Pay index · updated 2026-08-23
What AI work pays — the live index
Computed from 1534 live listings carrying 274 distinct advertised rates across 4 platforms' own job feeds. A platform re-posting one pay band across 300 country variants counts once, not 300 times. “Up to” ceilings and per-task pay excluded (methodology).
- $19–$80
- typical $/hr (p25–p75)
- $37
- median $/hr
- 2,143
- live roles behind it
By field
| Field | Median | Typical (p25–p75) | Distinct rates | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | $100/hr | $83–$145 | 16 | 58 |
| Law & legal | $145/hr | $94–$155 | 10 | 37 |
| Medicine & health | $115/hr | $80–$165 | 17 | 37 |
| Science & math | $88/hr | $69–$108 | 6 | 28 |
| Software engineering | $80/hr | $45–$100 | 22 | 103 |
| Multilingual | $24/hr | $14–$35 | 120 | 691 |
| General annotation & eval | $48/hr | $16–$77 | 78 | 558 |
By platform (live feeds, ≥5 distinct rates)
| Platform | Median | Typical | Top | Distinct | Listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercor | $78/hr | $44–$110 | $250/hr | 139 | 417 |
| Meridial (Invisible) | $24/hr | $19–$45 | $115/hr | 29 | 815 |
| Welo Data (Welocalize) | $22/hr | $11–$34 | $60/hr | 89 | 235 |
| RWS TrainAI | $11/hr | $7–$17 | $20/hr | 14 | 64 |
How these numbers have moved: pay over time, by platform.
Cite this data
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link to aipaylist.com/pay. Machine-readable: /pay.json
AI-work platforms currently advertise a typical verified rate of $19–$80/hr (median $37/hr, n=274 distinct advertised rates across 4 platforms). AIPayList Pay Index, 2026-08-23, https://aipaylist.com/pay
AIPayList. (2026). AI work pay index. Retrieved 2026-08-23, from https://aipaylist.com/pay
@misc{aipaylist2026,
title = {AI Work Pay Index},
author = {{AIPayList}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://aipaylist.com/pay},
note = {Accessed 2026-08-23}
}Figures recompute as feeds refresh (several times a day). Historical rate-change tracking began 2026-08-20 — trend lines will appear as history accrues. Browse the roles behind these numbers: live feed →