How much do AI training jobs pay?
Pay breakdown · 1 week ago
The typical AI training listing on this site advertises about $70 an hour, but the range runs from $6 to $400. From 699 listings as of 29 September 2026: how hourly rates spread, what each field and level pays, and how per-task and salaried roles compare.
The short answer
Across the 699 listings on this site as of 29 September 2026, the typical AI training job advertises about $70 an hour. That is the median of each listing's midpoint (a $50–90 listing counts as $70). Half of all hourly listings sit between $42.50 and $100. One in ten is below $20 and one in ten is above $150. The lowest advertised rate is $6 an hour; the highest top of a range is $400.
The listings come from four platforms: micro1 (366), Mercor (302), Invisible Technologies (28) and Alignerr (3). Every figure is the platform's own published rate, in US dollars.
Keep one caveat in mind for every number below: this is a distribution of listings, not of people. A $15 video-recording listing may take on hundreds of contributors while a $270 dermatologist listing takes a handful, so the typical worker almost certainly earns less than the typical listing.
How hourly rates spread
Of the 664 listings that quote an hourly rate:
| Midpoint | Listings |
|---|---|
| Under $15 | 20 |
| $15–25 | 67 |
| $25–40 | 61 |
| $40–60 | 107 |
| $60–100 | 236 |
| $100–150 | 97 |
| $150 and up | 76 |
The $60–100 band is the largest single block, and it is mostly professional work: finance, law, engineering and software review.
By field
Median midpoint by the site's field groups (a listing can sit in more than one):
| Field | Listings | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health & Medicine | 63 | $140 | $65–150 |
| Law, Policy & Security | 70 | $101 | $67.50–125 |
| Data, AI & ML | 30 | $97.50 | $60–139.50 |
| Science & Math | 56 | $80 | $69–95 |
| Business & Finance | 109 | $80 | $60–120 |
| Software & IT | 89 | $75 | $60–100 |
| Engineering | 85 | $75 | $52.50–90 |
| General & Data Collection | 67 | $50 | $35–60 |
| AI Safety & Evaluation | 44 | $50 | $21–55 |
| Audio & Voice | 104 | $28 | $17.50–47.50 |
| Languages & Linguistics | 113 | $27.50 | $19–47.50 |
Language and audio work is the most plentiful and the lowest paid. The reasons, and the exceptions, are in our guide to bilingual AI training jobs.
By level
Senior listings have a median of $95 and mid-level listings $63. The two lower tiers run the wrong way round: entry-level listings have a median of $47.50 and junior listings $28. That is a quirk of what sits in each tier rather than a reward for having less experience. Mercor's $50 an hour ChatGPT-user and generalist roles are tagged entry, while most of the $17–25 language and audio roles are tagged junior.
Hourly, per task, or salaried
Hourly is the headline format: 664 of the 699 listings. Thirty pay per task instead. Twenty-four of those are Mercor's red-teaming roles for chemists, nuclear engineers and safety specialists at $65–75 per task; the rest range from Invisible's $1.30 per unit for Danish and Dutch speakers to Mercor's agent engineer at $100–500 per task. Five micro1 research roles are salaried, at $200,000–320,000 base.
The hourly label is often only a projection. 128 hourly listings (112 of them micro1's) say pay is per task or output-based, so your real rate depends on how fast you work and how much is accepted. How you actually get paid covers what that means in practice. To browse by rate, start at the highest-paying listings.
More on AI training pay
- AI training pay by country: which roles are priced by market and which pay one rate everywhere
- 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
Questions
- How much do AI training jobs pay per hour?
- Across the 699 listings on this site as of 29 September 2026, the median hourly listing advertises about $70 an hour, measured at the midpoint of each listing's range. Half of hourly listings fall between $42.50 and $100, and the full range runs from $6 to $400.
- Which AI training jobs pay the most?
- Health and medicine listings have the highest median on the site at $140 an hour, followed by law, policy and security at about $101. Language and audio listings are the lowest paid, with medians around $28.
- Are AI training jobs really paid by the hour?
- Most listings quote an hourly rate, but 128 of the 664 hourly listings on this site say pay is per task or output-based, so the hourly figure is a projection. Thirty listings pay per task outright and five are salaried.
Platforms covered here
Put this into practice
Every listing shows its pay and who it is open to.