Salary expectations: how do you answer? (Buffalo)

A recruiter asked for my salary expectations on a first call as I look for work as a payroll clerk. I would rather hear the honest version than the polite one. I looked up ranges in Buffalo and they vary a lot. What did you say?

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.