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Staffing and recruiting Google Ads cost per click

Across the US, a typical staffing and recruiting campaign on Google Ads pays about $5.00 a click. That ranks 84 of the 146 kinds of business measured here, where the one in the middle pays $5.40.

$5.00

Cost per click, US

80,000

Searches a month, US

$1.50 to $13.10

Google's top-of-page bids for the same searches

Work out your budget

By service

Clicks for recruiting and executive search cost the most at $8.00, 2.3 times those for temporary staffing at $3.50. A campaign that takes every service pays somewhere between, set by which ones people search for most where it runs.

Staffing and recruiting Google Ads cost per click by service, US
ServiceCost per clickSearches a month
Recruiting and executive search$8.0026,000
Temporary staffing$3.5054,000

By state

A click costs the most in Massachusetts at $7.60, 4.3 times one in Mississippi at $1.80. The same searches cost more where more businesses bid on them and each customer is worth more. 23 states are left out, with fewer than 1,000 searches a month to price.

Where people search most

Staffing and recruiting Google Ads cost per click in the ten states with the most searches
StateCost per clickSearches a month
Texas$4.309,300
California$5.608,600
Florida$6.004,600
Georgia$3.804,400
New York$7.103,500
Illinois$5.003,500
Tennessee$4.002,900
North Carolina$3.802,800
Michigan$6.102,500
Pennsylvania$6.302,300

Dearest and cheapest

Staffing and recruiting Google Ads cost per click, the dearest and cheapest states
StateCost per click
Massachusetts$7.60
New York$7.10
Colorado$6.90
Pennsylvania$6.30
New Jersey$6.10
Indiana$3.30
Alabama$3.30
Missouri$3.30
Utah$3.00
Mississippi$1.80
Every state with enough searches (28)
Staffing and recruiting Google Ads cost per click by state, dearest first
StateCost per clickSearches a month
Massachusetts$7.601,300
New York$7.103,500
Colorado$6.901,300
Pennsylvania$6.302,300
New Jersey$6.101,700
Michigan$6.102,500
Florida$6.004,600
Washington$5.801,300
California$5.608,600
Maryland$5.401,300
Illinois$5.003,500
Arizona$4.901,900
Ohio$4.902,200
Minnesota$4.801,000
Virginia$4.601,600
Texas$4.309,300
Tennessee$4.002,900
Georgia$3.804,400
North Carolina$3.802,800
Kentucky$3.701,000
Wisconsin$3.601,100
South Carolina$3.502,300
Louisiana$3.401,000
Indiana$3.302,200
Alabama$3.301,900
Missouri$3.301,200
Utah$3.001,500
Mississippi$1.802,200

Against Google's own bids

Keyword Planner puts the top-of-page bids for these searches at $1.50 to $13.10: what advertisers bid to show above the results. A typical campaign pays $5.00, inside that range, because Google charges what it takes to beat the ad below and not the bid itself. Planning a budget on the top-of-page bid overstates what clicks will cost.

No published study measures this business on its own, so its price level is the median for its industry in LocaliQ's studies, moved a third of the way toward Google's prices scaled to what campaigns paid. Google's prices set how its services and the states compare.

Searches peak in July, at 79% above February, the slowest month. A budget sized for the slow months runs out sooner in the busy ones.

Priced near staffing and recruiting

Just above and below in the ranking

All 146 businesses, ranked

Where the figures come from

Google's own search counts and click prices for the year to August 2026 (Keyword Planner, through DataForSEO), scaled to what campaigns paid in LocaliQ's published studies, rounded to ten cents. They are medians: half of campaigns pay more. The full method is on the benchmark page, and the budget calculator runs on the same data for any ZIP code.

Written by Grant Epley. Last reviewed October 11, 2026. Search data to August 2026.