Salary expectations: how do you answer? - 14 months and counting

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a school bus driver. It has been a long 6 weeks. I looked up ranges in Wichita and they vary a lot. Does giving a range hurt?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it last year, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.

Asking about the range for the role first worked for me. Some recruiters share it.