AI training pay trends
From October 19, 2026 to October 29, 2026, open roles on Alignerr, Handshake AI, Mercor and micro1 went from 1,094 to 1,113, and the median of listed pay ranges (“up to” ceilings excluded) held at $65/hr. Among fields with 10+ paid roles, the biggest move was languages & translation, from $80 to $50/hr.
Early data. We started recording daily on October 19, 2026 (10 days so far). Short windows mostly show roles opening and closing; read pay moves under 5% as flat. This page grows every day.
By platform
Each platform compared only with itself, from the first day we tracked it.
| Platform | Open roles | Median hourly | Roles by day |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenTrain AIsince Oct 25 | 628 → 672 +7% | $58 → $55 -5% | |
| Alignerrsince Oct 19 | 528 → 516 -2% | $60 → $60 flat | |
| Mercorsince Oct 19 | 300 → 310 +3% | $80 → $80 flat | |
| Handshake AIsince Oct 19 · “up to” rates | 242 → 263 +9% | $80 → $80 flat | |
| micro1since Oct 19 | 24 → 24 no change | $90 → $90 flat |
By field
Same platforms at both ends (Alignerr, Handshake AI, Mercor and micro1), so a platform joining never reads as a change. OpenTrain AI joins these figures once we have tracked it for the whole window. Fields are assigned by today's rules on every day, so a rule fix never shows up as a trend.
| Field | Open roles | Median hourly | Roles by day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice & audio | 174 → 167 -4% | $26 → $26 flat | |
| Software & coding | 109 → 111 +2% | $65 → $70 +8% | |
| Engineering | 99 → 96 -3% | $75 → $63 -16% | |
| Medicine & health | 78 → 93 +19% | $60 → $69 +15% | |
| Business & operations | 84 → 89 +6% | $60 → $60 flat | |
| Finance & accounting | 103 → 87 -16% | $80 → $80 flat | |
| Generalist | 53 → 63 +19% | $65 → $65 flat | |
| Languages & translation | 56 → 61 +9% | $80 → $50 -37% | |
| Cybersecurity | 46 → 46 no change | $53 → $53 flat | |
| Chemistry | 39 → 39 no change | $83 → $83 flat | |
| Energy & earth sciences | 33 → 33 no change | $45 → $45 flat | |
| Math & statistics | 32 → 32 no change | $185 → $185 flat | |
| Physics | 31 → 31 no change | $78 → $70 -10% | |
| Machine learning | 26 → 28 +8% | $80 → $80 flat | |
| Design & media | 25 → 26 +4% | $55 → $70 +27% | |
| Law | 21 → 26 +24% | $85 → $95 +12% | |
| Biology & life sciences | 20 → 21 +5% | $70 → $70 flat | |
| Data & analytics | 18 → 18 no change | $80 → $80 flat | |
| General STEM | 15 → 14 -7% | $50 → $50 flat | |
| Writing & editing | 9 → 11 +22% | $80 → $80 flat | |
| Mental healthsmall sample | 7 → 8 +14% | $100 → $125 +25% | |
| Humanities & policysmall sample | 10 → 7 -30% | $150 → $53 -65% | |
| Teachingsmall sample | 6 → 6 no change | $60 → $60 flat |
Use this data
Download the daily figures as CSV. Free to cite with a link to this page. For frozen monthly figures, see the monthly report; for today's numbers, the Pay Index. How pay is normalized: methodology.