Here’s how to use salary-transparency laws to get paid more

Salary-transparency laws can “help narrow pay gaps and reduce wage discrimination” among demographic groups including women and people of color, said Keith Spencer, a career expert at ResumeNow.

Jan Hendrik von Ahlen, managing director and employment expert at JobLeads, agrees. “It helps candidates because this inevitably changes the starting point of the negotiation,” von Ahlen told MarketWatch. “When there is no range from the start, the job seeker comes to the interview with a blind guess, without any real information of what the boundaries are. So they can lowball themselves by $15,000 and never even know that happened. Or they can blow out their salary expectations just in case the company can afford it and get rejected because there is a lack of budget.”

Most HR experts agree that workers should attempt to negotiate higher pay to the extent that they can during the interview process, because this starting pay and any future raises and bonuses will compound over the years. Not doing so at the start of a person’s career can add up to between $1 million and $1.5 million in lost earnings over their lifetime, as Carnegie Mellon University economist Linda Babcock told NPR. But many job candidates are leaving money on the table, with only 45% of workers negotiating their starting salary, while 55% don’t try, according to Resume Genius.

Here’s how to arm yourself with the tools you need to negotiate your starting pay like a pro.

Use salary-transparency laws to your advantage

Once you know how much a company is willing to pay for an open position, you can figure out whether the salary range is fair.

Compare the posted salary range with similar jobs on Indeed, Glassdoor and message boards like Reddit to see what is reasonable for the title, industry and location. Don’t put too much emphasis on any one source.

“Continue doing your own market research and use posted salary ranges as helpful context,” ResumeNow’s Spencer told MarketWatch.

After you do that, how much should you ask for?

Don’t play it safe by aiming for the middle. Experts recommend treating the top of the range as your baseline target rather than as a pipe dream. “The top of the band is not just some number, but [the company’s] real budget set aside for this role,” von Ahlen said.

Related: How to deal with a micromanager

When asking for a figure near the top of the range, make your case by using specific accomplishments from throughout your career to show why you deserve it. If a job is asking for at least three years of experience, but you have been in the field for six years, now is the time to point that out. That’s better than saying things like “I feel I’m worth more” or the “cost of living is high,” von Ahlen said.

“Never let the salary range shrink your own expectation if you were already aiming higher,” he said, adding that a salary range is a “floor to build on, not a cage or a ceiling.” So if the amount outlined within the job posting is below what you want to earn, “don’t be afraid to move on” to other opportunities.

Time is money, and salary transparency also helps candidates avoid spending time interviewing for jobs that ultimately don’t meet their pay expectations.

A salary range is a ‘floor to build on, not a cage or a ceiling.’ — Jan Hendrik von Ahlen, employment expert at JobLeads

That’s good news for hiring managers, too. “Transparency also helps both employers and job seekers avoid wasting time when salary expectations don’t align, allowing candidates to filter out roles that don’t meet their compensation needs while helping employers focus on applicants whose expectations match their budget,” Spencer said.

Should you ask for more than the listed amount? Career experts don’t recommend it. But they do suggest negotiating for other types of workplace perks that can make your overall compensation package more valuable, like bonuses, extra vacation days or the ability to work from home.

What about large salary ranges?

Some employers have responded to these new laws by posting abnormally broad salary ranges — such as roles advertised as paying $80,000 to $160,000 — a practice that career experts say can undermine the purpose of the salary-transparency laws.

While there is no “normal” band of salary ranges, some companies post ranges that are not just tens of thousands of dollars wide, but sometimes feature a 100% difference.

“A very wide range is simply not a salary range at all, but the employer refusing to comply and publish the actual salary band as the law now states,” von Ahlen said. “Some companies post a deliberately broad spread to attract the widest pull of candidates, and then they see who has actually applied and benchmark the real range to that.”

So what should you do when facing a suspiciously large salary range? “Treat it as an invitation to ask a smart question during the interview,” von Ahlen said. Like: “I noticed the posted range is fairly broad. Could you help me understand what distinguishes someone at the bottom of it from someone at the top?” 

Try AI roleplaying

So you’ve done your research and screened the job listings. Now it’s time to practice your salary pitch.

Many job seekers are employing artificial intelligence to rehearse asking for a higher salary by using large language models like Claude or ChatGPT to practice a mock negotiation. You can upload the company’s job description, along with all of the relevant data you can find about the role, and give the AI chatbot a concise prompt. Here’s one example you can use, as recommended by Kevin Grunewald, a talent acquisition and recruiting professional with 10 years of experience:

“Act as a hiring manager at [a specific company] for a [job title] position. I just received an offer for $[X]. I want to negotiate a higher salary. Push back realistically using common employer objections like budget constraints, market-rate arguments and experience gaps. I will practice responding in real time. After each exchange, give me honest feedback on what I said well and what I should improve. Start by making me an offer slightly below my target so I can practice countering it.”

Most AI chatbots can simulate salary negotiations with voice conversations, too, which can help you can get more comfortable making your case out loud. 

But keep in mind that AI can make mistakes in the data-scraping stage, so it may give inaccurate salary-range results. Make sure to double-check that information. Also, AI likely won’t be able to measure how desperate a company is to hire.

Related: AI is killing the cover letter — but here’s when it still pays to send one

This practice already seems to be working for many job hunters. Some 78% of professionals who said they used AI to prepare for salary negotiations felt more confident going in, and 48% specifically used it to role-play, according to a 2026 survey from Eastern Washington University.

Confidence and context are key. While salary-transparency laws don’t necessarily guarantee you’ll receive the highest possible salary, they do remove much of the guesswork from negotiations — and experts say that alone gives job seekers a stronger hand.

Keep reading: It’s ‘incredibly disrespectful’ to do a virtual job interview by phone — but Gen Z is doing it anyway