Side-by-side distribution
AI Trainer
$16,640
median · per year, annualized USD
Trend builds as new salary snapshots accrue — check back soon.
- Disclosing
- 94.5%
- Live roles
- 908
Data Annotator
$41,600
median · per year, annualized USD
Trend builds as new salary snapshots accrue — check back soon.
- Disclosing
- 55.2%
- Live roles
- 87
Highest-paying jobs
Staff / Principal Rust Engineer, AI Coding Agent Evaluator
AI Interaction Evaluator (Codex / Claude Code)
Senior Engineer - AI Interaction Evaluator
Senior Software Engineer - AI Interaction Evaluator (Codex / Claude Code)
Technical Product Manager - Data Annotation & Labelling
Technical Trainer - AI Infrastructure Products (Part-time)
Mathematics PhD AI Trainer
Maths (Masters or PhD) AI trainer
Medical Doctor (UK) - Freelance AI Trainer Project
Medical Doctor (US) - Freelance AI Trainer Project
Highest-paying jobs
Technical Product Manager - Data Annotation & Labelling
Network Engineer - Data for Autonomous Systems annotation
Data Labeling Operations Manager
Data Annotator / Geospatial Annotation Specialist
Jr. AI Engineer - Data Annotation
Quality Specialist - Data Annotation
Data Annotation Specialist, Generalist
Data Annotator (AI Training)
AI Trainer - Freelance Data Annotator
AI Trainer - Freelance Data Annotator
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Invisible Agency
|
$16,640 | 748 |
Mindrift
|
$104,000 | 326 |
|
Toloka Annotators
|
$12,480 | 120 |
xAI
|
$72,800 | 38 |
Getwingapp
|
$24,960 | 33 |
HumanSignal
|
$20,592 | 21 |
|
Weekday AI
|
$158,600 | 12 |
LILT (Production)
|
$52,000 | 10 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Toloka Annotators
|
$39,520 | 23 |
|
NoGigiddy
|
$36,400 | 9 |
|
Invisible Agency
|
$27,040 | 8 |
| SA Skild AI | $200,000 | 1 |
|
Weekday AI
|
$124,800 | 1 |
|
Bobyard
|
$107,500 | 1 |
|
Aechelon Technology
|
$87,000 | 1 |
|
Teleskope
|
$82,500 | 1 |
Data Annotator salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $87,000 | 3 |
| New York | $41,600 | 3 |
AI Trainer vs Data Annotator: which pays more?
The median for AI Trainer is $16,640 per year (typically $12,480–$73,840), versus $41,600 for Data Annotator ($31,200–$82,500). That puts Data Annotator about 150% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Trainer and Data Annotator are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.