How to Answer 'What Are Your Salary Expectations' in a Job Interview

Why Interviewers Ask This

The question is a filter and a test at the same time. The filter is budget: a hiring manager for a controller role or a field service supervisor role has an approved band, and they want to know in minute four, not after four rounds, whether you fit it.

The test is judgment. A researched range for your title, level and metro shows you can find data, interpret it and state a position under mild pressure — the same thing you'd do in a vendor negotiation or a client scoping call.

The red flags are specific. Naming a figure based on your rent or car payment, rather than the work. Refusing to answer at all, three times. Giving a number so far above the band that it signals you misread the level of the job. Or saying "I'm open" and then pushing back hard on the offer.

Sample Questions & Answers

Brackets mark where your own researched numbers go. Fill them in before you speak the lines aloud.

What are your salary expectations for this role?

Say this

"I've been a staff accountant in a 400-bed hospital system for four years, closing the month in five business days and owning the fixed-asset schedule. Before today I checked published wage data for senior accountants in this metro and three posted ranges for hospital finance roles within 20 miles. Based on that, and on the NetSuite reporting work in your job description, I'm targeting a base of [low] to [high]. Where I land in that depends on the bonus target and the remote schedule. For context, the scope I'm describing is what took our close from eight days to five."

What are you making now?

Say this

"I'm a marketing coordinator now and I'm interviewing for manager-level work, so my current base reflects a smaller scope — one brand, no direct reports. Rather than anchor on that, I'd rather talk about what this job is worth. I've looked at posted ranges for marketing managers in consumer goods in this city, and I'm targeting [low] to [high] base. Is that inside your band? In my last conversation with a recruiter, framing it that way got us to the band in two minutes instead of two calls."

That's higher than we budgeted. Is there any flexibility?

Say this

"There is, and I'd rather find it than walk away. As a warehouse operations supervisor I've been running a 45-person shift, which is why I started at the top of my range. If the base here tops out at [their number], I'd look at the annual bonus target, the shift differential and the PTO accrual to close the gap. Tell me what the band actually is and I'll tell you today whether it works. When I did this with a prior employer, we settled on a lower base with a signing bonus and a six-month review."

What number would you accept if we made you an offer today?

Say this

"I've been a field service technician on industrial chillers for six years and I hold my EPA 608 Universal card, so I came in with a number rather than a wish. I'd accept [number] base with the van, the on-call rotation as described, and the tool allowance. If any of those three change, the base number changes with it. That's the same arrangement I have now, and under it I've kept first-visit fix rate above 90 percent across roughly 1,100 calls."

Why do you think you're worth the top of your range?

Say this

"Because of what the inside sales role has looked like for me, not because of the number itself. I carried a 180-account book in SaaS renewals, which is above what the postings I compared describe at this level. Over the last two years I renewed 94 percent of that book by dollar value and added just under $400,000 in expansion revenue. The top of my range matches postings asking for that mix of renewal and expansion work. If your scope is narrower than that, I'd expect to sit lower in the range."

Sample Answer Script

One complete answer for an operations manager interview at a third-party logistics company. Replace the bracketed figures with your own researched numbers.

Full spoken answer

"For context, I've spent the last three years as an operations supervisor at a 3PL site, running a 60-person shift across two inbound docks and four outbound lanes.

I came into this process knowing you'd ask, so I did two things: I looked at published wage data for operations managers in this metro, and I pulled four current postings at 3PL and distribution companies within 30 miles to see what ranges they list.

Based on that, I'm targeting a base in the [low] to [high] range. I set a range rather than one figure because the scope here is broader than my current job — a second shift and the carrier relationships — and I'd like to understand that before I pin down a number. I'm flexible on where I land if the annual bonus target and the four remote days in the posting hold.

What you'd get for that is the record from my current site: order errors down from four percent to just over one percent in nine months, and overtime held under six percent of labor hours for three straight quarters. If that range sits above your band, tell me where the band is and I'll tell you right now whether it works for me."

Before You Walk In

1. Look up your occupation's published wage data for your metro area — the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables are the standard free starting point — and write the figure on one note card.
2. Save three current job postings for the same job title within commuting distance that list a pay range, and write down the lowest and highest numbers you find.
3. Write your target range on that same card as a single sentence you can read aloud: "I'm targeting a base of [low] to [high]."
4. Write your walk-away base number — the figure below which you decline — on the back of the card.
5. Check your state or city labor department website for current rules on pay-range disclosure and salary-history questions where you're interviewing.
6. List the five non-base items you'd trade against salary: bonus target, equity, 401(k) match percentage, PTO days, remote days.
7. Say your range sentence out loud five times without reading it.
8. Write one sentence to use if the question lands in the first two minutes: "I'd like to hear more about the scope first — can you tell me the band you've approved for this role?"

Frequently asked questions