Annual report
Pay transparency in US job postings, 2026
How often US job postings list pay, where state pay range laws apply, and how far advertised pay spreads, from the live postings BespokeJobs tracks.
Part of the job pool insights, published under CC BY 4.0.
By Justin M., founder of BespokeJobs. Updated .
- US job postings that list pay
- 26.9%
- 894,021 of 3,327,124 postings
- Where a state pay range law is in effect
- 39.0%
- Against 18.2% in the other states
- Field most likely to list pay
- Tech
- 46.9% of its postings
Figures as of .
On November 5, 2026, 26.9% of the 3,327,124 live US job postings BespokeJobs tracks listed pay, 894,021 postings in all. This report breaks that share down by state, field, and employer industry, shows how wide advertised pay runs, and compares postings tied to one state with those that are not.
Read every share as a floor. A posting counts as listing pay only once BespokeJobs has read a usable pay range from it, and postings not yet read in full count as not listing pay, so these shares run lower than sources that read every posting in full.
Pay listing by state
By state, the District of Columbia lists pay most often, at 51.1%, followed by New York (43.1%) and California (42.0%). Mississippi lists pay least often, at 12.7%, behind Alabama (13.6%) and Oklahoma (14.2%).
Postings list pay about 2.1 times as often where a state requires it: 39.0% of postings in the 14 states and the District of Columbia with a pay range law in effect, against 18.2% in the other 36 states. The 15 states with the highest shares all have a law in effect.
Delaware, whose law takes effect September 26, 2027, ranks 34th of 51.
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Share of postings that list pay, by state
Postings located in each state as of November 5, 2026, ranked, with any state law requiring pay ranges in job postings from a list last reviewed September 27, 2026.
| State | Rank | Postings | List pay | Share | Pay range law |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District of Columbia | 1 | 16,238 | 8,296 | 51.1% | In effect since June 30, 2024 |
| New York | 2 | 167,065 | 72,037 | 43.1% | In effect since September 17, 2023 |
| California | 3 | 314,670 | 132,213 | 42.0% | In effect since January 1, 2023 |
| Washington | 4 | 64,759 | 25,889 | 40.0% | In effect since January 1, 2023 |
| Illinois | 5 | 124,802 | 49,840 | 39.9% | In effect since January 1, 2025 |
| Colorado | 6 | 64,373 | 25,392 | 39.5% | In effect since January 1, 2021 |
| New Jersey | 7 | 74,939 | 29,395 | 39.2% | In effect since June 1, 2025 |
| Maryland | 8 | 62,335 | 23,827 | 38.2% | In effect since October 1, 2024 |
| Minnesota | 9 | 62,637 | 22,165 | 35.4% | In effect since January 1, 2025 |
| Massachusetts | 10 | 82,632 | 28,129 | 34.0% | In effect since October 29, 2025 |
| Vermont | 11 | 7,681 | 2,583 | 33.6% | In effect since July 1, 2025 |
| Virginia | 12 | 105,343 | 33,611 | 31.9% | In effect since July 1, 2026 |
| Maine | 13 | 14,998 | 4,775 | 31.8% | In effect since July 29, 2026 |
| Hawaii | 14 | 11,033 | 3,462 | 31.4% | In effect since January 1, 2024 |
| Connecticut | 15 | 38,161 | 10,911 | 28.6% | In effect since October 1, 2026 |
| Rhode Island | 16 | 9,613 | 2,487 | 25.9% | |
| Arizona | 17 | 69,463 | 17,424 | 25.1% | |
| Utah | 18 | 31,560 | 7,484 | 23.7% | |
| Arkansas | 19 | 28,657 | 6,764 | 23.6% | |
| Alaska | 20 | 7,183 | 1,634 | 22.8% | |
| Oregon | 21 | 31,767 | 7,129 | 22.4% | |
| Iowa | 22 | 35,023 | 7,693 | 22.0% | |
| New Hampshire | 23 | 20,006 | 4,233 | 21.2% | |
| Ohio | 24 | 120,615 | 25,410 | 21.1% | |
| North Dakota | 25 | 10,372 | 2,162 | 20.8% | |
| Nevada | 26 | 26,833 | 5,457 | 20.3% | |
| Kansas | 27 | 32,873 | 6,631 | 20.2% | |
| Pennsylvania | 28 | 126,910 | 25,425 | 20.0% | |
| Missouri | 29 | 59,288 | 11,853 | 20.0% | |
| New Mexico | 30 | 20,262 | 4,016 | 19.8% | |
| Nebraska | 31 | 20,642 | 4,067 | 19.7% | |
| Wisconsin | 32 | 64,697 | 12,647 | 19.6% | |
| Indiana | 33 | 73,281 | 14,296 | 19.5% | |
| Delaware | 34 | 11,266 | 2,113 | 18.8% | Takes effect September 26, 2027 |
| Wyoming | 35 | 5,662 | 1,051 | 18.6% | |
| Kentucky | 36 | 39,854 | 7,197 | 18.1% | |
| South Dakota | 37 | 9,229 | 1,665 | 18.0% | |
| Montana | 38 | 10,547 | 1,813 | 17.2% | |
| West Virginia | 39 | 16,801 | 2,842 | 16.9% | |
| Michigan | 40 | 85,353 | 14,321 | 16.8% | |
| Idaho | 41 | 16,121 | 2,675 | 16.6% | |
| Florida | 42 | 188,311 | 31,007 | 16.5% | |
| Texas | 43 | 299,191 | 49,178 | 16.4% | |
| North Carolina | 44 | 107,592 | 17,630 | 16.4% | |
| Tennessee | 45 | 70,923 | 11,403 | 16.1% | |
| Georgia | 46 | 107,790 | 17,268 | 16.0% | |
| South Carolina | 47 | 53,067 | 8,406 | 15.8% | |
| Louisiana | 48 | 36,689 | 5,327 | 14.5% | |
| Oklahoma | 49 | 34,098 | 4,848 | 14.2% | |
| Alabama | 50 | 46,161 | 6,298 | 13.6% | |
| Mississippi | 51 | 23,858 | 3,028 | 12.7% |
Pay listing by field
By field, Tech lists pay most often, at 46.9%, followed by Marketing and communications (45.0%) and Security and public safety (44.9%). Retail lists pay least often, at 18.5%, behind Healthcare (20.9%) and Customer service and support (21.2%).
14 of the 24 fields list pay more often than US postings overall. The largest field, Healthcare, has 549,899 postings and lists pay in 20.9% of them, which ranks 23rd.
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The 10 fields most and least likely to list pay
The top and bottom 10 of the 24 fields with a published share, ranked. The CSV has every one.
| Field | Rank | Postings | List pay | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tech | 1 | 203,345 | 95,310 | 46.9% |
| Marketing and communications | 2 | 38,293 | 17,218 | 45.0% |
| Security and public safety | 3 | 43,455 | 19,503 | 44.9% |
| Legal and compliance | 4 | 34,614 | 12,902 | 37.3% |
| Business operations | 5 | 160,481 | 56,755 | 35.4% |
| Sales | 6 | 145,279 | 49,626 | 34.2% |
| People and HR | 7 | 41,687 | 13,579 | 32.6% |
| Engineering and architecture | 8 | 117,687 | 36,870 | 31.3% |
| Personal care, fitness and recreation | 9 | 58,194 | 16,701 | 28.7% |
| Arts, design and media | 10 | 27,066 | 7,742 | 28.6% |
| Facilities, cleaning and grounds | 15 | 101,458 | 27,196 | 26.8% |
| Finance and accounting | 16 | 123,312 | 32,820 | 26.6% |
| Education and childcare | 17 | 139,671 | 34,865 | 25.0% |
| Administrative and office support | 18 | 68,373 | 16,978 | 24.8% |
| Science and research | 19 | 17,471 | 4,199 | 24.0% |
| Skilled trades and construction | 20 | 176,340 | 39,159 | 22.2% |
| Manufacturing and production | 21 | 85,472 | 18,910 | 22.1% |
| Customer service and support | 22 | 92,157 | 19,521 | 21.2% |
| Healthcare | 23 | 549,899 | 114,894 | 20.9% |
| Retail | 24 | 506,100 | 93,565 | 18.5% |
Pay listing by employer industry
By industry, Software and internet lists pay most often, at 50.1%, followed by Facilities and business support (46.0%) and Staffing and recruiting (43.9%). Automotive lists pay least often, at 16.5%, behind Healthcare (20.4%) and Retail and consumer brands (20.5%).
A posting takes its employer's industry, whatever the job, so a hospital's accountant counts under healthcare. The industry figures leave out postings from employers with no industry yet.
The 10 industries most and least likely to list pay
The top and bottom 10 of the 27 industries with a published share, ranked. The CSV has every one.
| Industry | Rank | Postings | List pay | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software and internet | 1 | 88,216 | 44,151 | 50.1% |
| Facilities and business support | 2 | 55,277 | 25,436 | 46.0% |
| Staffing and recruiting | 3 | 43,079 | 18,910 | 43.9% |
| Government and public administration | 4 | 24,295 | 10,016 | 41.2% |
| Transportation and logistics | 5 | 72,091 | 29,709 | 41.2% |
| Aerospace and defense | 6 | 103,579 | 42,614 | 41.1% |
| Media and entertainment | 7 | 35,719 | 14,664 | 41.1% |
| Telecommunications | 8 | 20,118 | 7,712 | 38.3% |
| IT services and consulting | 9 | 44,360 | 16,780 | 37.8% |
| Pharma, biotech and medical devices | 10 | 39,029 | 14,624 | 37.5% |
| Hospitality, food service and leisure | 18 | 435,872 | 121,018 | 27.8% |
| Education | 19 | 197,209 | 51,613 | 26.2% |
| Real estate | 20 | 43,468 | 10,821 | 24.9% |
| Manufacturing and consumer goods | 21 | 138,348 | 32,854 | 23.8% |
| Construction | 22 | 92,004 | 21,317 | 23.2% |
| Agriculture | 23 | 10,984 | 2,527 | 23.0% |
| Wholesale and distribution | 24 | 63,889 | 14,611 | 22.9% |
| Retail and consumer brands | 25 | 655,520 | 134,575 | 20.5% |
| Healthcare | 26 | 602,769 | 123,085 | 20.4% |
| Automotive | 27 | 84,009 | 13,846 | 16.5% |
How wide advertised pay runs
The snapshot does not yet record the width of each posting's own pay range, so this edition cannot give a median range width. What it does publish is how far advertised pay spreads across postings: the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile of annualized base pay among postings that list it.
Median advertised pay runs from $156,000 in Tech to $37,856 in Food service and hospitality. Arts, design and media spreads widest for its median, with a middle half of $52,000 to $130,000 around $83,000. Retail spreads least, from $34,320 to $45,000 around $40,560.
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Advertised yearly pay, by field
The 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile of annualized base pay in US postings that list pay, highest median first, with the postings behind each.
| Field | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tech | $115,000 | $156,000 | $196,900 | 95,310 |
| Legal and compliance | $86,320 | $132,500 | $185,000 | 12,902 |
| Engineering and architecture | $95,000 | $126,413 | $164,000 | 36,870 |
| Marketing and communications | $72,800 | $112,500 | $160,000 | 17,218 |
| Business operations | $71,869 | $110,200 | $153,500 | 56,755 |
| Finance and accounting | $58,240 | $94,000 | $135,000 | 32,820 |
| Sales | $62,504 | $93,000 | $149,000 | 49,626 |
| Science and research | $56,160 | $87,500 | $137,250 | 4,199 |
| People and HR | $60,000 | $85,498 | $130,000 | 13,579 |
| Arts, design and media | $52,000 | $83,000 | $130,000 | 7,742 |
| Healthcare | $48,880 | $80,000 | $119,600 | 114,894 |
| Skilled trades and construction | $50,840 | $67,600 | $87,890 | 39,159 |
| Driving and transportation | $41,600 | $56,160 | $74,100 | 22,333 |
| Community and social services | $44,990 | $53,633 | $71,282 | 12,522 |
| Manufacturing and production | $41,600 | $49,920 | $72,800 | 18,910 |
| Education and childcare | $38,730 | $49,000 | $71,562 | 34,865 |
| Administrative and office support | $39,520 | $45,760 | $57,500 | 16,978 |
| Personal care, fitness and recreation | $36,317 | $45,760 | $72,800 | 16,701 |
| Warehouse and logistics | $38,566 | $44,720 | $54,600 | 19,722 |
| Customer service and support | $36,400 | $42,702 | $72,500 | 19,521 |
| Facilities, cleaning and grounds | $37,128 | $42,640 | $54,080 | 27,196 |
| Retail | $34,320 | $40,560 | $45,000 | 93,565 |
| Food service and hospitality | $32,240 | $37,856 | $43,680 | 92,163 |
| Security and public safety | Fewer than 10 employers | 19,503 |
Remote and single-state postings
Postings placed in a single state list pay 26.2% of the time. Postings with no single state, meaning fully remote jobs open to US workers, postings that name several states, and postings in Puerto Rico, list pay 40.6% of the time. Fully remote jobs make up 70.8% of that group.
The snapshot does not yet count pay listing for fully remote postings on their own, so this split is the closest the published figures come to comparing remote and on-site work.
Postings tied to one state and the rest
US postings by whether they name one state, with the share that list pay.
| Postings | Count | List pay | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placed in one state | 3,163,224 | 827,407 | 26.2% |
| Remote, several states, or Puerto Rico | 163,900 | 66,614 | 40.6% |
How the share has moved
Every figure in this edition comes from one point-in-time snapshot, of the postings live on November 5, 2026. BespokeJobs keeps only its latest snapshot, so it cannot yet say how the share has moved over the year. The page refreshes with each new snapshot and always shows its date, so quote that date with any figure and a later edition can be compared against it.
State pay range laws
These states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring employers to put a pay range in job postings, including signed laws that take effect later. A state counts as having a law in effect when its requirement applied on the date of the figures. The laws differ in which employers they cover, often by headcount, and in whether they reach jobs filled outside the state, so not every posting in a state with a law is covered, and some postings elsewhere are.
| State | Law | Postings must list pay from | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | Equal Pay for Equal Work Act | January 1, 2021 | Colorado Department of Labor and Employment |
| California | Labor Code section 432.3 | January 1, 2023 | California Legislative Information |
| Washington | RCW 49.58.110 | January 1, 2023 | Washington State Legislature |
| New York | Labor Law section 194-b | September 17, 2023 | New York State Department of Labor |
| Hawaii | Act 203 of 2023 (HRS section 378-2.4) | January 1, 2024 | Hawaii Civil Rights Commission |
| District of Columbia | Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act of 2023 | June 30, 2024 | D.C. Law Library |
| Maryland | Wage Range Transparency law | October 1, 2024 | Maryland Department of Labor |
| Illinois | Equal Pay Act of 2003 (820 ILCS 112/10) | January 1, 2025 | Illinois General Assembly |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Statutes section 181.173 | January 1, 2025 | Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes |
| New Jersey | Pay and benefits transparency law | June 1, 2025 | New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development |
| Vermont | 21 V.S.A. section 495o | July 1, 2025 | Vermont General Assembly |
| Massachusetts | Wage Transparency Act (M.G.L. c. 149, section 105F) | October 29, 2025 | Massachusetts Attorney General |
| Virginia | Code of Virginia section 40.1-28.7:12 | July 1, 2026 | Virginia Law |
| Maine | LD 54 (2026) | July 29, 2026 | Maine Legislature |
| Connecticut | Public Act 26-12, section 2 | October 1, 2026 | Connecticut General Assembly |
| Delaware | House Substitute 2 for House Bill 105 (2025) | September 26, 2027 | Delaware General Assembly |
Methodology
The figures cover every live US job posting BespokeJobs tracks on the date at the top of the report, from employer career sites, USAJOBS, and the job boards it monitors. US postings are those in a state, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, fully remote jobs open to US workers, and postings that name several states. A job posted on two boards counts twice.
A posting lists pay when it gives a figure or range in US dollars that works out to between $20,000 and $750,000 a year. Advertised pay is base pay, annualized from the period the posting gives, with a range counted at its midpoint. It describes what employers publish, not what people are paid.
A posting counts toward a state when its location names that state or a city found only in that state, toward a field from its title and text, and toward an industry from its employer. A share is published only for a group with at least 50 postings, and advertised pay only for at least 50 postings with pay from at least 10 employers. Smaller groups say why their figure is missing.
The state law comparison pools postings across states, so a large state weighs more than a small one. It shows where postings list pay more often, not that a law is the only reason: states with laws also differ in their mix of jobs and employers.
The full definitions are on About these figures. The CSV holds every state, field, and industry row behind the report, including the ones the tables leave out.
Questions about this report
How does this report decide whether a job posting lists pay?
A posting lists pay when it gives an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly figure or range in US dollars that works out to between $20,000 and $750,000 a year. Pay in another currency, or a figure outside that band, counts as not listing pay. The share for a state, field, or industry is the postings that list pay divided by every live US posting in it.
Why are these shares lower than other pay transparency trackers report?
BespokeJobs counts a posting as listing pay only after it has read a usable pay range from the job board data or the posting text, and some postings have not been read in full yet. Those postings count as not listing pay, so every share in this report is a floor. Trackers that read each posting in full, or that count a different set of job boards, can report higher shares.
Can I reuse these charts and figures?
Yes. The figures, charts, and CSV are published under CC BY 4.0. Credit BespokeJobs, link to this page, and give the date the figures are as of. Each chart has an Embed this chart block with HTML that loads the chart from BespokeJobs with its credit and link built in.
How to cite
APA
BespokeJobs. (2026). Pay transparency in US job postings 2026 [Data set]. https://bespokejobs.ai/insights/pay-transparency-2026
The figures, charts, and data are licensed under CC BY 4.0. You may share and adapt them for any purpose, including commercially, if you credit BespokeJobs, link to this page, and give the date the figures are as of.
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