Report
AI evaluator work: pay & coverage report
Summary
Specialist AI Work currently tracks 965 reviewed AI evaluation roles. 565 of 965 (59%) state an hourly pay amount that can be compared. The figures below cover only those tracked roles and are not a market-wide wage survey.
- Current reviewed roles
- 965
- Roles with comparable hourly pay
- 565 of 965
- Pay visibility
- 59%
- Reporting date
- September 28, 2026
In this report
Key findings
Findings calculated from the current reviewed roles. Each item shows its reporting date and sample size.
Current reviewed opportunities
965 opportunities were listed after their role details, pay context, and application links were reviewed.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Opportunity pages available in search
490 reviewed opportunity pages were eligible to appear in search results.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Platform coverage
6 supported platforms had at least one current reviewed opportunity.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Profession coverage
11 tracked profession categories had at least one current reviewed opportunity.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Hourly pay shown in listings
565 of 965 current reviewed opportunities (59%) stated a numeric hourly pay amount.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Applicant location details
965 of 965 current reviewed opportunities included applicant location details.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Language-role coverage
75 language-guide matches were present across 7 tracked languages.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=965. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Median firm hourly pay
Among 565 qualifying roles with firm hourly pay, the median was $70/hour and the interquartile range was $47.5-$100/hour.
As of September 28, 2026; sample n=565. Methodology · JSON · CSV
Coverage
Coverage by platform
Coverage by profession
Pay
Pay by profession
| Profession | Hourly pay (qualifying roles) |
|---|---|
| Software engineering | $27.5-262.5/hr (typical $66.9-101.3, median $80, n=60) |
| Legal | $45.5-270/hr (typical $95-135, median $110, n=48) |
| Medical | $32.5-260/hr (typical $63.8-117.4, median $70, n=28) |
| Finance | $18-262.5/hr (typical $46.6-105, median $78.8, n=46) |
| Writing and editing | $9-250/hr (typical $45-90, median $51.3, n=18) |
| Language and bilingual | $12.5-100/hr (typical $25-50, median $45, n=65) |
| Research and academia | $26-262.5/hr (typical $66.3-120, median $95, n=51) |
| Engineering | $40-132.5/hr (typical $56.3-88.8, median $75, n=39) |
| Design & creative | $15-250/hr (typical $35-67.5, median $47.5, n=24) |
| Business & operations | $36-262.5/hr (typical $62.5-90, median $75, n=35) |
| General professional | $5-270/hr (typical $27.3-87.5, median $55, n=151) |
Pay by platform
| Platform | Firm hourly pay |
|---|---|
| Mercor | $12.7-200/hr (typical $50-90, median $70, n=279) |
| Handshake | Not enough roles with clear hourly pay (n=0) |
| Micro1 | $6-270/hr (typical $47.5-113.8, median $70, n=262) |
| Alignerr | Not enough roles with clear hourly pay (n=0) |
| SME Careers | Not enough roles with clear hourly pay (n=3) |
| Terac | $5-260/hr (typical $22.5-97.5, median $67.5, n=14) |
| Babel Audio | Not enough roles with clear hourly pay (n=0) |
| REX / RemoExperts | Not enough roles with clear hourly pay (n=7) |
Pay classification coverage
| Classification | Roles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Firm hourly pay | 565 | 59% |
| Variable/qualified pay | 8 | 1% |
| Advertised ceiling | 273 | 28% |
| Salary/full-time style pay | 3 | 0% |
| Fixed/project pay | 66 | 7% |
| Pay not shown | 0 | 0% |
| Referral reward only | 0 | 0% |
| Needs pay review | 1 | 0% |
| Needs pay review | 49 | 5% |
Only firm hourly pay is used in the median and interquartile calculations. Variable rates, advertised maxima, salaries, rewards, and unknown pay remain separate.
Typical range is the middle 50% of qualifying roles (p25-p75); the full min-max retains genuine outliers.
Advertised pay ceilings
253 roles advertise pay as a ceiling ("up to $X/hour"). Advertised ceilings range $2.5-150/hr (median $45). A ceiling is the maximum advertised rate, not a typical or guaranteed rate, so it is reported separately from firm hourly pay.
Transparency, freshness, and real changes
Platform/profession pay-transparency rates are published only for groups with at least 10 current roles; smaller groups are labelled insufficient in the dataset. Latest checks: recently checked: 684, may be outdated: 112, needs another check: 169.
Last 30 days from recorded history: 0 new, 0 changed, 0 removed.
Compared with the derived prior 30-day boundary: 965 roles previously, a net change of 0. Listing age median: 15 days. Opportunity lifespan is withheld because only 0 complete first-seen-to-removed samples exist.
Applicant requirements
964 of 965 tracked roles are remote. 138 mention U.S. location or work-authorization cautions. 965 show location details and 965 describe applicant requirements in a consistent format.
Methodology & limitations
- - Source is a single independent tracker (Specialist AI Work), not a market-wide wage survey.
- - Pay wording comes from provider pages and is interpreted conservatively; vague, non-hourly, referral-reward, and suspicious amounts do not count as firm hourly pay.
- - Firm hourly rates, variable or qualified pay, advertised ceilings, salary/full-time pay, and unknown pay are classified separately.
- - Some platforms advertise pay as a ceiling ("up to $X/hour"); these are reported separately as advertised ceilings, not mixed into firm hourly rates.
- - Statistics include only reviewed listings that are currently published.
- - Pay results based on fewer than 10 qualifying roles are shown as insufficient rather than a number.
- - Listings can change after they were last checked.
Data and citation
- Reporting date
- September 28, 2026
- Dataset revision
- 20260831020000_add_acquisition_landing_path
- Names the data format used to calculate this report.
- Dataset identifier
- 54c1a916713bcf1190b8a05a3a5f81b2f5bf3eca1bd6304f6f6606a349b32c24
- Identifies the exact set of roles used for this report.
- Integrity checksum
- b06ac5bdbc8278aefe87e5e71ac84499c75f56a0c8a761f07d456310e6fb39e9
- Lets data users confirm that the report statistics have not changed.
Downloads
/api/ai-evaluator-stats.json · CSV · public opportunity CSV · methodology
Prior archived snapshot (August 22, 2026): DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22064474 · Hugging Face dataset. The live report above has continued to update; the version DOI remains the canonical citation for the preserved August 22 dataset snapshot.
Suggested citation
Specialist AI Work. “AI evaluator work: pay & coverage report.” Updated September 28, 2026. https://specialistaiwork.com/ai-evaluator-work-report.
Copy other citation formatsNext steps
Explore the data or broaden your search
Use the remote online work guides when a broad no-phone, paid AI feedback, search rater, language, or safety query overlaps with AI evaluation and expert review.