Craigslist Scraper — Extract US Classified Listings, Prices, Locations & Images

Scrape Craigslist classified ads across all major US cities and categories. Returns listing titles, prices, locations, post dates, full descriptions, and image URLs. Search by keyword across multiple categories in a single run. Built-in residential proxy support — no manual proxy setup required.

Export scraped data, run the scraper via API, schedule and monitor runs, or integrate with other tools.

Features

• 25+ US cities — any Craigslist city subdomain (sfbay, losangeles, newyork, chicago, etc.)
• Multi-category search — scrape cars, housing, jobs, for-sale, services, and more in one run
• Keyword filtering — narrow results with search terms (e.g., "toyota camry", "leather couch")
• Full listing descriptions — fetches each detail page for complete text
• Image URLs — primary image URL included for each listing
• Automatic pagination — follows "next page" links until maxResults is reached
• Post dates — listing publication dates for freshness filtering
• Residential proxy built-in — reliable scraping without manual proxy configuration
• Structured JSON output — clean data ready for analysis, databases, or AI pipelines

Use Cases

Use Case	Description
Deal hunting	Find underpriced cars, furniture, electronics at scale across cities
Market research	Track pricing trends, supply, and demand for specific items
Competitor intelligence	Monitor competitor listings and pricing strategies
Lead generation	Collect seller contact info from classified ads for outreach
Real estate analysis	Scrape rental and housing listings for market insights
Price monitoring	Track price changes over time for specific product categories
AI data pipelines	Feed structured classified data to LLMs for analysis

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
city	string	"sfbay"	Craigslist city subdomain (e.g., losangeles, newyork, chicago)
categories	string[]	["cta"]	Category codes (cta=cars, apa=apartments, jjj=jobs, sss=for-sale)
keyword	string	""	Optional keyword filter (e.g., "toyota", "2BR apartment")
maxResults	integer	50	Max listings to return (1–500)

Common Category Codes

Code	Category
cta	Cars & Trucks
apa	Apartments
jjj	Jobs
sss	For Sale (General)
fua	Furniture
ele	Electronics
fsd	Free Stuff

Output

Each record represents one Craigslist listing:

{
  "title": "2019 Toyota Camry XSE V6 — Excellent Condition",
  "price": "$18,500",
  "location": "San Jose",
  "postedDate": "2025-07-30",
  "description": "One owner, garage kept. 42k miles. New tires, recent oil change...",
  "imageUrl": "https://images.craigslist.org/...",
  "listingUrl": "https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/...",
  "category": "cta",
  "city": "sfbay",
  "searchKeyword": "toyota camry",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-08-01T12:00:00.000Z"
}

API Usage

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('USERNAME/craigslist-scraper').call({
  city: 'losangeles',
  categories: ['cta', 'sss'],
  keyword: 'vintage furniture',
  maxResults: 100,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Found ${items.length} listings`);

Pricing

This actor charges per listing returned.

Volume	Estimated Cost
100 listings	~$0.10
1,000 listings	~$1.00
5,000 listings	~$5.00

FAQ

Q: Which cities are supported? All Craigslist city subdomains are supported (sfbay, losangeles, newyork, chicago, seattle, etc.). Use the subdomain from the Craigslist URL.

Q: Why are some descriptions empty? Craigslist sometimes blocks detail page requests. The scraper retries automatically, but occasionally detail pages may not load.

Q: Can I scrape multiple cities at once? Currently one city per run. To scrape multiple cities, run the actor multiple times (or use Apify tasks with different inputs).