Salary Expectations: Range, Number, or Leave It Blank? A Decision Tree

Give a range when the field lets you, a specific number when it forces one field, and leave it blank only when the field is optional. That's the whole answer — the rest is knowing which situation you're in and what numbers to put. Here's the decision tree, plus phrasing you can copy.

The 30-second decision tree

Walk down this list and stop at the first match:

1. Field is optional? Leave it blank, or write "Negotiable" / "Open." You lose nothing.
2. Field accepts text or a range? Give a researched range, e.g. $85,000–$100,000.
3. Field forces a single number? Enter one specific figure near the top of your range, e.g. $96,500.
4. Field forces a number AND it's clearly a hard filter (dropdown bands, "minimum acceptable")? Use your honest floor, the lowest number you'd actually accept.

The trap is treating every box the same way. A free-text box and a required numeric field call for different answers, and putting a placeholder like 0 or 99999 in a required field can flag your application — more on that in what to put for desired salary.

Why a range usually wins

A range does two jobs at once: it anchors the conversation toward your higher number while signaling you're flexible. But there's a catch most people miss.

Recruiters tend to hear the bottom of your range as your real ask. If you say $80K–$100K, many will mentally file you at $80K and build the offer up from there. So the floor of your range should be the lowest number you'd genuinely accept without resentment — not a "stretch low" you'd hate to actually get.

Keep the range tight, roughly 15–20% wide. $90,000–$105,000 reads as a confident person who's done the research. $70,000–$120,000 reads as someone who has no idea what the role pays.

When a single number is smarter

If the form forces one number, don't reflexively round to a "salary goal." A precise figure signals you've researched the market.

Pick a number near the top of the range you'd have offered, because a single field can't show your ceiling — the number you type becomes both your floor and your anchor.

When to leave it blank (and how to dodge gracefully)

If the field is genuinely optional, blank is a perfectly normal answer, and so is a short word.

Copy-ready options for an optional field:

• Negotiable
• Open / Flexible
• Market rate
• Prefer to discuss in interview

What you cannot usually do is leave a required field empty, and that's where people get stuck. Don't enter junk to bypass it. Enter your real range or your real floor. A bot doesn't appreciate cleverness, and a human who sees 99999 later just sees someone who tried to game the form.

If there's a separate "Additional comments" box, you can soften a required number with one line: "This figure is a starting point; I'm flexible based on the full compensation package."

Do the 10-minute research first

Any answer is a guess until you've checked the band. Before you type anything:

• Look up the role + your city on a couple of salary sites (Levels.fyi for tech, Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, Payscale) and find the midpoint, not the headline max.
• Check whether the posting lists a range — many US states and the EU now require it. If it does, answer inside their stated band, leaning toward the top third.
• Adjust for your years of experience and the cost of living where the job is based.

This research is also what protects you from the two ways this field bites: price yourself above the band and a filter may drop you before a human reads your resume; price yourself below it and you've anchored your own offer down.

Phrasing you can copy

For a range field or free text:

Based on the role's scope and my experience, I'm targeting $95,000–$110,000, and I'm open to discussing the full package.

For a required single number:

$98,000 (entered as a specific figure; treat as a starting point for discussion)

For an optional field you'd rather skip:

Negotiable / Open to market rate

Where this fits with the rest of the application

Salary is one of a handful of fields that make people freeze mid-form, along with reason for leaving and are you willing to relocate. The pattern is the same for all of them: a calm, specific, honest answer beats a clever dodge or a panic placeholder.

If filling these fields over and over is wearing you down, JobRizzer can autofill the application across Workday, Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and the rest, dropping in your standard answers so you only edit the ones that need judgment — like this one. You review every field and submit yourself; there's no auto-submit and no bot blasting forms. It just removes the repetitive typing so you can spend your energy on the number that actually matters.

The short version: research the band, give a tight range when you can, a precise number when you must, and a clean "Negotiable" when it's optional. Skip the placeholders, set your floor at a number you'd truly accept, and you'll never have to stare at this field again.