This is THE worst part of an interview. Even though i do salary research, make an acceptable range and practice telling a future employer my expected pay... it sure scares me. What am I really afraid of? Probably not getting the job or worse, being laughed at my the interviewer. Of course, if I'm stating a realistic amount and either of those two responses was given, I probably don't want to be working there anyways. Here's what happened at my last job. I gave a reasonable range, of which the lowest number was also what I know I needed to make to make ends meet. The interviewers (and also principals of the small company) told me straight out that that was high. It shouldn't have been, because I had done my research. Maybe it was because they were hoping to pay less or because they were a very small company... who knows. So, they said they would get back to me. A day later they called to offer me the job, but at less than what I had asked. They also said they would consider me for a pay raise within a couple of months. Since I needed the job, I took it. To make this long story short... I got the pay raise in 3 months (a first in their company) after they said I had proved myself to be capable and worth every penny. (A nice thing to hear from an employer.) Also, I found out later, that I was one of the highest paid employees in my category.