Data Annotation Pricing Models
Annotation costs depend on the pricing model: per-task, per-hour, or full-time specialist. Simple image labeling runs $0.02-$0.10 per annotation in the US. Complex tasks like medical image segmentation or multi-turn dialogue annotation can cost $1-$5+ per item. Full-time US annotation specialists earn $55K-$80K annually.
Latin America Annotation Costs
LatAm annotation specialists earn $1,800-$3,500/month ($22K-$42K annually). Per-task rates are typically 50-65% lower than US equivalents. The key advantage isn't just cost — it's the combination of lower cost with higher education levels than typical offshore annotation markets.
Quality Advantage
Latin American annotators often hold university degrees in relevant fields (computer science, linguistics, biology for medical annotation). This educational background translates to better judgment calls on ambiguous labels and higher inter-annotator agreement scores compared to lower-cost markets.
Task Complexity and Cost Scaling
Simple bounding boxes and classification tasks show the largest cost savings when moved to LatAm — often 60%+ reduction. Complex annotation tasks like semantic segmentation, entity relationship mapping, and RLHF preference labeling show smaller but still significant savings of 40-50%, primarily because these tasks require more specialized training regardless of location.
Building a Dedicated Annotation Team
For companies with ongoing annotation needs, dedicated LatAm teams offer the best value. A five-person annotation team with one lead costs approximately $12K-$18K/month through South, versus $30K-$40K/month for an equivalent US team. Dedicated teams also deliver better consistency than crowdsourced alternatives.
Getting Started with South
South recruits data annotation specialists with domain expertise matching your use case. Whether you need medical image annotators, NLP linguists, or general-purpose labeling specialists, we match you with pre-vetted candidates who can start within two weeks.
