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The city of Columbus, Ohio, recently enacted an ordinance that will require most employers to provide reasonable, good-faith estimates of a position’s wages or salary in job postings. The ordinance makes Columbus at least the fourth major municipality in Ohio to require some form of wage or salary disclosure to job applicants.
Quick Hits
- Columbus, Ohio, enacted an ordinance requiring employers with fifteen or more employees in the city to disclose reasonable salary ranges or pay scales in job postings.
- The ordinance took effect on December 3, 2025, but enforcement will be delayed until January 1, 2027, allowing employers time to adjust their job postings and compensation structures to comply with the new requirements.
- The ordinance aligns with similar municipal laws in Ohio, such as those in Cleveland, Toledo, and Cincinnati, which are all aimed at increasing pay transparency, yet Ohio does not have a statewide pay transparency law.
On November 4, 2025, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther signed Columbus Ordinance 2898-2025, amending Chapter 2335 of the Columbus City Codes—which prohibits salary history inquiries—to require pay transparency in job postings.
Ordinance 2898-2025 went into effect on December 3, 2025, but enforcement against employers will be delayed until January 1, 2027.
Compensation Disclosure
The ordinance requires employers with fifteen or more employees within the city to “provide a reasonable salary range or scale for potential employment” in job postings, meaning compensation. The requirement applies to job postings, meaning both solicitations to recruit applicants for a specific position and postings, either “done electronically” or in “a printed hard copy,” that “includes a description of the position and/or qualifications of desired applicants.”
Reasonable Salary Range
Under the ordinance, employers must provide a “reasonable salary range or scale for potential employment,” referring to financial compensation that includes but is not limited to “wages, commissions, hourly earnings, and other monetary earnings.”
The ordinance sets forth a nonexhaustive list of factors for the “reasonableness” of a posted salary range:
- employer’s budget flexibility,
- anticipated pay ranges requested by qualified applicants,
- potential variation in the position’s responsibilities,
- opportunities for growth,
- cost of living in the location of the position, and
- market research on comparable positions.
These factors are insightful as employers continue to seek understanding of what constitutes a “reasonable” pay range in other jurisdictions.
Exclusions
The pay transparency requirements do not apply to postings that are “replicated and published without an employer’s consent” nor to postings for internal job transfers or promotions within an organization. The requirements also do not apply where compensation is determined by processes established by collective bargaining.
Enforcement
The requirements will be enforced by the Columbus Community Relations Commission under the city codes, which allow individuals to file complaints alleging discrimination. Employers that violate the requirements may be subject to civil penalties and even referral to the city prosecutor to evaluate for prosecution.
Pay Transparency in Ohio
In recent years, several local municipalities in Ohio have enacted laws requiring compensation disclosure with the goal of improving pay equity among employees. Interestingly, though, Ohio does not currently have a statewide pay transparency law.
The Columbus ordinance comes after a Cleveland pay transparency ordinance went into effect on October 27, 2025, requiring employers with fifteen or more employees in the city to “provide the [s]alary range or scale” in job postings and prohibiting inquiries into an applicant’s salary history. Columbus also prohibits employers from inquiring about job applicants’ wages, benefits, and other compensation during the hiring process, under an ordinance enacted in 2024.
Toledo and Cincinnati also have pay transparency laws but only require employers to provide pay ranges to applicants upon reasonable request.
Next Steps
Employers in Columbus may want to review their job postings and advertisements to ensure compliance with these new pay transparency obligations. Employers may further want to review their overall compensation structures with regard to desired compensation ranges and consistency throughout the organization.
