The 2026 Nearshore Rate Report
July 20, 2026
Last updated: September 30, 2026. This report analyzes 441 Virtustant placement starts from January 1 through June 30, 2026 and 397 unique people. It combines role mix, current recorded countries and client-side rate benchmarks from internal placement records. Rates reflect values stored when retrieved on September 30, not verified actual payments or original starting rates. Use the pricing page for current offers. For a buyer guide, see the cost of hiring in Latin America or browse roles.
Scope: The research cohort contains 441 placement starts from January 1 through June 30, 2026, involving 397 unique people. It includes countries inside and outside Latin America. These are global Virtustant benchmarks for readers comparing remote hiring options, not a LATAM-only salary survey.
The cohort provides 420 valid derived expected client rates. The virtual-assistant median is $10.10/hr (n=24); SDR/BDR has a $12.41/hr median explicit client rate (n=32). Geography includes 367 known countries and 30 unknowns. These measures have different denominators because one person can have multiple placements and some records have zero expected revenue.
Placement shares below use 441 starts; rate sample sizes can be smaller because zero expected revenue is excluded. These are completed starts, not all hiring requests or a measure of demand across the wider market.
| Role | H1 placements | Share of 441 | Median client-side benchmark | Valid rate n | Rate source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SDR / BDR | 32 | 7.26% | $12.41/hr | 32 | Explicit client rate |
| Social Media Manager | 31 | 7.03% | $12.00/hr | 31 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Executive Assistant | 25 | 5.67% | $12.00/hr | 24 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Virtual Assistant | 25 | 5.67% | $10.10/hr | 24 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Appointment Setter | 22 | 4.99% | $10.73/hr | 22 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Administrative Assistant | 18 | 4.08% | $9.50/hr | 17 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Customer Service | 12 | 2.72% | $10.83/hr | 12 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Customer Service Representative | 10 | 2.27% | $9.65/hr | 9 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Dispatcher | 10 | 2.27% | $9.00/hr | 10 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Bookkeeper | 8 | 1.81% | $12.85/hr | 7 | Expected revenue ÷ hours |
| Other role titles | 248 | 56.24% | Not pooled | See Method | Distinct specialized and hybrid titles |
How to read the rates: Except for SDR/BDR, rates are calculated as expected weekly client revenue divided by expected weekly working hours in records retrieved on September 30, 2026. Of 441 placements, 420 have positive values for both fields; 21 with zero expected revenue are excluded from rate statistics. One of those also has zero expected hours. The SDR/BDR row uses the explicit client hourly rate in 32 placement records. These are client-side research benchmarks, not talent compensation, amounts actually invoiced or paid, or verified rates at the start of each placement. A current quote determines your price.
Developer offers start from $8/hr and are scoped on the discovery call; current starting offers are separate from this research sample. For roles outside this table, including designers and specialized developers, see current pricing. The bookkeeper median above is a small sample (n=7).
Among completed H1 starts, SDR/BDR was the largest normalized group:32 placements (7.26%). Social media managers followed with 31 (7.03%), executive assistants and virtual assistants with 25 each (5.67% each), appointment setters with 22 (4.99%), and administrative assistants with 18 (4.08%). These six groups account for 153 of 441 starts (34.69%); the other 288 starts span specialized and hybrid titles. Placement shares describe this cohort, not all client requests or broader market demand.
For an illustrative full-time budget of 40 paid hours per week for 52 weeks, the $10.10/hr virtual-assistant derived median equates to $21,008 per year. The $12.41/hr explicit SDR/BDR median equates to $25,812.80 per year. These are annualized examples, not actual invoices. A fair US comparison needs the same role, duties and hours and a consistent treatment of benefits, taxes and service fees; this cohort alone does not establish a US savings percentage. For role-by-role context, see the LATAM salary guide.
The H1 cohort includes 397 unique people, counted once even if they started more than one placement. Country was recorded for 367; 30 (7.56%) are unknown and remain in the denominator. The largest recorded groups are Argentina 92 (23.17%), Brazil 82 (20.65%), Colombia 43 (10.83%) and Mexico 30 (7.56%).
This is a global cohort: 342 people (86.15%) have a recorded Latin American country, while 25 (6.30%) are recorded in South Africa (16), the Philippines (5), North Macedonia (3) or Romania (1). The remaining 30 have no country recorded. Percentages describe current profile fields for people with H1 starts; they do not establish nationality, historical location or working-hour overlap.
See country guides for Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. Compare scheduling needs using the nearshore versus offshore guide; country alone does not prove a person’s working schedule.
Speed is one of the most-cited reasons companies choose nearshore staffing over a traditional hiring cycle or generalist agency search. Virtustant delivers a first shortlist of 3–5 vetted candidates in 48 hours, and your hire can start in 72 hours from your first call, including weekends. Traditional US hiring cycles for equivalent roles typically run three to six weeks between job posting and signed offer.
Role scope, experience, specialist requirements, communication needs and schedule are inputs to a quote. This dataset reports observed client-side benchmarks; it does not isolate the causal effect of seniority, English proficiency or country. A small-sample role median should not be generalized to every specialty, and a country distribution should not be treated as a rate comparison.
Use the role median and sample size as a starting benchmark, then request a quote for the work and hours you need. The cohort medians are $10.10/hr for a virtual assistant (24 valid derived rates) and $12.41/hr for SDR/BDR (32 explicit client rates). They are not guaranteed current prices. Virtustant quotes a total client rate with no additional placement fee; see pricing for current offers and a role-specific quote.
We included all Virtustant placement starts from January 1 through June 30, 2026, inclusive, regardless of current active/ended status, working hours or country. The 27 weekly reports contained 451 rows across the surrounding full weeks. We checked individual start dates for all 21 rows in the two partial weeks and removed 10 starts outside H1, leaving 441 placements, matching the separate monthly total.
Role shares use all 441 placements. Country shares use 397 distinct people with at least one H1 start; a person with multiple placements counts once for geography. Country is the current recorded profile country as of September 30, 2026, not a verified historical location. 367 people have a recorded country and 30 are unknown; unknowns remain in the denominator. Names with ambiguous matches were checked against client, role and start date. No repeated person/client/role/week key remained.
How to read the rates: Except for SDR/BDR, rates are calculated as expected weekly client revenue divided by expected weekly working hours in records retrieved on September 30, 2026. Of 441 placements, 420 have positive values for both fields; 21 with zero expected revenue are excluded from rate statistics. One of those also has zero expected hours. The SDR/BDR row uses the explicit client hourly rate in 32 placement records. These are client-side research benchmarks, not talent compensation, amounts actually invoiced or paid, or verified rates at the start of each placement. A current quote determines your price.
Role titles were normalized for capitalization, spacing and obvious spelling errors before calculating statistics. SDR, BDR, SDR/BDR and spelled-out equivalents are combined; specialized and hybrid titles remain separate. Medians and the 25 th–75 th percentiles are unweighted by hours, with linearly interpolated percentiles. Each row shows its valid rate sample; small samples should be treated cautiously. The sample describes Virtustant placements, not the entire remote labor market. Current offers and historical research observations are separate.
This report uses role-specific medians rather than a market-wide average. In the global Virtustant H1 cohort, virtual assistants have a $10.10/hr derived expected client-rate median (n=24), while SDR/BDR has a $12.41/hr explicit stored client-rate median (n=32). These are current records for H1 starts, not actual paid rates or a LATAM-only market survey.
The H1 cohort contains 25 virtual-assistant placements,24 with a positive expected revenue-to-hours ratio. Their median is $10.10/hr, with a middle half of $8.48–$10.58/hr. This is the global cohort’s expected client-side benchmark at September 30, 2026; obtain a current quote for the duties and hours you need.
Virtustant delivers a first shortlist of 3–5 vetted candidates in 48 hours, and your hire can start in 72 hours.
In H1 2026, SDR/BDR led with 32 of 441 starts (7.26%), followed by social media managers 31 (7.03%), executive assistants 25 (5.67%), virtual assistants 25 (5.67%), appointment setters 22 (4.99%) and administrative assistants 18 (4.08%). Titles were normalized for spelling and case; specialized and hybrid titles remain separate.
In this global H1 cohort of 397 unique people, Argentina accounts for 92 (23.17%), Brazil 82 (20.65%), Colombia 43 (10.83%) and Mexico 30 (7.56%). Thirty people have no country recorded (7.56%) and remain in the denominator. These are current profile-country values for people with H1 starts, not market-wide country shares.
The H1 cohort alone does not establish a US savings percentage. At 40 hours per week for 52 weeks, the $10.10/hr VA benchmark annualizes to $21,008. Compare a current staffing quote with a US alternative for equivalent responsibilities and hours, including the relevant employer costs, rather than comparing a client rate directly with salary alone.
No. Virtustant charges zero placement fees, and every Virtustant placement carries a lifetime replacement guarantee with no time cap.
