In my experience it's very unlikely you'll lose the offer for negotiating a higher salary, although to be clear I'm basing this on my experience with applying f

In my experience it's very unlikely you'll lose the offer for negotiating a higher salary, although to be clear I'm basing this on my experience with applying for positions here in the UK. In the past I've just been very clear about what I'm looking for because the reality is if you don't get what you're looking for you're likely to look elsewhere eventually and if they like you enough to want to bring you onboard presumably they don't want you to leave in 12 months because you can get slightly extra pay elsewhere. Recruiting is expensive for companies. If they're sensible they won't mind paying slightly more to ensure you're fully commited. If you applied through a recruitor they are normally willing to help you negociate the best salary, but I'd advice against doing this where you can. In my experience recruitors are quite good at negociating salary, but I prefer doing it myself to avoid miscommunication. Personally I would just tell them that you feel $30/hour is a fair wage and that this is what you be able to get elsewhere. In the past I've framed it like this: "I really want to work for this company, but from experience I know without a competetive salary I'm more likely to move on if something else comes along. If you can go to $30/hour, or at least agree to a pay review in [X] months I feel I would be fully committed to this role." They won't always agree to what you're asking, but in my experience they will always at least counter offer. Sometimes larger companies simply don't have authority to go as high you would like because of pay brackets and in these cases they may try to offer other incentives like a work laptop, remote working, etc. If they're unwilling to negociate or reassure you that they will continue to reassess your pay I'd consider this a red flag.