What to Put for Desired Salary on a Job Application: We Opened 754 AI Job Forms, and Every One That Asked Already Showed the Pay (Oct. 4, 2026)
Put a number from the posting itself: on October 4, 2026 we opened 754 real application forms at 19 AI employers, and every one of the 45 forms that asked for your desired salary sat on a posting that already printed the pay. The other 709 forms did not ask at all. None of the 754 asked what you earn now.
What we opened on October 4, 2026
We picked 40 US job postings at random on each of the 19 AI, robotics and self-driving job boards we follow on our AI jobs tracker (all 34 at Physical Intelligence, which has fewer). For each one we opened the actual application form the employer shows applicants, through the public Greenhouse and Ashby systems those boards run on. Then we read every question that mentions salary, pay, compensation or wages.
- 754 forms opened, 0 failed to load.
- 45 forms (6.0%) ask about pay. All 45 are required questions, and all 45 are at just 3 employers: Replit (39 of 40), Nuro (4 of 40) and 1X (2 of 40).
- 45 of 45 sit on a posting that prints the pay, as a yearly range, an hourly range or an hourly rate.
- 41 of the 45 are free-text boxes. 4 (all Nuro) are Yes/No questions with nothing to type.
- 0 of 754 ask for your current or past salary.
An AI assistant helped draft this piece and run the page reads; every quote was read on the source’s own page on the date shown.
What should you put for desired salary on a job application?
On the 45 AI job forms we found on October 4, 2026 that ask, the pay is already printed on the same posting, so the first number to look at is that one. Replit’s Brand Designer form asks “What is your desired salary range?” The posting above it says $130K to $180K.
That changes the job. You are not guessing what the company can pay. You are deciding where you sit inside a range it has already published. That turns a nervous guess into a reading exercise.
What you type is still your call. On a free-text form, a range that overlaps the posted one is our suggestion, not a rule any employer stated. The posting tells you the band; your experience tells you where in it you belong.
How often does an application form actually ask for your desired salary?
Rarely, at these employers: 45 of the 754 forms we opened on October 4, 2026 asked about pay, which is 6.0%, and 16 of the 19 boards asked nothing. OpenAI, Anthropic, Waymo, xAI and Scale AI were among the boards with zero pay questions in 40 forms each.
Most of the advice on this question is written as if every form has the box. On these 19 boards, most applicants never see one. If you do, you are almost certainly applying at one of three companies.
| Employer | The question, word for word | Forms that ask |
|---|---|---|
| Replit | “What is your desired salary range?” (35) or “What is your desired OTE?” (4, sales roles) | 39 of 40, free text |
| Nuro | “Does this align with your pay expectations?” after stating the hourly rate, or “Does the compensation package … align with your expectations?” | 4 of 40, Yes / No |
| 1X | “Salary Expectations” | 2 of 40, free text |
| Other 16 boards | No pay question on any form we opened | 0 of 634 |
Replit is the outlier. It asks on 39 of 40 forms; the one without the box was its 2027 new-grad software engineer posting. At 1X, both forms that asked were assembly technician jobs. At Nuro, all four were operations roles: two vehicle operator jobs and two mission operations coordinator jobs.
What does the desired-salary question look like on a real form?
The 45 pay questions we read on October 4, 2026 came in three shapes: an open range box (Replit), a one-line “Salary Expectations” box (1X), and a Yes/No question that states the pay first (Nuro). Each shape needs a different answer, so read the question before you type.
The Nuro version is the most honest of the three. Its Los Angeles vehicle operator form, read October 4, 2026, says: “This role starts at $26/hour, plus full benefits … Does this align with your pay expectations?” You answer Yes or No. There is no number to get wrong.
The 1X version is the one most likely to trip someone up. The posting prints the pay per hour ($30 to $39 for the robot body assembly role), but the box just says “Salary Expectations.” Writing a yearly figure there would put you in a different unit from the posting. We cannot tell from the form which unit 1X expects.
Where do you find the number before you type?
On the posting, usually near the bottom: all 45 postings whose forms asked had a pay line we could read on October 4, 2026, written as “$130K – $180K,” “$30.00/hr – $39.00/hr” or “reasonably expected base pay range is between $55,800 and $75,390.” Search the page for a dollar sign before you search the web.
- Find the pay line. Ashby boards (Replit, 1X) show it in a compensation block. Nuro writes it as a sentence in the posting text.
- Match the unit. Hourly posting, hourly answer. Both 1X forms that asked were hourly jobs.
- Check the box type. A free-text box takes a range or words. A Yes/No box takes neither.
- Check which pay it is. Replit’s four sales forms ask for “OTE,” on-target earnings, which usually means base plus commission. That is a different figure from base salary.
- Note the location. Nuro’s two coordinator jobs posted different ranges: $55,800 to $75,390 in Houston and $65,640 to $88,690 in Santa Clara.
Why do ranges run so wide, and why do some postings leave them out? We counted both in why salary ranges are so wide and why job postings do not show salary.
Can an employer ask for your salary expectations?
In California, yes: the state Labor Commissioner’s pay transparency FAQ, read on October 4, 2026, says nothing in the statute stops an employer from asking about your salary expectation, but an employer generally cannot ask for your salary history. On our 754 forms, the pattern matched: 45 asked about expectations, and 0 asked what you earn now.
The same FAQ says an employer with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale in any job posting. It also says an applicant has the right to the pay scale for the job, on reasonable request. Those lines come from the California Labor Commissioner’s Equal Pay Act and pay transparency page, which cites Labor Code section 432.3.
We read only California’s official page for this piece. Rules in other states differ, and this is general information, not legal advice. For your state, the state labor department’s own site is the source to trust.
We are not recruiters
We take no money from employers, we do not place candidates, and postings can close or change any time. The official posting wins over anything here. Never pay to apply, never deposit a check and send money back, and treat a job offer by text message as a red flag. Apply only on the employer’s own site. More in our scam rules.
Should you write “negotiable” or leave the desired-salary box blank?
Blank is not an option on these forms: all 45 pay questions we read on October 4, 2026 were marked required. On the 41 free-text boxes, the form will take a word such as “negotiable” as easily as a number. On Nuro’s 4 Yes/No questions, there is nothing to write at all.
The top search results disagree on this. Career Sherpa’s guide, read on October 4, 2026, suggests typing “000” or “999.” EmployBridge’s guide, read the same day, warns that placeholders like “99999” look unprofessional and may get flagged.
We did not submit any applications, so we cannot tell you how a recruiter reads either one. What we can say is narrower. All 41 boxes we read were text fields, not number-only fields. And when the posting already prints the range, a placeholder hides nothing the employer has not already published.
What if the posting shows no pay range at all?
In our October 4, 2026 sample, the missing range and the salary question never showed up on the same job: the three boards with no pay on any sampled posting, Cursor (0 of 40), ElevenLabs (0 of 40) and Physical Intelligence (0 of 34), had no pay question on any form either. At those three, you are more likely to meet the question later, from a recruiter.
That is an observation from one day’s sample, not a rule. If you do face the box with no published range, the California FAQ above says an applicant can ask for the pay scale. Our pay rankings across AI employers and the open jobs board show what similar roles post, so you can browse every open role and apply on the employer’s site.
Pay for specific roles is in our counts for software engineering interns, robotics technicians and forward deployed engineers.
Is a Nuro “Does this align?” question a trick?
No: the two Nuro vehicle operator forms we read on October 4, 2026 state the rate inside the question itself, $26/hour on the PM shift and $27.25/hour on the overnight shift, and ask only whether it works for you. It is a screening question. It filters out applicants who would turn down that rate.
The postings add one detail the question leaves out. Both operator postings say employees get a weekend differential for hours worked on Saturdays and Sundays, on top of the base rate. The posting does not give the amount. Both are also 12-month jobs, which the titles say outright.
For more operator and technician paths into robotics and self-driving, see robot operator jobs and is Waymo hiring.
How do you answer salary expectations when a recruiter asks out loud?
Indeed’s own career-tips channel covers the spoken version of this question, the one a recruiter asks on a phone screen. We checked both videos below on October 4, 2026; both play here.
By their titles, both videos are about the spoken question. The written box on a form is narrower. On the forms we read, it came with the posted pay printed on the same page.
Short answers about the desired-salary box, from the 754 forms
What should I put for desired salary on a job application?
Start with the pay printed on the posting. On October 4, 2026, all 45 of the 754 AI job forms we opened that asked for a desired salary sat on a posting that already showed the pay. A range that overlaps it is our suggestion, not an employer rule.
Do most job applications ask for desired salary?
Not at the AI employers we read. 45 of 754 forms (6.0%) asked on October 4, 2026, all at Replit, Nuro and 1X. The other 16 boards asked nothing.
Can I leave desired salary blank on an application?
Not on the forms we read. All 45 pay questions were required. 41 were free-text boxes that accept a range or a word, and 4 were Yes/No.
Should I put my current salary on an application?
None of the 754 forms asked for it. California’s Labor Commissioner says employers there generally cannot ask for salary history, but may ask about salary expectations.
What to put for expected salary if the job pays hourly?
Use the hourly unit the posting uses. Both 1X forms that asked were hourly jobs ($30 to $39 and $30 to $40 per hour), and Nuro states its $26 and $27.25 hourly rates inside the question.
What does OTE mean on a job application?
On-target earnings, usually base pay plus expected commission. Replit asks for “desired OTE” on 4 of its 39 forms with a pay question, all sales roles.
Still deciding where to apply? Read do I need a cover letter, counted from real forms, and can you apply to multiple jobs at the same company. Before you send an application, see whether you can opt out of AI resume screening and what hybrid means in a job posting.
Just starting out? Begin with entry-level AI jobs with no experience and job alerts for specific companies. Want us to read a posting for you? Ask the desk, or visit the Jobs Desk.
We will rerun the form count on the first Sunday of November, November 1, 2026, to see whether more employers add the box.
Cite this
On October 4, 2026, 45 of 754 US application forms at 19 AI employers (6.0%) asked about desired pay, all at Replit, Nuro and 1X; all 45 postings already printed the pay, and none of the 754 forms asked for salary history. Source: profhlab.com AI Jobs Desk, What to Put for Desired Salary on a Job Application.
How we counted: on October 4, 2026 we took 40 random US postings per board from that day’s scan (all 34 at Physical Intelligence) and loaded each application form through the board’s public Greenhouse job API or Ashby job page data. We flagged every question whose label mentions salary, pay, compensation, wage, OTE or hourly rate, and read each one by eye.
Four Apptronik questions that ask about compensation-analyst experience were not pay questions and were dropped. Our automatic pay reader missed the hourly and in-text ranges at 1X and Nuro, so we read those six postings by hand. Forms change, and a question worded without any of those terms could exist.
Sources read on October 4, 2026: application forms on the job boards of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Scale AI, Mercor, Perplexity, Cohere, Sierra, ElevenLabs, Cursor, Cognition, Replit, Figure AI, Apptronik, Agility Robotics, 1X, Physical Intelligence, Waymo and Nuro; Replit, Brand Designer; 1X, Assembly Technician – Robot Body; Nuro, Autonomous Vehicle Operator, Los Angeles (PM Shift); Nuro, Mission Operations Coordinator, Houston; California Labor Commissioner, Equal Pay Act and pay transparency FAQ. Photos via Wikimedia Commons under the licenses shown.
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