Salary expectations: how do you answer? after 17 years as a medical assistant

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a medical assistant. It has been a long 8 weeks. I looked up ranges in Cincinnati and they vary a lot. Does giving a range hurt?

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 7 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.