Before accepting a promotion, use the posted pay range to get the real number

You have a promotion or transfer in front of you, and the number feels good. Before you say yes, ask for the posted pay range and treat it as the real offer you should expect. That range is the first piece of evidence in the case for your next level.

The posted range is the offer you should test

Most people read a range the way a candidate reads a job title: as a label. A manager who has written promotion cases reads it as a constraint. A narrow range means the company has already decided what the role is worth. A wide range means you need to know what the midpoint means, who gets there first, and whether the offer is anchored to the low end.

The promotion changes more than the title. It changes the level you are paid from, the people you report to, and the evidence you will need later when you ask for the next step. A weak range weakens the whole case. The human part is whether the move is worth taking.

Pay transparency laws are making that question harder to dodge. By August 1, 2026, statewide pay-transparency rules will be active in 16 states and Washington, D.C. In Virginia, a July 1, 2026 rule reaches virtually all Virginia employers without a minimum headcount and requires a wage, salary, or range in public and internal postings for jobs, promotions, and transfers. The range attached to your promotion is a number you should pressure-test before you accept.

Maine’s July 29, 2026 rule covers employers with 10 or more employees and requires postings to show the expected pay range, or to say that a commission-only role is paid only by commission. California’s January 1, 2026 pay-scale rule treats a realistic expected hire-pay figure as the benchmark, rather than a wide band that discloses little. The pattern tells you what a defensible estimate should look like in a promotion.

A range is only useful when it is tied to something

In Virginia, the range must be a defensible, good-faith figure tied to an existing pay scale, an earlier range, pay in comparable roles, or the budgeted amount. When the company cannot say which tie it used, the range is less useful than it looks. The same logic applies to your current job. In Maine, a current employee can request the pay range for the job they already hold, and the employer must provide it. A promotion can look generous while still leaving you below the expected range for the new role.

The org chart matters here. Titles can move you into a new level without moving you into a new pay level. The range is the clearest signal of whether the level is real. When the company has a pay scale, the range should be within it. When it does not, you need to know what the company is using instead.

Old pay is the easiest number to bring into the room, and the least useful one. In Virginia, employers may not ask for or rely on a candidate’s prior pay when deciding compensation, except that a candidate’s voluntary disclosure may be used only to justify a higher offer. Volunteering your old salary may hand the company a reason to stay near it in the new role.

Run this checklist before you accept

Keep this list. It is short because the decision is short. Use it before you sign anything at all. The first protects the number, the second the tie, the third the current job, the fourth the midpoint, and the fifth old pay.

• Ask for the written pay range for the new role, and keep the posting or written offer that shows it.
• Check the anchor: ask what the range is tied to, and keep the answer.
• Compare the low end and midpoint to your current salary and the range for your current job.
• Test the midpoint: ask what performance or level puts you at the midpoint, and whether the offer is below it.
• If a salary-history ban applies, do not volunteer old pay; ask for the offer based on the role’s range.

Ask before you accept when any answer is missing.