How Colorado Ignited a Worldwide Movement for Salary Transparency

Colorado has taken significant steps to dismantle the culture of secrecy surrounding salaries by mandating that employers include pay ranges in job postings. This initiative has not only transformed the local job market but has also ignited a global movement.

Since the implementation of this rule in 2021, approximately a dozen other states in the U.S. have followed suit, and the European Union is set to introduce similar regulations later this year.

These pay-transparency laws are designed to empower workers by enabling them to assess their value in the labor market and compare job opportunities more effectively. They also aim to reduce the likelihood of employers underpaying individuals who may not fully understand their bargaining power, a key factor contributing to the gender wage gap.

While the effectiveness of these laws has varied, interest remains high, with at least another dozen states currently considering similar legislation.

Interestingly, Colorado emerged as an unexpected leader in promoting pay transparency. While the state has made strides in areas like marijuana legalization and green energy, it lacks the consistently progressive politics of California and the strong organized labor presence found in New York. However, by 2019, the conditions were ripe for a salary disclosure law to gain traction in Denver.

The influx of tech workers who were open about salary discussions, combined with the renewed focus on women’s rights from the national #MeToo movement, created a conducive environment for change. With Democrats controlling the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in years, previously stalled bills found new life.

“There was just more fertile ground here,” noted Michael Bell, an employment lawyer at Ogletree Deakins in Denver.

Under Colorado’s law, employers must disclose pay ranges and related benefits in all job postings. Additionally, they are prohibited from inquiring about a candidate’s pay history, a practice that has been shown to perpetuate wage discrimination, particularly against women. At the time the law was enacted, women in Colorado earned only 80 cents for every dollar paid to men with similar qualifications, according to the National Women’s Law Center. By 2024, this figure had improved to an average of 85 cents.

As Colorado’s pay-transparency rules coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work, some companies initially attempted to circumvent the salary-posting requirement by excluding Colorado residents from applying for remote roles. However, other states, including California, New York, and Washington, soon enacted their own pay-transparency laws, making it increasingly difficult for employers to avoid compliance.

As these policies proliferated, employers became more inclined to include salary ranges in job advertisements, even in states without such mandates, according to a 2024 analysis by the National Women’s Law Center.

By 2025, five additional states—Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Massachusetts—implemented similar disclosure rules. This year, EU countries will also introduce regulations requiring the inclusion of pay ranges in job postings, with companies in the EU expected to report their mean and median gender pay gaps by 2027.

Jessie Danielson, a state senator who played a pivotal role in introducing the Colorado bill, has since provided guidance to lawmakers in other states on garnering support for equal-pay legislation.

Colorado’s history of advocating for women’s rights has been instrumental in this movement. The state was among the first to grant women the right to vote and to elect women to its legislature in the 1890s. Nonetheless, the journey toward wage equality has been a long and challenging one.

Former State Senator Polly Baca, the first Hispanic woman in Colorado’s legislature, recalled introducing pay-equality bills throughout the 1980s. Despite some bipartisan support, these proposals repeatedly failed to pass.

Baca’s motivation stemmed from her own experiences in the 1960s when she discovered that a male colleague earned more for the same job. This frustration fueled her commitment to addressing wage discrimination as a lawmaker.

While promoting equal pay is crucial, it is only one aspect of addressing gender disparities in the workplace. “Fair access to education, childcare, transportation, and paid family leave is essential for everyone to participate in the workforce,” emphasized Louise Myrland of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, which advocated for the state’s wage-transparency law.

However, business groups like the National Federation of Independent Business and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce argue that Colorado’s transparency rules impose significant administrative and legal burdens, particularly on smaller companies that lack compliance resources and face fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

“It’s a laudable goal,” stated Denver Metro Chamber President J.J. Ament, “but it was made by policymakers who don’t understand how hard it is for a small business to comply and the risks that have been created if they make a mistake.”

Even larger firms have faced penalties. For instance, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. paid a $79,500 fine in 2022, while social media company Twitter Inc., now known as X, incurred about $28,000 in fines that same year. Healthcare company DaVita Inc. settled for a $298,000 penalty in 2025.

A Lockheed spokeswoman stated that the company is committed to fair treatment and equal opportunity, complying in good faith with all nondiscrimination and pay-transparency laws. DaVita acknowledged that a small portion of its public job listings had inadvertently omitted required information and has since rectified this. X did not respond to requests for comment.

The Colorado Restaurant Association and Foundation argued that the costs associated with the transparency rules are minimal compared to the rising expenses of food and rent faced by restaurants today. The group, which initially opposed the law, successfully amended it in 2023 to allow for wage negotiations without the need to repost jobs and to ensure that pay ranges could account for factors like experience and location.

Initial studies on the impact of pay-transparency laws have yielded mixed results. A 2025 study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Southern California found that Colorado’s law increased competition in the labor market, resulting in wage increases of up to 3.6%.

Conversely, a national study published in 2023 in Econometrica indicated that transparency policies may weaken individual bargaining power. Employers were hesitant to raise wages for specific workers, fearing it could lead to costly renegotiations with other employees.

National data also reveal that wage gaps have recently widened. In 2024, women working full-time earned only 81 cents for every dollar paid to men, a decline from 84 cents two years prior, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

In Congress, Democrats introduced a bill last year to mandate salary range disclosures nationwide, but it remains stalled in committee. The previous administration’s opposition to gender-equality initiatives has heightened the urgency for state governments to take action, as noted by Danielson.

“The work that the states have done and will do, especially on issues like women’s rights, workers’ rights, and equal pay, is more important than I ever thought,” she remarked.

Top photo: Former Colorado state legislator Polly Baca in Denver. Photographer: Jimena Peck/Bloomberg.

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Colorado has taken significant steps to dismantle the culture of secrecy surrounding salaries by mandating that employers include pay ranges in job postings. This initiative has not only transformed the local job market but has also ignited a global movement.

Since the implementation of this rule in 2021, approximately a dozen other states in the U.S. have followed suit, and the European Union is set to introduce similar regulations later this year.

These pay-transparency laws are designed to empower workers by enabling them to assess their value in the labor market and compare job opportunities more effectively. They also aim to reduce the likelihood of employers underpaying individuals who may not fully understand their bargaining power, a key factor contributing to the gender wage gap.

While the effectiveness of these laws has varied, interest remains high, with at least another dozen states currently considering similar legislation.

Interestingly, Colorado emerged as an unexpected leader in promoting pay transparency. While the state has made strides in areas like marijuana legalization and green energy, it lacks the consistently progressive politics of California and the strong organized labor presence found in New York. However, by 2019, the conditions were ripe for a salary disclosure law to gain traction in Denver.

The influx of tech workers who were open about salary discussions, combined with the renewed focus on women’s rights from the national #MeToo movement, created a conducive environment for change. With Democrats controlling the governor’s office and both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in years, previously stalled bills found new life.

“There was just more fertile ground here,” noted Michael Bell, an employment lawyer at Ogletree Deakins in Denver.

Under Colorado’s law, employers must disclose pay ranges and related benefits in all job postings. Additionally, they are prohibited from inquiring about a candidate’s pay history, a practice that has been shown to perpetuate wage discrimination, particularly against women. At the time the law was enacted, women in Colorado earned only 80 cents for every dollar paid to men with similar qualifications, according to the National Women’s Law Center. By 2024, this figure had improved to an average of 85 cents.

As Colorado’s pay-transparency rules coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work, some companies initially attempted to circumvent the salary-posting requirement by excluding Colorado residents from applying for remote roles. However, other states, including California, New York, and Washington, soon enacted their own pay-transparency laws, making it increasingly difficult for employers to avoid compliance.

As these policies proliferated, employers became more inclined to include salary ranges in job advertisements, even in states without such mandates, according to a 2024 analysis by the National Women’s Law Center.

By 2025, five additional states—Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Massachusetts—implemented similar disclosure rules. This year, EU countries will also introduce regulations requiring the inclusion of pay ranges in job postings, with companies in the EU expected to report their mean and median gender pay gaps by 2027.

Jessie Danielson, a state senator who played a pivotal role in introducing the Colorado bill, has since provided guidance to lawmakers in other states on garnering support for equal-pay legislation.

Colorado’s history of advocating for women’s rights has been instrumental in this movement. The state was among the first to grant women the right to vote and to elect women to its legislature in the 1890s. Nonetheless, the journey toward wage equality has been a long and challenging one.

Former State Senator Polly Baca, the first Hispanic woman in Colorado’s legislature, recalled introducing pay-equality bills throughout the 1980s. Despite some bipartisan support, these proposals repeatedly failed to pass.

Baca’s motivation stemmed from her own experiences in the 1960s when she discovered that a male colleague earned more for the same job. This frustration fueled her commitment to addressing wage discrimination as a lawmaker.

While promoting equal pay is crucial, it is only one aspect of addressing gender disparities in the workplace. “Fair access to education, childcare, transportation, and paid family leave is essential for everyone to participate in the workforce,” emphasized Louise Myrland of the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, which advocated for the state’s wage-transparency law.

However, business groups like the National Federation of Independent Business and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce argue that Colorado’s transparency rules impose significant administrative and legal burdens, particularly on smaller companies that lack compliance resources and face fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

“It’s a laudable goal,” stated Denver Metro Chamber President J.J. Ament, “but it was made by policymakers who don’t understand how hard it is for a small business to comply and the risks that have been created if they make a mistake.”

Even larger firms have faced penalties. For instance, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. paid a $79,500 fine in 2022, while social media company Twitter Inc., now known as X, incurred about $28,000 in fines that same year. Healthcare company DaVita Inc. settled for a $298,000 penalty in 2025.

A Lockheed spokeswoman stated that the company is committed to fair treatment and equal opportunity, complying in good faith with all nondiscrimination and pay-transparency laws. DaVita acknowledged that a small portion of its public job listings had inadvertently omitted required information and has since rectified this. X did not respond to requests for comment.

The Colorado Restaurant Association and Foundation argued that the costs associated with the transparency rules are minimal compared to the rising expenses of food and rent faced by restaurants today. The group, which initially opposed the law, successfully amended it in 2023 to allow for wage negotiations without the need to repost jobs and to ensure that pay ranges could account for factors like experience and location.

Initial studies on the impact of pay-transparency laws have yielded mixed results. A 2025 study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Southern California found that Colorado’s law increased competition in the labor market, resulting in wage increases of up to 3.6%.

Conversely, a national study published in 2023 in Econometrica indicated that transparency policies may weaken individual bargaining power. Employers were hesitant to raise wages for specific workers, fearing it could lead to costly renegotiations with other employees.

National data also reveal that wage gaps have recently widened. In 2024, women working full-time earned only 81 cents for every dollar paid to men, a decline from 84 cents two years prior, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

In Congress, Democrats introduced a bill last year to mandate salary range disclosures nationwide, but it remains stalled in committee. The previous administration’s opposition to gender-equality initiatives has heightened the urgency for state governments to take action, as noted by Danielson.

“The work that the states have done and will do, especially on issues like women’s rights, workers’ rights, and equal pay, is more important than I ever thought,” she remarked.

Top photo: Former Colorado state legislator Polly Baca in Denver. Photographer: Jimena Peck/Bloomberg.

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