How much do AI training jobs pay?
Computed from 6470 live listings across 34 AI-training networks — not surveys, not anecdotes. Updated daily; last build 2026-07-30.
Pay by platform
Platforms with at least 5 rate-disclosed current listings, ranked by median.
| Platform | Median rate | Middle half | Rate-disclosed roles | Open roles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfterQuery Experts | $100/hr | $80–$150/hr | 108 | 113 |
| Mercor Experts | $85/hr | $51–$120/hr | 226 | 230 |
| Handshake AI | $80/hr | $75–$100/hr | 173 | 173 |
| Sepal Expert Hub | $75/hr | $60–$90/hr | 83 | 88 |
| micro1 Experts Opportunities | $70/hr | $46–$95/hr | 250 | 267 |
| Alignerr | $50/hr | $50–$113/hr | 60 | 60 |
| Mindrift | $50/hr | $37–$60/hr | 293 | 293 |
| SME Careers | $45/hr | $30–$70/hr | 208 | 208 |
| Rise Data Labs | $45/hr | $45–$45/hr | 83 | 108 |
| Prolific Participants | $40/hr | $30–$80/hr | 2563 | 2742 |
| DataForce jobs | $30/hr | $30–$58/hr | 13 | 127 |
| LXT AI | $27/hr | $24–$28/hr | 15 | 42 |
| Welo Data | $22/hr | $10–$32/hr | 210 | 483 |
| Human Expert Network | $21/hr | $20–$27/hr | 8 | 8 |
| Outlier | $20/hr | $8–$30/hr | 59 | 59 |
| Data Annotation Contributor community | $11/hr | $8–$14/hr | 30 | 34 |
| TELUS International AI Community portal | $10/hr | $10–$18/hr | 100 | 112 |
| Meridial | $8/hr | $6–$65/hr | 811 | 821 |
Pay by domain
Median disclosed rate; domains with 10+ rate-disclosed roles.
- Writing / Creative$70/hr(477 roles)
- Generalist$50/hr(3069 roles)
- Healthcare$50/hr(2796 roles)
- Consulting / Ops$50/hr(2792 roles)
- Reasoning / Agents$50/hr(546 roles)
- Coding$40/hr(4014 roles)
- Multimodal$40/hr(2647 roles)
- Finance$36/hr(3607 roles)
- Linguistics$30/hr(3917 roles)
- Voice / Speech$27/hr(19 roles)
- Law$10/hr(1041 roles)
- Safety$10/hr(1213 roles)
- Science / STEM$8/hr(874 roles)
Pay by task type
Median disclosed rate; task types with 10+ rate-disclosed roles.
- Research / analysis$90/hr(348 roles)
- Uncategorized$70/hr(147 roles)
- Coding / software engineering$50/hr(475 roles)
- Customer support / ops$50/hr(269 roles)
- Writing / editing$50/hr(260 roles)
- Data annotation / labeling$45/hr(357 roles)
- Voice / audio$31/hr(226 roles)
- AI model evaluation$30/hr(2655 roles)
- Translation / linguistics$30/hr(574 roles)
How often is pay disclosed at all?
5389 of 6470 current listings disclose some pay signal.
- Under $20/hr868 (13%)
- $20–40/hr1810 (28%)
- $40+/hr2633 (41%)
- Per-task / project60 (1%)
- Unspecified1081 (17%)
Methodology
HumanSourcer collects publicly available job listings from 34 AI-training networks daily. Where a listing discloses pay — as structured fields or in the listing text — it's parsed; explicit hourly figures (preferring the top of a stated range) feed the rate statistics above, project/deliverable pay is counted separately, and undisclosed pay is never estimated. Medians are used throughout because disclosed rates have a long right tail of specialist roles. Explore the same dataset interactively on themarket-data dashboard, or browseall open roles.
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Frequently asked questions
How much do AI training jobs pay?
Across 5311 currently listed AI-training roles that disclose an hourly rate, the median is $40/hr, with the middle half of rates between $25–$75/hr. Rates run from $1 to $380/hr depending on domain and expertise. Updated daily from 6470 live listings.
Which AI training platforms pay the most?
By median disclosed hourly rate across current listings: AfterQuery Experts ($100/hr), Mercor Experts ($85/hr), Handshake AI ($80/hr), Sepal Expert Hub ($75/hr), micro1 Experts Opportunities ($70/hr). Only platforms with at least 5 rate-disclosed listings are ranked.
Which domains pay the most for AI training work?
By median disclosed rate: Writing / Creative ($70/hr), Generalist ($50/hr), Healthcare ($50/hr). Specialist domains consistently price above generalist annotation work.
Do AI training jobs pay hourly or per project?
Of 6470 current listings, 60 advertise project- or deliverable-based pay and 5311 disclose an hourly rate; the rest don't state pay upfront. Hourly is the dominant disclosed model.
How is this pay data collected?
HumanSourcer collects data from 34 AI-training networks daily and parses pay wherever a listing discloses it (structured fields or listing text). Nothing is estimated: 5389 of 6470 current roles disclose some pay signal, and only explicit hourly figures enter the rate statistics.