What Are Your Salary Requirements? How to Answer

To answer “what are your salary requirements,” give a researched range rather than a single number, anchor the low end at or slightly above your true target, and tie it to market data: “Based on my research for this role and level, I’m targeting $95,000 to $110,000, depending on the total package.” If it’s early in the process, you can first try turning the question around — “Could you share the budgeted range for the role?” — since whoever names a number first concedes information.

Why They Ask (and Why It’s Asked So Early)

The salary requirements question does two jobs for the employer. First, it’s a filter: recruiters screen out candidates whose expectations sit far outside the budget before anyone invests interview hours. Second, it’s an anchor: the number you name early becomes the ceiling of your eventual offer far more often than the floor.

That asymmetry is the whole game. The company knows its range; you’re being asked to guess it. Answer too low and you’ve discounted yourself before the first interview; too high and you risk being filtered out of a process you might have won. Which is why every good strategy for this question comes down to the same three moves: research the range, try to make them go first, and when you must answer, answer with a range you can defend.

Note the legal backdrop, because it strengthens your hand: several US states (California, New York, Colorado, Washington, and others) now require salary ranges in job postings, and many jurisdictions — including much of the US and the EU — ban employers from asking your current or past salary. Requirements and history are different questions: what you want is fair game; what you made often isn’t. Know which one you’re being asked.

Step 1: Research Your Number Before Anyone Asks

You cannot bluff this question; you can only prepare it. Before the first recruiter call:

• Check the posting first. If the range is published (increasingly common, sometimes legally required), your work is mostly done — position yourself within it based on your experience.
• Triangulate at least two sources. Levels.fyi for tech roles, Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, industry compensation surveys, and comparable job postings in range-disclosure states even if your target company hasn’t published one.
• Adjust for the variables that move ranges: city or remote policy, company size and stage, your years of experience, and whether the role’s total compensation leans on bonus or equity.
• Set two private numbers: your target (what you’d be pleased with) and your walk-away (below which you decline). Your spoken range is built from these — never from hope.

The output of this research is one sentence you can say without hesitating: a range roughly 10–15% wide, whose bottom is your actual target. Companies gravitate to the bottom of any range you give, so the bottom must be a number you’d genuinely accept.

Step 2: Try to Get Their Number First

Early in the process — application forms aside — deflecting once is standard, professional, and often works:

“I’d rather make sure we’re aligned on the role before locking in numbers — could you share the budgeted range? I’m confident we can find a fit if the range is fair.”

Or, softer:

“I’m flexible depending on the total package. Do you have a range approved for this position?”

Many recruiters will simply tell you — they’re screening for fit, not playing poker, and range transparency saves them time too. If they share it, respond from within: “That works for me; given my experience with X, I’d expect to be in the upper part of that range.”

Deflect once, not twice. If they come back with “we really do need your number,” continue holding out and you’ll read as evasive. Give your researched range and move on.

Step 3: Give the Range (Scripts)

In a recruiter screen:

“Based on my research for this role at this level in [city/remote], I’m targeting $95,000 to $110,000 base, with flexibility depending on bonus, equity, and benefits. Does that align with the budget?”

The closing question matters — it returns the ball and surfaces a mismatch immediately, which is exactly what a screen is for. This conversation almost always happens on the first call, so it’s worth rehearsing alongside the rest of your phone interview answers.

On an application form that requires a number: write a range in the text field if it accepts text (“$95,000–$110,000, negotiable”). If it forces a single number, enter your target — not your walk-away — and know that everything on a form is negotiable later.

When the posting already shows a range:

“I saw the posted range of $90–120K. Given my six years in [skill] and [relevant result], I’d be looking at the upper half — around $108 to $120.”

If asked about your current salary where that question is legal: you’re not obligated to volunteer it even where asking is allowed. Redirect to requirements: “I’d prefer to focus on the value of this role — my target range based on the market is X to Y.”

Common Mistakes

Naming a single number. A point estimate ends the conversation at that point, and usually below it. A range preserves room and signals you understand compensation has components.

Building the range around your current salary. Your current pay reflects your last negotiation, not your market value. Candidates who anchor on “current + 10%” routinely leave five figures behind. Anchor on the market data.

Setting the bottom at your walk-away. They will hear the bottom. If your range is $85–100K and you’d be unhappy at $85K, you’ve negotiated against yourself in one sentence.

Apologizing for the number. “I know it’s a lot, but—” invites the discount. State the range like a fact, because with research behind it, it is one.

Treating the screen answer as the final negotiation. The requirements question sets the field; the real negotiation happens at offer time, when your leverage peaks. Landing the range now and negotiating the offer later are two different skills — the second is covered in how to negotiate a salary offer.

Confusing this question with the broader expectations conversation. “Salary requirements” on a form, “salary expectations” in an interview, and “compensation discussion” at offer stage are escalating versions of the same negotiation — the full interview-stage playbook is in how to answer the salary expectations question.

FAQ

What if my range is way above their budget?

Then the screen did its job — better to learn in week one than after four interviews. Before walking, check total compensation: a lower base with meaningful equity, bonus, or benefits can beat a higher base. If the gap is genuinely unbridgeable, exit warmly; budgets change and recruiters remember gracious candidates.

Should I put my salary requirements in a cover letter?

Not unless the posting explicitly requires it. Volunteering a number before anyone asks is anchoring against yourself with extra steps. If it’s required, state a researched range and note it’s negotiable based on total package.

What if I’m changing careers or don’t know my market value?

Price the role, not your history. Research what the target role pays at your genuine level within it — which may be below your old seniority — and range accordingly. Career changers who anchor on their previous field’s pay get filtered; those who anchor on the new field’s data and note their transferable premium (“entry-level in this field, but with eight years of adjacent management experience”) negotiate credibly.

Can I change my number later in the process?

Upward, only with new information: the scope turned out bigger than posted, a competing offer arrived, or they moved the role’s level. “As I’ve learned more about the scope, the range I gave needs updating” is legitimate. Revising upward with no new facts, after they’ve invested in you on stated terms, burns trust at the worst moment.

Is it ever smart to just answer with a number immediately?

Occasionally — when the posting already publishes the range (the information game is over) or when you have strong competing offers and want to filter fast. In both cases you’re not conceding information; you’re spending it deliberately. Absent those conditions, range-plus-question remains the better default.