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How to post a job on Craigslist

Craigslist still works for local hourly, trades, and service-industry hiring - but it's paid in every major US city, varies by location, and won't renew. Here is how to post and what to expect.

Post to Craigslist + 15 boards in one click See the steps

Updated May 24, 2026

What Craigslist is

Craigslist launched in 1995 and is one of the longest-running classified-ad sites on the internet. Job postings became paid in major US metros starting in 2004; today the 'jobs' category is paid in virtually every US city Craigslist operates in, with fees ranging from $10 to $75 per post depending on the metro.

Despite competition from Indeed, Facebook, and ZipRecruiter, Craigslist remains genuinely useful for local hourly hiring in specific industries: construction, manual labor, delivery, food service, cleaning, and administrative support roles in mid-size metros. The interface looks like 1998 because it is - that's part of why it still works for certain audiences.

craigslist.org

Step-by-step: posting your job on Craigslist

7 steps, around 10-15 minutes start to finish.

1
Pick the right city Craigslist site
Craigslist runs a separate site per metro (newyork.craigslist.org, losangeles.craigslist.org, etc.). Post on the site for the city you're hiring in - cross-posting to multiple cities is allowed but each city is a separate paid post.
Tip: Smaller metros often have lower fees but also less traffic. Check the fee structure (visible during checkout) before you decide. A $10 post in a mid-size metro often outperforms a $45 post in a saturated big-city market.
2
Click 'post to classifieds' and pick 'job'
On the city homepage, click 'post to classifieds' (top left). Select 'job offered' (not 'gig offered' - gigs are short-term informal work and a different surface). Then pick the most specific job category that fits the role.
Tip: Don't pick 'general labor' as a default - it's a low-trust category and serious candidates skip it. If your role is 'food/beverage/hospitality', pick that. Category specificity dramatically affects applicant quality on Craigslist.
3
Write the title and body
Title: short, specific, with the city or neighborhood up front. Body: 200-400 words. Craigslist supports basic HTML for line breaks and bold, but most experienced posters use plain text. Pay-and-schedule clarity in the first paragraph beats a polished company intro.
Tip: Front-load pay. Craigslist users scan, and a post that opens with '$22/hr, full-time, Brooklyn, immediate start' outperforms one that opens with 'About our company'. The pay number in the first line is the single biggest CTR lever on Craigslist.
4
Add contact method
Choose how candidates contact you: Craigslist anonymous email relay (default, recommended), your direct email, or 'contact info in post' for phone. The relay protects your address from scraping; direct posting invites spam.
Tip: If you're worried about volume, use the relay and add a screening line: 'Please reply with your earliest start date and the role you're applying for in the subject line.' Volume drops 30-40%, qualified rate jumps.
5
Pay the posting fee
At checkout, Craigslist quotes the city's fee. Pay by credit card. The fee is non-refundable and covers a single 30-day listing in one category. Volume discounts (multiple posts) are available in some metros but not advertised - the discount appears at checkout once you trigger the volume threshold.
Tip: Save the payment receipt. Craigslist payment records are sparse and reposting later can require proof of prior posts to access volume pricing.
6
Confirm by email and publish
Craigslist sends a confirmation email with a link you must click to publish. Posts not confirmed within 24 hours are deleted. Once confirmed, your post is live in 15 to 60 minutes after a brief moderation review.
Tip: Check the confirmation email's spam folder. Craigslist's transactional emails routinely get filtered, especially from Gmail business addresses. Missing this email is the #1 reason new posters say 'I paid and nothing happened'.
7
Plan for the 30-day end
Posts expire after 30 days and cannot be renewed - Craigslist explicitly does not allow renewal. To stay live, you create and pay for a brand-new post. Reposting the exact same content within 48 hours can get flagged as duplicate; rewrite the title and lead paragraph.
Tip: If you're still hiring at day 25, prepare your new post in advance and publish it on day 30. The 24-48 hour gap between expiration and new post is when you miss applicants - close the gap.

Craigslist pricing

Tier	Price	What you get
Job posting (most US metros)	$10-$45 per post	30-day listing in one category in one city. Includes anonymous email relay. No renewal allowed; reposting requires a fresh post and fresh fee.
Job posting (large US metros: NYC, LA, SF, etc.)	$45-$75 per post	Same 30-day listing in higher-traffic markets. NYC and SF are at the top of the range; mid-size metros sit at $25-$45.
Volume discount	Varies by metro	Some metros offer ~10-15% off when you have 3+ active posts. Not publicly advertised; the discount appears at checkout once you trigger the threshold.

Prices in USD, per post, per city. Confirm the current fee at checkout - Craigslist updates fees by metro without notice.

Should you bother? Honest pros and cons

Pros

Strong for local hourly hiring in trades, food service, cleaning, delivery, and admin support - especially in mid-size metros.
Self-selecting audience: candidates who search Craigslist for jobs in 2026 are typically open to direct, no-frills hiring processes (an asset for small businesses without a recruiter).
Anonymous email relay protects your inbox from scraping and lets you walk away from spam threads without revealing your address.
Per-post pricing is predictable: you pay once, the post runs 30 days, no surprise upsells.

Cons

Paid in every major metro - the 'free Craigslist' era ended over 20 years ago for jobs.
No renewal. If you don't fill the role in 30 days, you pay again. Hard to justify for slow-to-fill professional roles.
Scam-applicant volume is high in some categories. Filtering work is real, especially for general labor and delivery posts.
No ATS, no pipeline, no analytics. Candidates email you; you organize them yourself.
Younger candidates (under 30) rarely use Craigslist for job search. For roles requiring digital-native skills, Craigslist is the wrong channel.

Copy-paste job description (Craigslist-optimized, pay-forward)

Drop this into the Craigslist description editor and replace the bracketed fields. Tuned to the formatting Craigslist renders cleanly.

$[X]/hr [JOB TITLE] in [NEIGHBORHOOD] - [SCHEDULE]

[COMPANY NAME] is hiring a [job title] in [neighborhood/city].
Pay: $[X]-$[Y]/hr
Schedule: [days/hours]
Start: [immediate / by date]

What you'll do:
- [Task 1]
- [Task 2]
- [Task 3]

What you need:
- [Required experience]
- [Required credential or license, if any]
- [Schedule expectation]

How to apply:
Reply through Craigslist with your earliest start date and a sentence about your experience. We respond within 48 hours.

About us:
[1-2 sentences. Who you are, what you do. Keep it plain - Craigslist readers skip corporate intros.]

No phone calls. No agencies. No drive-by visits.

FAQ

Is posting a job on Craigslist free?

No. Craigslist made job postings paid in virtually every US city starting in 2004. Current fees range from $10 in small metros to $75 in the largest (NYC, SF, LA). There's no free job-posting tier on Craigslist in the US.

How much does it cost to post a job on Craigslist?

Between $10 and $75 per post per city per 30-day period, depending on the metro. Mid-size cities (Austin, Denver, Portland) tend to sit at $25-$45. NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston are at the top of the range.

How long does a Craigslist job post stay live?

30 days. Craigslist does not allow renewals - once a post expires, you create and pay for a brand-new post. Reposting the same content within 48 hours risks being flagged as a duplicate.

What types of jobs work on Craigslist in 2026?

Local hourly roles in trades, construction, food service, cleaning, delivery, retail, and admin support still get genuine applicants on Craigslist - especially in mid-size metros. Senior professional roles, tech roles, and remote-first roles get almost nothing. Pick the channel by the role, not by habit.

How do I avoid scam responses on Craigslist?

Use the anonymous email relay (default option) so your real address isn't scraped. Add a one-line screening filter in your post (e.g. 'Reply with your earliest start date in the subject line'). Ignore replies that don't follow the instruction - they're 95% spam.

Can ParsleyHR post to Craigslist?

Not automatically. Craigslist's terms restrict third-party automated posting, and any service claiming to bulk-post to Craigslist is either using gray-zone tactics or charging you for a manual posting service. ParsleyHR posts to Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Google for Jobs, Facebook, and 10+ other major boards from one dashboard; Craigslist stays a manual single-city post when it makes sense for the role.

Post to Craigslist + 15 boards in one click.

Craigslist still works for local hourly hiring, but pair it with Facebook (free) and Indeed (free organic) for the same audience at lower total cost. ParsleyHR covers those two automatically.

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