Salary expectations: how do you answer? - what worked for you?

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

Check several sources for pay in Fresno, 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.