Pay Transparency Laws by State: The 2026 List

Job seekers used to guess what a role paid until the interview. Not anymore in much of the country: 14 states plus DC now have pay-transparency laws, and most require employers to put a salary range right in the job posting. Here's where the rules apply in 2026, what they actually require, and how the patchwork is reshaping hiring.

The short version

• 14 states plus DC have pay-transparency laws in 2026.
• 11 states require a salary range in the job posting itself.
• Connecticut, Nevada, and Rhode Island require pay on request instead.
• Thresholds vary — from all employers (Colorado) to 50+ employees (Hawaii).

Which states require salary ranges?

These states regulate pay disclosure. The highlighted ones require a range in the posting; the rest require it on request or before an offer:

Washington, D.C. also requires a pay range in listings. The thresholds matter as much as the map: Colorado's law covers any employer with even one in-state worker, while Hawaii's only kicks in at 50+ employees and New York's at just 4.

What the laws actually require

The strongest version — the one most states have adopted — is range-in-the-posting: every job ad must state a good-faith salary or hourly range. Beyond that, the laws commonly add:

• Pay on request — applicants (and sometimes current employees) can ask for the range for a role.
• Salary-history bans — employers can't ask what you currently earn, so past underpayment doesn't anchor your next offer.
• Benefits disclosure — several states (Colorado, Illinois) require a description of benefits alongside the pay range.

The remote-work ripple effect

Pay-transparency laws have an outsized reach because of remote work. A company headquartered in a no-disclosure state often has to post ranges anyway — because the role could be filled by someone in Colorado, New York, or Washington. Rather than maintain two versions of every posting, many national employers simply post ranges everywhere. That's why you now see salary ranges on listings even for jobs based in states with no law at all.

What's coming next

The map is still growing:

• Delaware passed a posting-range law in 2025, but it doesn't take effect until September 2027.
• Several states have salary-history bans without a full posting requirement, and bills to add one surface most legislative sessions.

The clear direction is toward more disclosure, not less — so the list of holdout states keeps shrinking.

How states rank on regulatory burden

A pay-transparency mandate is one thread in a state's broader regulatory load — the compliance employers have to carry. Our regulatory-burden score captures the whole weave, from licensing to reporting rules:

1. 1IDIdaho
   10.0A+
2. 2SDSouth Dakota
   9.8A+
3. 3NDNorth Dakota
   9.6A+
4. 4MTMontana
   9.4A+
5. 5AKAlaska
   9.2A+
6. 6AZArizona
   9.0A+
7. 7NVNevada
   8.8A
8. 8WYWyoming
   8.6A
9. 9KSKansas
   8.4A-
10. 10NENebraska
    8.2A-

See all 50 states ranked on Regulatory Burden

See the full regulatory-burden ranking

All 50 states scored on how heavy the rulebook is for workers and businesses — with a color-coded map.

What it means for job seekers

The upshot for anyone applying: in most of the country you can now see the range before you spend time on an application, negotiate against a posted number instead of a guess, and decline to share your salary history. Even outside the 14 states, the remote-work ripple means ranges are increasingly the norm — and a posting that hides the range is now a signal worth noticing.