What a training specialist costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 458,300 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $69,280
- Hourly wage
- $33.31
- Loaded per hour
- $41.49
- Middle half earns
- $50,110 to $95,050
- Jobs in the US
- 458,300
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A training specialist in the US is paid a median $69,280 a year, $33.31 an hour, across 458,300 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $86,290. Of its 10 core tasks, 6 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 1 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for training and development specialists, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Present information with a variety of instructional techniques or formats, such as role playing, simulations, team exercises, group discussions, videos, or lectures.Claude.ai: 40% did the task, 60% helped
- 02Obtain, organize, or develop training procedure manuals, guides, or course materials, such as handouts or visual materials.Claude.ai: 51% did the task, 49% helped · API: 94% did the task
- 03Evaluate modes of training delivery, such as in-person or virtual, to optimize training effectiveness, training costs, or environmental impacts.
- 04Assess training needs through surveys, interviews with employees, focus groups, or consultation with managers, instructors, or customer representatives.
- 05Offer specific training programs to help workers maintain or improve job skills.Claude.ai: 42% did the task, 58% helped · API: 89% did the task
- 06Monitor, evaluate, or record training activities or program effectiveness.Claude.ai: 26% did the task, 74% helped · API: 95% did the task
- 07Design, plan, organize, or direct orientation and training programs for employees or customers.Claude.ai: 45% did the task, 55% helped
- 08Develop alternative training methods if expected improvements are not seen.
- 09Evaluate training materials prepared by instructors, such as outlines, text, or handouts.Claude.ai: 19% did the task, 81% helped · API: 71% did the task
- 10Monitor training costs and prepare budget reports to justify expenditures.
6 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.13% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. Delaware pays the most, $88,570; Arkansas the least, $52,290.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $64,490 | $80,320 | $47,300 to $83,600 | 3,000 |
| Alaska | $81,860 | $101,960 | $61,580 to $105,280 | 530 |
| Arizona | $67,140 | $83,620 | $51,990 to $94,450 | · |
| Arkansas | $52,290 | $65,130 | $38,320 to $70,630 | 3,880 |
| California | $75,790 | $94,400 | $51,360 to $105,440 | 46,530 |
| Colorado | $75,790 | $94,400 | $50,770 to $98,480 | 12,100 |
| Connecticut | $78,080 | $97,250 | $52,840 to $105,740 | 3,650 |
| Delaware | $88,570 | $110,310 | $64,080 to $108,850 | 1,590 |
| District of Columbia | $80,980 | $100,860 | $47,890 to $111,720 | 1,900 |
| Florida | $71,990 | $89,660 | $49,810 to $93,410 | 34,130 |
| Georgia | $67,320 | $83,850 | $50,260 to $88,100 | 16,200 |
| Hawaii | $60,960 | $75,930 | $41,600 to $93,290 | 1,200 |
| Idaho | $61,720 | $76,870 | $45,940 to $80,010 | 2,430 |
| Illinois | $67,380 | $83,920 | $48,920 to $95,120 | 15,140 |
| Indiana | $61,050 | $76,040 | $48,490 to $80,120 | 8,450 |
| Iowa | $66,110 | $82,340 | $50,240 to $84,240 | 4,670 |
| Kansas | $62,010 | $77,230 | $48,640 to $80,630 | 5,150 |
| Kentucky | $61,390 | $76,460 | $47,500 to $77,680 | 6,090 |
| Louisiana | $58,070 | $72,330 | $48,000 to $77,160 | 3,030 |
| Maine | $65,680 | $81,800 | $52,320 to $89,130 | 1,600 |
| Maryland | $76,370 | $95,120 | $46,800 to $101,800 | 9,800 |
| Massachusetts | $80,270 | $99,980 | $55,990 to $114,970 | 12,190 |
| Michigan | $64,350 | $80,150 | $49,540 to $84,750 | 10,640 |
| Minnesota | $76,710 | $95,540 | $62,160 to $99,710 | 9,650 |
| Mississippi | $53,680 | $66,860 | $45,600 to $71,980 | 2,820 |
| Missouri | $58,670 | $73,070 | $38,730 to $76,960 | · |
| Montana | $62,880 | $78,320 | $49,580 to $81,740 | 900 |
| Nebraska | $65,700 | $81,830 | $53,350 to $83,190 | 3,650 |
| Nevada | $61,350 | $76,410 | $47,760 to $80,850 | 3,440 |
| New Hampshire | $86,050 | $107,180 | $64,790 to $86,050 | · |
| New Jersey | $77,020 | $95,930 | $49,500 to $102,080 | 9,210 |
| New Mexico | $62,900 | $78,340 | $49,230 to $80,280 | 2,190 |
| New York | $76,080 | $94,760 | $56,320 to $102,640 | 27,460 |
| North Carolina | $65,250 | $81,270 | $47,470 to $90,400 | 20,220 |
| North Dakota | $63,260 | $78,790 | $52,810 to $82,890 | 670 |
| Ohio | $64,780 | $80,680 | $45,960 to $86,550 | 17,690 |
| Oklahoma | $61,040 | $76,030 | $43,950 to $83,360 | 5,440 |
| Oregon | $76,360 | $95,110 | $60,470 to $99,670 | 5,190 |
| Pennsylvania | $71,350 | $88,870 | $55,170 to $96,160 | 14,780 |
| Rhode Island | $75,910 | $94,550 | $58,110 to $108,930 | 1,130 |
| South Carolina | $63,070 | $78,550 | $47,220 to $85,710 | 6,960 |
| South Dakota | $61,570 | $76,690 | $52,350 to $77,340 | 520 |
| Tennessee | $62,280 | $77,570 | $48,550 to $84,190 | 9,370 |
| Texas | $62,860 | $78,290 | $46,610 to $85,470 | 46,630 |
| Utah | $60,900 | $75,850 | $49,170 to $83,260 | 6,140 |
| Vermont | $77,800 | $96,900 | $58,700 to $106,090 | 750 |
| Virginia | $77,690 | $96,760 | $57,530 to $101,030 | 15,570 |
| Washington | $81,860 | $101,960 | $62,400 to $108,830 | 8,130 |
| West Virginia | $64,960 | $80,910 | $50,190 to $82,060 | 1,710 |
| Wisconsin | $70,770 | $88,140 | $57,020 to $83,800 | 9,360 |
| Wyoming | $69,380 | $86,410 | $51,540 to $101,990 | 550 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 13-1151 (Training and Development Specialists). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 13-1151.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $86,290 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index