# How much does an AI build cost in the United States?

The typical AI build for a buyer in the United States costs $3,360, and half of 17,147 priced posts fall between $600 and $8,800. That ranks 19th of 72 countries on median cost.

Updated 2026-11-04. Published by VIZIO AI (https://vizio.ai/?utm_source=build-cost-index&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=country-md). Page: https://aibuildindex.com/countries/united-states. Data: https://aibuildindex.com/countries/united-states/data.json.

## Key points

- Relative to population, the United States ranks 6th of 72, with 75 posts per million people.
- The median build in the United States is $3,360, 1.3 times the $2,500 market median.
- Competition for work here is high: a median of 15 applicants a post against 12 overall.

## How it ranks

| Measure | Value | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AI build posts | 25,643 | 1 of 72 |
| Median build cost | $3,360 | 19 of 72 |
| Median hourly rate | $29.50/hr | 20 of 72 |
| Applicants per post | 15 | 8 of 72 |
| Expert-level requests | 41% | 32 of 72 |
| Posts per million people | 75 | 6 of 72 |
| Median build against income | 3.7% | 57 of 72 |
| Buyers with $10k+ past spend | 43% | 17 of 72 |

## What buyers ask for

| Build | Posts | Share here | Share worldwide |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AI SaaS and MVPs | 4,311 | 16.8% | 17.3% |
| Back-office automation | 3,419 | 13.3% | 13.0% |
| Custom agents | 1,836 | 7.2% | 7.0% |
| CRM automation | 1,666 | 6.5% | 4.9% |
| n8n workflows | 1,533 | 6.0% | 6.8% |
| Make and Zapier | 1,353 | 5.3% | 4.1% |
| API integrations | 1,295 | 5.1% | 4.8% |
| Support chatbots | 738 | 2.9% | 3.2% |
| Voice agents | 736 | 2.9% | 2.7% |
| AI mobile apps | 589 | 2.3% | 2.3% |

## Tools and systems named

| Name | Share here | Share worldwide |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Claude | 7.1% | 6.2% |
| OpenAI and ChatGPT | 3.2% | 3.0% |
| n8n | 6.1% | 7.1% |
| “Agent” | 12.1% | 12.6% |
| GoHighLevel | 5.1% | 3.8% |
| WhatsApp | 1.7% | 4.4% |
| Shopify | 3.6% | 3.7% |
| HubSpot | 3.7% | 3.2% |
| Salesforce | 1.5% | 1.2% |
| GoHighLevel | 8.1% | 6.3% |
| Google Sheets | 5.8% | 5.8% |
| Slack | 4.1% | 3.6% |
| AWS | 5.5% | 5.6% |

## Questions

### How much does an AI build cost in the United States?

The median across 17,147 priced posts from buyers in the United States is $3,360. Half fall between $600 and $8,800, and one in ten reaches $21,600 or more.

### What do AI developers charge buyers in the United States?

Posted rates centre on $29.50 an hour, with most between $20 and $45. These are open-market rates from public posts; agencies usually charge more.

### What are businesses in the United States building with AI?

The most common requests are AI SaaS and MVPs, back-office automation, custom agents.

### How does the United States compare with the rest of the North America region?

The United States has 25,643 posts, 91% of the 28,187 we track in the region. Its median of $3,360 compares with a typical country median there of $2,760. Worldwide it ranks 19th of 72 on median cost.

### Does this measure where the work is done?

No. It shows buyers located in the United States, wherever the people they hire are based. It reflects public job posts, which lean towards smaller, open-market projects.

## How to read this

Country is the buyer's stated location, not where the work is done. Figures come from public job posts from December 2025 to November 2026 and show what posts offered, not what was paid. Hourly posts are estimated from rate, length and workload. Countries need 30 priced posts to be ranked, and are left out of rankings when one account makes up over a quarter of posts. Counts under 5 are hidden. Population and GDP per person are the latest World Bank figures.