Side-by-side distribution
AI Trainer
$28.00/hr
per hour · USD
- Disclosing
- 62.7%
- Live roles
- 1,964
Data Annotator
$19.93/hr
per hour · USD
- Disclosing
- 38%
- Live roles
- 79
Highest-paying jobs
Member of Technical Staff, Enterprise AI
Forward Deployed Engineer
Spanish (Spain) Professional Voice Actor
French Professional Voice Actor
Physics Expert PhD (Statistical Physics / Quantum Information / Condensed Matter)
Bilingual Vietnamese Psychiatrist
Bilingual Cantonese Psychiatrist
Bilingual Indonesian Psychologist (PhD)
Bilingual Indonesian Psychiatrist
Trauma Psychologist/Psychiatrist
Highest-paying jobs
Lead AI Automation Engineer, Data Annotation Services
Senior AI Automation Engineer, Data Annotation Services
AI Automation Engineer, Data Annotation Services
Network Engineer - Data for Autonomous Systems annotation
Data Labeling Operations Manager
Data Annotator / Geospatial Annotation Specialist
Clinical Data Entry and Labeling Associate (Part Time)
Video Data Annotator
Data Annotation Specialist, Generalist
General AI Data Annotator - Japanese (United States)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Invisible Agency
|
$16,640 | 756 |
|
micro1
|
$140,000 | 270 |
Mindrift
|
$143,520 | 91 |
xAI
|
$72,800 | 25 |
HumanSignal
|
$20,592 | 21 |
|
Weekday AI
|
$208,000 | 12 |
Appen
|
$62,400 | 9 |
NoGigiddy
|
$36,400 | 9 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
NoGigiddy
|
$36,400 | 9 |
|
Invisible Agency
|
$27,040 | 8 |
|
Rws
|
$44,720 | 4 |
|
Caterpillar
|
$147,925 | 3 |
|
micro1
|
$18,720 | 2 |
|
Weekday AI
|
$124,800 | 1 |
|
Bobyard
|
$107,500 | 1 |
|
Aechelon Technology
|
$87,000 | 1 |
Data Annotator salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $87,000 | 3 |
AI Trainer vs Data Annotator: which pays more?
The median for AI Trainer is $28.00/hr per year (typically $8.00/hr–$40.00/hr), versus $19.93/hr for Data Annotator ($12.00/hr–$21.86/hr). That puts AI Trainer about 40% 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.