Data report · updated 5 Nov 2026
The State of AI Training Pay, 2026
AI training work pays a typical $30–$125/hr (median $40/hr), measured from 2,897 distinct advertised rates across 51 platforms and the 4,398 roles open right now. Advertised rates run from $1/hr for microtasks to $450/hr for credentialed expert work.
Watch: What AI Training Jobs Actually Pay: 4,374 Roles Compared (Nov 2026)
1:24 · figures as of 2 Nov 2026What 4,374 open AI training roles on 86 platforms paid on 2 Nov 2026: the typical rate, the median by field, what is open without experience, the highest-paying platforms, and what each rate is paid for.
What AI Training Jobs Actually Pay: 4,374 Roles Compared (Nov 2026)
Key findings
What the data says right now
By kind of work
Median hourly pay, highest first
Only kinds of work with a live rate across at least three platforms are shown, so each figure is a market rate, not one vendor's card. The bar is the median; the range is typical pay, measured the same way as every band on the site.
Want the interactive version, with an earnings estimator and every platform's band? Open the pay explorer.
By platform
Highest-paying platforms right now
The 25 platforms whose expected pay is above the middle ranked platform's, ranked by it: the median of the hourly rates their own open roles advertise, leaning on the average platform in proportion to how few rates they state, with roles that state no rate at the average. Beside it, each one's typical pay: the band its roles advertise. Each links to its full review.
| Platform | Expected pay | Typical pay |
|---|---|---|
| Surge AI | $229/hrIts 12 rates have a median of $300, counted 89% against the average platform's $46: $244. 92% of its 13 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 92% x $244 + 7.7% x $46 = $229 an hour. | $60–$400/hr |
| Weekday | $98/hrIts 89 rates have a median of $110, counted 98% against the average platform's $46: $108. 82% of its 108 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 82% x $108 + 18% x $46 = $98 an hour. | $70–$225/hr |
| Handshake AI | $96/hrIts 7 rates have a median of $112, counted 83% against the average platform's $46: $96. Every one of its roles states a rate: $96 an hour. | $80–$215/hr |
| RemoExperts | $83/hrIts 32 rates have a median of $86, counted 96% against the average platform's $46: $84. 97% of its 34 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 97% x $84 + 2.9% x $46 = $83 an hour. | $60–$150/hr |
| DataAnnotation | $81/hrIts 112 rates have a median of $82, counted 99% against the average platform's $46: $81. Every one of its roles states a rate: $81 an hour. | $30–$125/hr |
| Scale AI Human Frontier Collective | $81/hrIts 3 rates have a median of $300, counted 67% against the average platform's $46: $162. 30% of its 10 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 30% x $162 + 70% x $46 = $81 an hour. | Too few rates |
| Fleet AI | $79/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $175, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $79. Every one of its roles states a rate: $79 an hour. | Too few rates |
| Mindrift | $78/hrIts 19 rates have a median of $100, counted 93% against the average platform's $46: $95. 65% of its 92 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 65% x $95 + 35% x $46 = $78 an hour. | $60–$100/hr |
| Babel Audio | $76/hrIts 26 rates have a median of $105, counted 95% against the average platform's $46: $100. 55% of its 47 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 55% x $100 + 45% x $46 = $76 an hour. | $105–$150/hr |
| Aligned Labs | $76/hrIts 15 rates have a median of $80, counted 91% against the average platform's $46: $76. Every one of its roles states a rate: $76 an hour. | $55–$125/hr |
| AfterQuery | $75/hrIts 235 rates have a median of $75, counted 99% against the average platform's $46: $75. Every one of its roles states a rate: $75 an hour. | $50–$125/hr |
| Terac | $71/hrIts 20 rates have a median of $90, counted 93% against the average platform's $46: $86. 63% of its 32 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 63% x $86 + 38% x $46 = $71 an hour. | $65–$160/hr |
| Mercor | $70/hrIts 219 rates have a median of $75, counted 99% against the average platform's $46: $75. 83% of its 263 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 83% x $75 + 17% x $46 = $70 an hour. | $50–$190/hr |
| Headway | $69/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $125, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $69. Every one of its roles states a rate: $69 an hour. | Too few rates |
| Snorkel AI Expert Community | $69/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $125, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $69. Every one of its roles states a rate: $69 an hour. | Too few rates |
| Vals AI | $69/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $125, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $69. Every one of its roles states a rate: $69 an hour. | Too few rates |
| micro1 | $67/hrIts 350 rates have a median of $68, counted 100% against the average platform's $46: $68. 97% of its 361 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 97% x $68 + 2.8% x $46 = $67 an hour. | $50–$185/hr |
| Sovrano AI | $67/hrIts 24 rates have a median of $82, counted 94% against the average platform's $46: $79. 62% of its 39 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 62% x $79 + 38% x $46 = $67 an hour. | $80–$125/hr |
| Edison Scientific | $63/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $100, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $63. Every one of its roles states a rate: $63 an hour. | Too few rates |
| Alignerr | $60/hrIts 359 rates have a median of $60, counted 100% against the average platform's $46: $60. Every one of its roles states a rate: $60 an hour. | $30–$130/hr |
| xAI (SpaceXAI) | $57/hrIts 5 rates have a median of $60, counted 77% against the average platform's $46: $57. Every one of its roles states a rate: $57 an hour. | $60–$90/hr |
| Elsevier Health | $53/hrIts 6 rates have a median of $55, counted 80% against the average platform's $46: $53. Every one of its roles states a rate: $53 an hour. | $55–$70/hr |
| Vetto | $51/hrIts 3 rates have a median of $100, counted 67% against the average platform's $46: $78. 15% of its 20 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 15% x $78 + 85% x $46 = $51 an hour. | Too few rates |
| OneForma | $48/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $140, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $72. 5.9% of its 17 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 5.9% x $72 + 94% x $46 = $48 an hour. | Too few rates |
| TransPerfect DataForce | $46/hrIts 1 rate have a median of $50, counted 40% against the average platform's $46: $48. 2.6% of its 38 roles state a rate and the rest count at the average: 2.6% x $48 + 97% x $46 = $46 an hour. | Too few rates |
Where the work is
Open roles by kind of work
Pay is only half the picture. This is where the hiring actually is right now, by live open-role count, and how fast new roles are appearing.
- Week of 5 Oct 2026218
- Week of 12 Oct 2026431
- Week of 19 Oct 2026338
- Week of 26 Oct 2026495
(218 + 431 + 338 + 495) ÷ 4 = 370.5, about 371 a week.
New roles posted per week
Averaged over the last 4 complete weeks across the platforms we track. Each platform’s one-time onboarding backlog is excluded, so this counts genuine new hiring, not the first import of existing listings.
How we measured this
Methodology
Every figure in this report is measured from the live job feeds of the 62 platforms hiring now (of the 86 platforms AITraining.jobs tracks in total), refreshed every hour. We read the hourly rate a role actually advertises, dedupe repeated listings of the same role at the same rate on the same platform, and exclude advertised maximums (“up to $X/hr”) because a ceiling is not an observed wage.
“Typical” pay runs from the 25th percentile of what roles pay (the middle of each advertised range) to the 90th-percentile advertised ceiling, so it includes the well-paid expert tier, and every band in this report (the market’s, each kind of work’s, each platform’s) is measured that same way from its own open roles, the figure its list on the job board states. A kind of work is reported as a market rate only when its rate spans at least three platforms, so no single vendor’s rate card is presented as the going rate. Figures last refreshed 5 Nov 2026. Read the full methodology.
Use this data
Cite or reuse these figures
Free to quote and reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit AITraining.jobs and link to this report. The figures are re-measured every hour, so cite the date.
AITraining.jobs. The State of AI Training Pay, 2026. Data as of 2026-11-05. https://aitraining.jobs/ai-training-pay-report
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AI training pay: common questions
How much does AI training work pay?
Typical AI-training work pays $30–$125/hr, a live median of $40/hr measured from 2,897 distinct advertised rates across 51 platforms. Simple data-labeling and survey work sits at the bottom (priced by geography, as low as $1/hr); credentialed expert, coding, and RL-environment work reaches $450/hr.
What is the highest-paying kind of AI training work?
Of the kinds of work with a live market rate right now, Law, Medicine & Finance pays the most: a median of $75/hr (typical $40–$150/hr), measured across 40 platforms.
Do AI training platforms publish what they pay?
About 82% of the 4,398 roles open right now state an hourly rate; the remaining 793 set pay per project after you qualify. This report measures only the rates that are actually advertised, so the numbers reflect what real postings say rather than a marketing "average".
How many new AI training roles open each week?
About 371 new AI-training roles are posted per week across the platforms we track, averaged over the last 4 complete weeks. Each platform's one-time onboarding backlog is excluded, so this reflects genuine new hiring rather than the initial import of existing listings.
Is this pay data current?
Yes. Every figure is recomputed from the platforms' live job feeds, last refreshed 5 Nov 2026. Advertised maximums ("up to $X/hr") are excluded because a ceiling is not an observed rate, and repeated listings of the same role at the same rate are counted once.