Data Annotator salary
What a data annotator actually earns, from 103 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-07-23.
What the number means
A data annotator earns a blended US median near 47,961 dollars, with the typical middle running from 37,269 dollars to 95,588 dollars. The official OEWS median is higher, 108,970 dollars, because job ads skew toward the roles that pay below the occupation-wide average. The official trend has moved up about 23 percent since 2019. Demand is rated moderate, and 4% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is prompt engineer, at 40 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- Virginiamedian $132,810
- Washingtonmedian $131,800
- Californiamedian $128,750
- Coloradomedian $119,560
- Hawaiimedian $112,050
- Texasmedian $108,170
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Prompt Engineer salary$112,500 median
- Statistician salary$110,821 median
- Medical Writer salary$111,896 median
Quick answers
How much does a data annotator make?
The blended US median is about 47,961 dollars, with a typical range from 37,269 dollars to 95,588 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 108,970 dollars.
Is data annotator a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated moderate in our July 2026 corpus, with 4% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a data annotator move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is prompt engineer, at 40 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 15-1299. Live corpus 103 observations, 2026-07-23. Definitions in the glossary.