Pay Structure
Pay range
Also called: salary range, compensation range
The minimum-to-maximum pay band an employer assigns to a job or pay grade.
A pay range is the salary band an employer establishes for a job or group of jobs. Each range has a minimum, midpoint, and maximum. Employees in the same range can earn anywhere from the minimum (typically new hires or developing performers) to the maximum (typically tenured high performers).
Ranges are usually built from external market data (compensation surveys) and adjusted for the employer's pay-positioning strategy. They're the foundation of any structured compensation program.
State pay-transparency laws (California, Colorado, New York, Washington, and others) require posting the pay range on job listings, making range design a higher-stakes decision than it used to be — every posted range is a public claim about how you pay.