Is It Legal to Ask About Salary History? State-by-State Guide (2026)

"What was your salary at your last job?" used to be a routine question on almost every application and in almost every first-round interview. It isn't anymore, at least not everywhere. Over the past decade, a growing number of states and cities have made it illegal for employers to ask, largely to break a cycle where a lowball salary early in your career follows you from job to job and compounds pay gaps over time.

Whether that question is legal where you're applying depends entirely on your location, and sometimes the employer's location too. Here's the current state of the law, what these bans actually cover, and how to answer if you get asked anyway.

Why these laws exist

The logic behind salary history bans is straightforward: if a new employer sets your offer based on what you made before, any underpayment from an earlier job, whether from being new, changing industries, or facing pay discrimination, gets carried forward indefinitely. Salary history bans are meant to break that chain by forcing employers to base offers on the role and the market rather than on what you happened to be paid somewhere else.

States with statewide salary history bans (2026)

These states prohibit most or all private employers from asking job applicants about their pay history. Effective dates and exact scope vary, and several allow employers to confirm salary history if you volunteer it first.

North Carolina and Pennsylvania have salary history restrictions, but they currently apply only to state government agencies as employers, not private companies statewide. Alabama's law bars employers from refusing to hire someone specifically because they declined to disclose salary, a narrower protection than a full ban on asking.

Cities and counties with their own bans

Even in states without a statewide law, plenty of major cities have passed their own local bans that apply to private employers operating there. If you're applying in one of these, the local law governs regardless of statewide policy:

• New York City, Albany County, Suffolk County, Westchester County (NY)
• San Francisco, CA
• Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA
• Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland, OH
• Kansas City and St. Louis, MO
• Montgomery County, MD

Several of these city ordinances only apply to employers above a certain headcount (commonly 15 or more employees), so a small local business may fall outside the rule even where a city-level ban exists.

States with no ban (and states that actually prohibit local bans)

Most states without a listed law simply have no rule either way, meaning employers there can generally ask about salary history freely, including states like Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, and most of the Midwest and South outside the cities named above. Two states go a step further in the opposite direction: Michigan and Wisconsin have both passed laws that actively prohibit their own cities and counties from enacting local salary history bans, preempting any patchwork of local rules within the state.

What these laws actually cover (and don't)

• They ban asking, not answering. Almost all of these laws restrict what an employer can ask. If you bring up your past pay unprompted, most laws allow the employer to use it, sometimes only to justify offering you more, not less.
• Salary expectations are almost always fair game. "What are you looking for in terms of compensation?" is a different question from "what were you paid?" and is legal to ask nearly everywhere. Our guide on how to answer the salary expectations question covers how to respond without underselling yourself.
• Post-offer confirmation is often allowed. Several states let an employer confirm salary history after they've extended an offer with a stated compensation figure, since the purpose (setting your initial pay) has already happened.
• The rules can depend on either party's location. Some laws apply based on where the job is performed, others based on where the employer is located or where the applicant lives, which matters increasingly for remote roles. When in doubt, the applicant's location is the safer assumption, but check your specific state's law if it's a close call.

How to answer if you're asked, banned or not

Even in states without any legal restriction, you're generally not required to disclose a specific number, and redirecting to your expectations is a normal, low-friction way to handle the question:

I'd prefer to focus on what this role is worth based on the responsibilities and market rate rather than my history elsewhere. Based on my research, I'm looking for something in the range of [your range]. Is that in line with what you had budgeted?

If you're in a state where the question is outright illegal and a recruiter asks anyway, most of the time it's an outdated intake script rather than intentional noncompliance. You can decline politely and redirect the same way. If the question keeps coming up after you've redirected, or it visibly affects how you're treated in the process, that's worth documenting and, if needed, raising with your state's labor or civil rights agency.

Why it matters beyond the legal question

Even where it's fully legal to ask, disclosing your exact past salary rarely works in your favor. It tends to anchor a new offer to your old number rather than to the value of the new role, especially if you were underpaid previously or are changing industries or seniority levels. Leading with your target range instead, backed by market research, keeps the conversation anchored to what the role is worth going forward. Our guide on what to put for desired salary on a job application walks through how to answer that field without leaving money on the table.

The bottom line

Salary history bans now cover roughly 18 states and dozens of major cities, and the list keeps growing, Virginia and an expanded D.C. rule both take effect in 2026. Even where it's fully legal to ask, you're rarely required to answer with a specific number, and redirecting to your target range is almost always the stronger move. Check your state and city before an interview if you want to know your exact rights, but treat "what should I say" the same way regardless: lead with what the role is worth, not what you happened to be paid before.