobspipe.dev/blog/ai-salary-parsing-structured-ranges)


---
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