Short answer: the top of a typical posted salary range is about a third higher than the bottom. Across 13,771 US job postings with a structured salary range (October 2026), the median range was 34% wide. A posting that starts at $100,000 typically tops out near $134,000.
Range width varies a lot. 13.6% of ranges are narrower than 15%, and 22.5% are wider than 50%. Entry-level ranges are the narrowest, with a median width of 24%.
Key findings
- The median posted range is 34% wide. 22.5% of ranges are wider than 50%, and 4.2% have a top more than double the bottom.
- Entry-level ranges are tighter (24% median width) than mid-level (36%) and senior (33%) ranges.
- Entry-level salaried postings have a median range of $85k–$115k (394 postings, 177 employers). The sample is tech-heavy, so treat that as a tech-sector figure.
- Internships post a median of $30.75 an hour (middle half $27.50–$43.00). Engineering and data internships post $32.50.
- Data and ML roles have the highest posted midpoints at $205k across all levels. Customer success and support has the lowest, at $135k.
How wide posted salary ranges are
| Range width | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Under 15% | |
| 15% to 50% | |
| More than 50% | |
| More than 100% (top over double the bottom) |
Width matters because of what it tells you. A narrow range, under 15%, often means a fixed band for one level, with little room to negotiate. A wide range, over 50%, often covers several levels or several locations in one posting. If you only just meet the experience they describe, expect an offer near the bottom.
Ranges by seniority
| Seniority (from job title) | Postings | Median range | Median midpoint | Median width |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry level / new grad | 394 | $85k–$115k | $101k | 24% |
| Mid level or unspecified | 5,660 | $130k–$185k | $158k | 36% |
| Senior, staff, lead and above | 7,658 | $160k–$220k | $190k | 33% |
For software engineering titles alone, entry-level postings had a median range of $120k–$158k (a small sample of 47 postings). Mid-level postings had $168k–$250k and senior postings $193k–$260k. The mid-level software range is the widest of any group in the data, at 47%, likely because many of those postings don't state a level in the title.
What internships pay
| Internships | Postings | Median hourly | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| All internships | 282 | $30.75 | $27.50–$43.00 |
| Engineering and data internships | 176 | $32.50 | $29.00–$45.00 |
| Other internships | 106 | $29.00 | $24.50–$42.00 |
Ranges by job family, all levels
| Job family | Postings | Median range | Median midpoint | Width |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data, analytics and ML | 1,586 | $166k–$236k | 36% | |
| Product and program management | 581 | $168k–$222k | 33% | |
| Software and hardware engineering | 4,989 | $158k–$220k | 38% | |
| Design and research | 343 | $156k–$215k | 33% | |
| Marketing and content | 486 | $148k–$190k | 27% | |
| Sales and partnerships | 1,079 | $138k–$180k | 25% | |
| People, HR and recruiting | 248 | $130k–$180k | 33% | |
| All other roles | 2,837 | $126k–$173k | 31% | |
| Operations, finance and legal | 1,268 | $115k–$160k | 31% | |
| Customer success and support | 354 | $112k–$150k | 25% |
How to use a posted range
- Find your place in the range from the posting itself. Read the experience the posting asks for. If you meet it exactly, aim for the middle. If you exceed it, aim for the upper third. Don't treat the top of a wide range as the real offer.
- Answer salary-expectation questions from the range. 31.7% of employers ask for your salary expectations on the form, and 28.0% require an answer. If the posting shows a range, a figure inside it, at or slightly above the midpoint, is the safest answer. The full guide to the salary question covers wording, base versus total pay and what to type.
- Expect a narrow range to be firm. A range under 15% wide is close to a fixed salary. Negotiate on level, title, sign-on or equity instead.
- Check which location the range is for. Many postings list one range per city. The range shown first is not always for yours.
- Where postings show no pay, look at which states require it. Postings for roles in states with pay-range laws show pay twice as often, and the same role posted in Colorado or Washington often has the range.
Methodology
Source. Structured pay fields on public job postings from Greenhouse (pay_input_ranges), Lever (salaryRange) and Ashby (published salary compensation), collected on 12 October 2026. This is the same snapshot as our pay-transparency study, which measured whether pay is shown at all. Only US postings with a USD minimum and maximum are included: 15,954 postings, 13,771 salaried and 2,183 hourly. Ranges written only in the description text are excluded, because their interval and currency can't be read reliably.
Cleaning. Hourly figures are annualized at 2,080 hours for the salaried comparison. Greenhouse ranges carry no interval, so a top figure of $300 or less is read as hourly. Ranges outside $15,000–$1,500,000 a year, or with a maximum below the minimum, are dropped. Width is the maximum divided by the minimum, minus one.
Limitations. The sample leans toward US technology employers that hire early-career staff, because employer names came from SimplifyJobs' public New-Grad and Internship lists. Workday and iCIMS, which dominate large enterprises, publish no equivalent public API, so they are not included. That makes the pay figures tech-sector figures, well above economy-wide medians. Posted ranges are what employers advertise, not what they pay. Sales ranges may include on-target commission where the employer entered it as salary. A role posted in several cities counts once per posting.
Data: pay ranges by segment (CSV), all figures (JSON). Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
Frequently asked questions
How wide is a typical salary range in a job posting?
About a third. Across 13,771 US postings with a structured range (October 2026), the median top-of-range was 34% above the bottom. 22.5% of ranges were wider than 50%, and 13.6% narrower than 15%.
Where in a posted salary range should I aim?
Match it to the experience the posting asks for: the middle if you meet it, the upper third if you clearly exceed it. Treat the top of a wide range as the ceiling for someone overqualified, not as the typical offer.
What do entry-level job postings pay in 2026?
In this tech-heavy sample, entry-level salaried postings had a median range of $85k–$115k and a median midpoint of $101k (394 US postings). Entry-level software engineering postings had a median range of $120k–$158k.
How much do internships pay per hour in 2026?
The median posted internship range had a midpoint of $30.75 an hour across 282 US postings, with the middle half between $27.50 and $43.00. Engineering and data internships posted a median of $32.50.
Answer the standard questions once.
ApplyCandid saves your standard answers, including notice period and work authorization, and fills them consistently on every form, with your review before submit.