How do you avoid giving an answer when people ask you about your salary?

I will just share my salary to my peers as I think it's important to know whether the salary I'm getting is reasonable according to my working experience.

If you are uncomfortable to give the exact value, you can give a range ie around $x k or mid $x k.

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More often than not those who asked are either new employees who might want to guage in xx years if they reacehd your post, rughly how much can they expect or those new hires who might want to have a rough estimate of the company pay system.

I only tell certain friends openly about my salary and this is because I trust that they have my best interest at heart and I want to be able to also make informed decisions on my value when I do need to negotiate my salary.

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With regard to avoiding the question, instead of avoiding it's just better to say "I'm not comfortable to share that." That's just setting boundaries. Or if you're feeling particularly open-minded to sharing for the right reasons, ask directly why they're asking. I sometimes mention a salary bracket without being too specific if the reason they're asking is to get a sense of whether they should be negotiating for a higher salary. I choose not to provide this information if I sense its for comparison and for ego.

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If the reason seems genuine, I'll share in broader anonymised ways roughly what I've found out about specific roles and seniorities and how much can be expected.

I wouldn’t share it with colleagues as it’s common for people in the same role and responsibilities getting different pay.. This would lead to envy or jealousy. But I would share it with friends if they asked. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your salary when someone asked, maybe u can give them a range. And if it’s close to the market rate.. just say it’s at market rate.