AI training pay by country

What the listings can show

Whether AI training jobs pay differently by country is a fair question, and our data answers only part of it. Of the 699 listings on this site as of 29 September 2026, only 147 restrict who can apply by country. The other 552 set no country field at all, so for most of the board we cannot see whether a contributor in Manila is paid the same as one in Manchester. Nothing in these listings shows whether a platform adjusts a rate after hiring, either.

What the 147 restricted listings can show is how platforms price the same work when they do name a market.

Who restricts, and to where

Mercor accounts for 107 of the restricted listings and micro1 for 40. The US is named on 116 of them, the UK on 20 and Canada on 14; 125 are open to a single country. Browse them at US listings and UK listings.

Restricted listings have a higher median midpoint than open ones ($75 an hour against $65), but that is mostly a mix effect. Restricted roles lean towards finance, law, medicine and engineering, where rates are higher everywhere, not towards a US premium on identical work.

Same work, same rate

Several templates pay one rate in every market they list:

• Mercor's Generalist Expert (US/Canada) and Generalist Expert (UK/Europe) both pay $50–70.
• Its Molecular Biology Expert (US) and UK listings both pay $70–105.
• Its private equity associate roles pay $80–100 whether the listing is for the US, the UK or a group of European countries.
• Its voice-cloning sessions pay $50–100 for Northern UK, Southern US, Mexican and Latin American Spanish accents alike; only the general USA version reaches $150.

Same work, market rate

Other templates are plainly priced by country:

• Mercor's Software Engineer, Full Stack (India) pays $25–30 an hour. The US version, with the same three-year requirement, pays $50–65.
• micro1's At-Home Video Recorder (LATAM) pays $6 an hour; the US version pays $10–15.
• micro1's phone customer service role for Latin America pays $18–28; its US customer support assistant pays $21–45.

The pattern holds for local-market work: generic tasks recruited in lower-wage countries are priced lower. Specialist work recruited for its credential tends to travel at one rate.

Language is a better guide than passport

Language requirements tell you more than country fields. The 169 hourly listings that require a language other than English have a median of $30; the 495 English-only ones, $77.50. Much of that gap is job type (most non-English listings are audio, transcription and language evaluation), and Mercor prices some bilingual templates by language market. The detail is in our guide to bilingual AI training jobs and the language filters.

What the data cannot tell you

It cannot tell you whether an open listing will accept you in practice, whether the payment rail reaches your country, or what a rate buys where you live. For eligibility and payment rails, see who can actually do this work and how you actually get paid.

More on AI training pay

• How much do AI training jobs pay?: the full distribution by field, level and pay model
• Can AI training work replace a full-time salary?: weekly hours, contracts and benefits
• What moves you up the AI training pay ladder: which credentials carry which bands
• Specialist vs generalist AI training jobs: the general field against every specialism