Pay Transparency in Hiring: Laws, Stats, and What Candidates Expect

Pay transparency has moved from a nice idea to a legal requirement in a growing number of places, and candidates increasingly expect it either way. Employers who list salary ranges are seeing more and better applicants. Those who do not are quietly losing people before the first conversation.

Here is where pay transparency stands today, backed by current data on adoption, expectations, and results.

How widespread pay transparency has become

Both the market and the law are moving in the same direction. Salary ranges in job postings are now the norm in a large share of listings, and the legal mandate keeps expanding.

• As of September 2024, 57.8% of US job postings on Indeed contained some salary information, up from 52.2% a year earlier, according to Indeed Hiring Lab.
• Ten states plus the District of Columbia and multiple local jurisdictions have adopted pay transparency laws for job postings, per the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Most employers are not ready

The laws are arriving faster than companies are preparing for them, which leaves a compliance and competitiveness gap.

• 75% of employers are not ready for pay transparency laws, which will be in effect in 14 US states and four Canadian provinces by the end of 2025, according to Aon.

What candidates expect

For job seekers, a missing salary range is not a neutral omission. It is a reason to keep scrolling.

• 82% of US workers are more likely to consider applying to a job if the pay range is listed, and 74% are less interested in postings that do not list one, according to SHRM.
• 60% of job seekers say they will not apply for a position that does not include a salary range, found a Monster report covered by CFO Dive.
• 79% of employees want some form of pay transparency, and 68% would switch employers for greater transparency even at the same pay, per Visier.

The payoff of posting ranges

Transparency is not only about compliance or goodwill. Employers who post ranges report a direct effect on their applicant pool.

• 70% of organizations that list pay ranges say it has led to more people applying, and 66% say it has increased the quality of applicants, according to SHRM.

What the data means for hiring teams

The direction of travel is one-way. A few takeaways stand out.

• Get ahead of the law. With mandates expanding every year, building a pay range into every posting now avoids a scramble later.
• Ranges widen your pipeline. The evidence is consistent: posting pay attracts more and better applicants, not fewer.
• Silence has a cost. A large share of candidates skip postings with no salary, so a missing range quietly shrinks your pool.

Putting a salary range in every job ad is easy to say and easy to forget when postings are scattered across tools. When you manage openings and postings in one place, adding a range becomes a standard step rather than an afterthought. An applicant tracking system keeps your job ads consistent and compliant as the rules change.

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Frequently asked questions

How many job postings include a salary range?

As of September 2024, 57.8% of US job postings on Indeed contained some salary information, up from 52.2% a year earlier, according to Indeed Hiring Lab. Adoption has been climbing steadily as more states require it.

Do candidates avoid jobs without a salary range?

Many do. SHRM found 74% of US workers are less interested in postings without a pay range, and a Monster report found 60% of job seekers will not apply to a position that lacks one.

Does listing pay ranges help employers?

Yes. SHRM found 70% of organizations that list pay ranges say it led to more applicants, and 66% say it increased applicant quality. Transparency tends to widen and improve the pipeline rather than shrink it.