Salary expectations: how do you answer? - 8 months and counting

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a call-centre agent. Any experience at all would help. I do not want to price myself out. How do you research fairly?

Check several sources for pay in Portland, then pick a range where the low end is one you can live with.

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