Salary range requirements can apply to remote jobs, but there is no single US rule for deciding when. States use different geographic triggers. California's Labor Commissioner interprets its posting rule to cover a position that may ever be filled in California. New York State reaches some jobs performed outside New York when they report to a supervisor, office or work site in New York. Vermont expressly covers certain remote positions that predominantly perform work for a Vermont office or work location. Other states use their own tests. Employers should define where a remote role may actually be performed before publication, map each potential work location to the applicable law, and include the strictest set of disclosures required by the jurisdictions that genuinely apply.
Jurisdiction: United States
Remote Does Not Mean Outside State Pay Transparency Law
A remote job is still performed somewhere, and state pay transparency laws often use the potential work location or another state connection to decide coverage. Employers therefore cannot treat the word remote as an exemption. A role that can be performed from multiple states may trigger more than one posting rule, while a remote role restricted to a defined group of states may trigger fewer. The correct analysis starts with the actual hiring footprint: where the employer is willing and legally able to employ the successful candidate. Once those locations are known, each potentially applicable state's threshold and geographic rule can be tested.
California Focuses on Whether the Position May Be Filled in California
California's Labor Commissioner guidance states that a covered employer must include the pay scale if the position may ever be filled in California, either in person or remotely. That makes the employer's permitted hiring locations important. A nationally advertised remote position that genuinely allows a California hire can therefore create a California posting obligation for a covered employer. By contrast, a role that is lawfully and genuinely unavailable to California workers presents a different factual situation. Employers should define those restrictions before the ad is published rather than trying to narrow the geography only after applicants respond.
New York Can Reach Certain Out-of-State Remote Roles
New York's statewide pay transparency law is not limited to jobs physically performed inside the state. It also reaches certain jobs performed outside New York when the employee reports to a supervisor, office or other work site in New York. That means a remote employee's organizational connection can matter even if the person's home office is elsewhere. Employers should therefore record both expected work location and reporting structure when screening a New York-related requisition. A remote label by itself is not enough to determine whether the state rule applies.
Vermont Uses a Predominant-Work Connection to a Vermont Office or Location
Vermont expressly includes a remote position in the definition of a Vermont job opening when the position will predominantly perform work for an office or work location physically located in Vermont. It also excludes a position physically located outside Vermont that predominantly performs work for offices or locations outside Vermont. This illustrates another approach: the legal nexus can turn on which office or work location the remote employee predominantly serves. Employers with distributed teams should therefore identify the business location supported by the role rather than relying only on the worker's residence.
Other States Use Different Geographic Tests
Remote-job coverage across the wider state patchwork cannot be reduced to the California, New York or Vermont models. Illinois, Maryland, Colorado, Washington and other jurisdictions use their own statutory or regulatory language, employer thresholds and guidance. Some focus closely on where work is performed, while others also consider reporting relationships or other connections. Employers should avoid copying one state's remote-work rule into a nationwide compliance matrix. Each jurisdiction should have a separate coverage field that records the actual trigger, source and effective date.
A Remote Posting May Need More Than a Salary Range
Even after an employer determines that a state law applies, the required content can differ. One state may require only a salary or hourly range. Another may require benefits, other compensation, an application deadline or special notices. The employer should therefore separate two questions: first, is the remote role covered, and second, what exactly must the posting say? Treating coverage and content as separate compliance fields reduces mistakes. A range that satisfies one state's law may still leave a posting incomplete under another state that also requires benefits or other compensation information.
Define Approved Hiring Locations Before the Job Goes Live
The most reliable operational control is to decide where a remote employee may be hired before the requisition is published. HR and legal teams can then map those locations to the applicable disclosure rules and configure the posting fields accordingly. Broad phrases such as work from anywhere create a larger compliance footprint if the employer is genuinely willing to hire in many jurisdictions. Artificially excluding states merely to avoid transparency requirements can create separate legal and employee-relations risks. Geographic restrictions should therefore reflect real business, registration, tax, licensing or workforce considerations, and the recruiting system should enforce them consistently.
Use a Multi-State Rule Matrix for National Remote Hiring
A remote-hiring matrix should record employer-size thresholds, geographic triggers, required compensation fields, internal mobility rules, benefits disclosure, application-deadline requirements, recordkeeping, enforcement authority and effective date. Each requisition can then be matched to the states in which the candidate may work. Some employers simplify administration by publishing a broad compensation disclosure that satisfies the strictest applicable rules across all approved locations. Others localize postings. Either approach can work if the employer confirms that the disclosed range is genuine for the advertised role and that no jurisdiction-specific requirement has been omitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do remote jobs have to include salary ranges?
They can. Coverage depends on the applicable state or local law, employer threshold and the role's connection to the jurisdiction.
Does a company need an office in a state for that state's remote-job rule to apply?
Not always. Some laws focus on where the job may be performed, while others use reporting or office connections. The exact statutory test must be checked state by state.
Can an employer avoid pay transparency by excluding certain states from a remote posting?
A genuinely location-restricted role may have a narrower compliance footprint, but the restriction should reflect the employer's real hiring policy and be applied consistently. Employers should not assume that adding an exclusion automatically resolves every legal issue.
Related Guides
Official Sources
Requirements and practices differ by jurisdiction and organisation. Check current local law, official guidance and professional advice for a specific situation.