Annotation is what most people mean when they say AI jobs, and it is the worst paid work we track.
Key takeaways
- Platform reviews through 2026 report that over 70% of data annotation workers earned below the US minimum wage in effective terms, once unpaid qualification tasks and idle time between.
- 25 live listings in this category publish a rate, at a median top-of-range of $24 an hour and a ceiling of $120.
- The work is remote contract work, asynchronous, with no set hours and no guaranteed volume.
- Applications screen on a short skills assessment rather than a resume or interview.
What was reported
The finding
Platform reviews through 2026 report that over 70% of data annotation workers earned below the US minimum wage in effective terms, once unpaid qualification tasks and idle time between available work are counted. The same coverage describes annotation as useful side income with friction rather than a reliable remote job.
The reported figure is blunt: more than 70% of workers end up below minimum wage in effective terms. That is not because the advertised rate is a lie. It is because the advertised rate covers the minutes you are actively working, and not the qualification task you did for free or the hours you waited for work to appear.
What the listings pay
Our own data agrees. Across 25 live annotation listings that publish a rate, the median top-of-range is $24 an hour. On the same platforms, legal listings run to a median top of $140 and medical to $120.
| # | Role | Advertised rate | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Visual Annotation Expert | $45 to $120 an hour | Mercor |
| 2 | Chess Expert (1800+ ELO), Game Reconstruction & Transcript Correction | $90 to $90 an hour | Mercor |
| 3 | CAD Engineer, ScreenSpot Plus (Screenshot Capture & UI Annotation) | $70 to $90 an hour | Mercor |
| 4 | Video Annotation Specialist | $50 to $90 an hour | micro1 |
| 5 | Network Engineer - Data for Autonomous Systems annotation | $50 to $70 an hour | Meter |
| 6 | Music & Sound Annotation Expert | $30 to $45 an hour | micro1 |
| 7 | PDF Annotation & Transcription Experts - Japanese | $33 to $33 an hour | Mercor |
| 8 | Image Caption Review - English Generalist | $30 to $30 an hour | Mercor |
| 9 | Korean Transcription Expert | $15 to $28 an hour | micro1 |
| 10 | German Transcription Expert | $10 to $25 an hour | micro1 |
Source: 25 live listings on this board that publish a rate, read directly from each posting on 2026-09-06. Listings without a published rate are excluded rather than estimated.
How this compares across the board
A rate only means something next to the alternatives. This is every category we track with at least five listings publishing a rate, ranked by median top-of-range, so you can see where this work sits rather than taking a single number on trust.
| Category | Listings | Median low | Median top | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal | 95 | $100 | $140 | $400 |
| Medical | 68 | $77 | $120 | $400 |
| Consulting | 45 | $80 | $120 | $280 |
| Finance | 94 | $80 | $110 | $280 |
| Engineering | 114 | $70 | $100 | $300 |
| Research/PhD | 132 | $70 | $90 | $280 |
| Writing | 36 | $40 | $80 | $280 |
| Bilingual | 78 | $44 | $52 | $120 |
| Annotation | 25 | $12 | $24 | $120 |
Same source and date as above. Categories are matched on listing title, so a role can appear in more than one.
What it means for you
So the useful advice is not to avoid annotation. It is to treat it as the door rather than the room. Get accepted, complete work reliably, then apply to specialist listings matching anything you already know. Most people never take that second step, and it is where the entire difference in pay lives.
Who should apply
Two checks before you spend time on an application. Confirm the role accepts applicants from your country with the eligibility checker, since a meaningful share of listings carry location requirements. Then run the advertised rate through the take-home calculator, because this is contract work and the headline figure is before self-employment tax.
Applications complete on the hiring platform and usually take a few minutes, with a short skills assessment in place of an interview. Fill in every credential, language and professional background field on your profile. Those are what route you to the better paid listings, and most applicants leave them blank.
Frequently asked questions
Does data annotation really pay below minimum wage?
In effective terms, for most workers, reportedly yes. The advertised rate covers active task time only. Unpaid qualification tests and waiting for available work are what drag the real hourly figure down.
What does annotation pay on your board?
Across 25 live annotation listings, the median top-of-range is $24 an hour, with some specialized annotation reaching $120.
Is annotation work still worth starting?
As accessible income with no barrier to entry, yes. As a destination, no. Use it to get established on a platform, then move to specialist work.
What pays more on the same platforms?
Anything requiring a credential. Legal, medical, finance and engineering listings on the same platforms pay several times the annotation rate.
How do I avoid the unpaid time?
You cannot avoid qualification tasks, but you can avoid doing them repeatedly for low-rate projects. Qualify once, then apply upward.
Sources
See every live role
The full board updates several times a week, with the advertised rate on each listing and closed roles removed.