When a remote listing states a salary range, the range is usually narrow

A stated range is often dismissed as a formality: a floor and a ceiling so far apart that the number says nothing. The corpus shows the opposite for remote listings. Of 443 live remote listings that state a range (read 4 November 2026; 2,402 live remote listings in all, 467 with any stated pay, 24 of them a single figure), the top of the range sits within 20% of the bottom in 138 cases (31.2%) and within 50% in 359 (81.0%). The median range spans 1.28 times its floor: a listing that starts at $100,000 typically ends at $128,000. Only 14 ranges (3.2%) have a top more than double the bottom.

By hosting platform

Ashby-hosted career pages carry most of the stated ranges in the index (242 of 443) and the widest: median 1.32, with 20.7% of ranges spanning 50% to 100% above the floor and 2.9% more than double. 4DayWeek listings are tighter: median 1.24, 37.6% within 20%, 9.9% between 50% and 100% above. Sources with fewer than 50 stated ranges are shown as counts: Greenhouse-hosted career pages 43 ranges, 20 of them within 20% and none more than double; Jobicy 31, of which 13 within 20% and 2 more than double; Remote OK 14, of which 2 within 20% and 2 more than double, the widest profile in the index and the only board whose posting rules require a range.

What the width is and is not

A wide range is not evidence of evasion, and a narrow one is not evidence of candour: a senior role that spans two levels will legitimately show a wider band than a single-level role, and a United States employer that posts one national range for several states is answering a legal requirement, not a candidate's question. What the measure shows is simpler: when remote employers do state pay, the statement is specific enough to act on. The problem the index keeps finding is the listings that state nothing, which on the same day were 80.6% of live remote listings.

Method and limits

Basis: the browsable index on 4 November 2026, filtered to listings posted within 30 days, not archived, not from the paid partner feed, classified remote; n = 443 listings with a stated range. The width is the higher figure divided by the lower of the first two amounts of at least 1,000 in the salary text, with K and M suffixes expanded; single figures (24) are excluded; currencies are not converted because the ratio is unit-free. Limits: a range stated as a monthly or hourly figure counts if both figures are at least 1,000, so a small number of monthly ranges are included; a text such as "up to $200K" has one figure and is excluded; the measure says nothing about whether the stated range is honoured. Rates shown only where n is at least 50 per source. The read is a single day; the source table is archived with this story. Corrections are appended below, never edited silently.