Research · Guide · November 9, 2026 · 3 min read
How long do Craigslist ads last? 30 days or 45, depending on where
Craigslist says paid posts run 30 days and free posts run "7 to 45 days" without saying which. We measured it across seven markets: free posts last 45 days in mid-size cities and 30 in the biggest metros.
Most guides say a Craigslist ad lasts 30 days. That's only true for some of them.
Craigslist's own lifespan page gives two numbers: paid postings are live for 30 days, and free postings are live "between 7 and 45 days." It doesn't say which free posts get which, or where. So we measured it.
The short answer
| Type of post | How long it stays up |
|---|---|
| Paid: jobs, gigs, services, cars and motorcycles by owner, anything by a dealer, commercial real estate, NYC/Boston/Chicago apartments | 30 days, everywhere |
| Free, in mid-size markets (San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta and similar) | 45 days |
| Free, in the biggest metros (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle) | 30 days |
| Events | Until the event date |
How we measured it
On November 9, 2026 we pulled every live post in a set of categories from seven Craigslist markets and looked at the oldest one still up. A category can't hold a post older than its lifespan, so the oldest live post sits just under the limit.
Two caveats. First, this only works where a category has a few hundred live posts or fewer; in the busiest categories (services, jobs, gigs, cars) the newest posts crowd the oldest out of what we could read. Those are paid categories, and Craigslist states paid posts run 30 days. Second, it's one snapshot. Craigslist can change these limits without announcing it.
What we found
Age of the oldest live post, in days:
| Category | San Antonio | Houston | Atlanta | Los Angeles | New York | Chicago | Seattle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Housing wanted | 45.6 | 45.3 | 45.5 | 30.3 | 29.3 | 30.5 | 30.6 |
| Rooms / shared | 45.2 | 45.3 | — | — | — | 30.4 | — |
| Community general | 45.1 | 44.4 | 42.5 | 30.3 | 30.5 | 30.1 | 29.4 |
| Lost and found | 44.2 | 44.8 | 44.2 | 30.3 | 30.5 | 28.3 | 30.3 |
| Pets | 41.2 | — | 45.5 | 30.4 | 30.4 | 28.8 | — |
| Motorcycles (paid) | 30.3 | 30.5 | 29.9 | 30.5 | 30.7 | 30.6 | 30.6 |
| RVs (paid) | 30.7 | 30.7 | 30.5 | 30.4 | 30.4 | 29.3 | — |
A dash means the category was too busy in that market to read the oldest post reliably.
The pattern is clean. In San Antonio, Houston and Atlanta, free categories top out right at 45 days. In Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Seattle, the same categories top out at 30. Paid categories sit at 30 days in every market, small or large.
Renewing doesn't extend it
Free posts can be renewed every 48 to 72 hours. Renewing moves the post back to the top of the listings, which matters more than lifespan in a busy category (we measured that too). It doesn't reset the 30- or 45-day clock.
Paid posts can't be renewed at all. Moving one back to the top means reposting it, which is a new post and a new fee.
Deleting a post doesn't pause the clock either. Craigslist counts time spent deleted toward the lifespan.
What this means if you post for a business
- Plan paid campaigns in 30-day cycles. Jobs, gigs and services expire at 30 days in every city.
- A free housing or community post in a mid-size market buys you half again as long as the same post in New York or Los Angeles.
- Lifespan is the ceiling, not the useful life. In most business categories a post is off page one long before it expires. Fresh posts on a schedule do more than one post sitting for a month.
Every city page on this site shows how long each section lasts in that market, using our measured number where we have one. If you'd rather not track any of this, Scale Classifieds posts for you and can repeat an order weekly, every two weeks or monthly so your ads never lapse.
Sources
Post it once. We'll put it everywhere.
Craigslist's fee + $15 per post, any of 413 cities, live within 24–48 hours.
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