Pinterest has always been a go-to platform for discovering and organizing ideas, but the way we categorize those ideas has evolved over time. While the ability to edit categories on boards is a thing of the past, categories remain a foundational part of Pinterest’s system. Understanding the most popular Pinterest categories can provide valuable insights for creating content that resonates with your audience and has the potential to go viral.
(Author note: This post was originally written by Alisa Meredith. It was updated in 2025 by the Tailwind Marketing Team.)
What Are Pinterest Categories Today?
Pinterest categories are the overarching themes that help organize and surface content across the platform. When users search, browse, or engage with content, Pinterest uses these categories to display relevant Pins. They’re baked into the system, influencing how content is recommended and discovered. For marketers, this means aligning content with popular categories is essential for maximizing reach and engagement.
The Most Popular Pinterest Categories in 2025
Our latest research looked at 1 million Pins. One of the questions we wanted to answer is: What contributes to a Pin going viral? This look at the performance of viral Pins sheds light on the categories capturing the most attention on Pinterest right now.
Here are the top Pinterest categories to watch:
- Home Decor – From cozy living room inspiration to DIY furniture hacks, home decor remains one of the most sought-after categories on Pinterest. Pins in this category often include detailed visuals, step-by-step guides, and shopping suggestions.
- Food and Drink – Recipes, meal prep ideas, and unique culinary techniques dominate this space. Viral Pins frequently include easy-to-follow recipes, visually stunning food photography, and time-saving tips.
- Fashion – Outfit ideas, seasonal trends, and wardrobe staples are always in demand. Pins that offer styling tips or highlight affordable yet chic options tend to gain traction.
- Health and Fitness – Wellness routines, workout plans, and nutritious recipes continue to inspire users. Content that emphasizes achievable goals and includes free resources often performs well.
- DIY and Crafts – Creative projects, holiday crafts, and budget-friendly DIY ideas captivate users looking for inspiration. Step-by-step tutorials are a must for this category.
- Beauty – Tutorials, product reviews, and skincare routines dominate this category. Viral beauty Pins often feature “before and after” transformations or simple hacks that users can replicate.
- Travel – Destination guides, packing tips, and travel itineraries keep wanderlust alive. Pins with high-quality imagery and actionable advice tend to get saved and shared.
Why These Categories Thrive
These categories succeed because they align with Pinterest’s core purpose: helping users discover and do what they love. Whether it’s planning a dream wedding, revamping a home, or finding quick weeknight meals, popular categories tap into universal needs and aspirations.
How to Tailor Your Content for Popular Categories
To make the most of these categories, follow these best practices:
- Leverage Trends: Stay ahead by aligning your content with seasonal trends or emerging topics within your niche.
- Use Clear, Eye-Catching Imagery: High-quality visuals are non-negotiable on Pinterest. Make sure your Pins are vertical and formatted for optimal visibility.
- Incorporate Keywords: Include category-specific keywords in your Pin descriptions and titles to improve discoverability.
- Offer Value: Whether it’s a free printable, a how-to guide, or a product recommendation, make your content actionable and helpful.
Pinterest Categories List
Check out this list of Pinterest categories — and the kinds of content you would find in each one. Might your content fit into more categories than you initially thought?
It may also help you determine whether Pinterest is a natural fit for your business, though there are an awful lot of people finding success from within the “Other” category! Just because your content doesn’t fit neatly into one of the categories doesn’t mean you can’t also generate traffic from Pinterest.
- Animals and pets – Cute critter photos and memes
- Architecture – Some attainable inspirations and some total eye candy
- Art – Wall art, drawings, how to’s
- Cars and motorcycles – Hotrods, antiques, and car shows
- Celebrities – Mainly shots from movies and tabloids
- Design – Home style ideas, drawings, design inspiration, graphics
- Education – Resources and ideas for kids, parents, and teachers
- History – Funny, artistic, and curious photos of old landmarks and cultural history
- Home decor – DIY Home decor, home decor inspiration
- Humor – From clever to cheesy and a little PG-13, gifs and memes aplenty
- Men’s fashion – Tips and products for the well-dressed man. Learn to tie a tie, match your socks, roll up your sleeves 🙂
- Photography – Amateur and artistic photos plus helpful how to’s
- Quotes – Inspirational quotes and poetry
- Science and nature – Science experiments, learning resources, and astounding (and sometimes odd) nature photography
- Sports – Sports memes and workouts
- Tattoos – Inspiration for your next tattoo in the form of tattoos, designs, and photos
- Technology – Privacy protection, shortcuts and productivity hacks, coding tips, and cool products
- Travel – Travel tips, destinations, and gorgeous photography
- Weddings – Wedding dresses, etiquette, planning tips, invitations, jewelry
- Women’s Fashion – Current trends, fashion to buy, how-to’s
- Other/Everything – Quotes, recipes, crafts, humor — EVERYTHING
How to Choose Which Pinterest Categories to Target
While we might be inclined to try to wedge our content into Pinterest’s popular categories, the most important factor is going to be where your Pin really belongs. If you have a Pin for your article on “Food Photography,” you could present it in a way that would appeal to people interested in “Food and Drink.” But you wouldn’t try to make it (by changing text on image, title, and description) fit in the “home decor” category just because it’s a popular one!
That same Pin for “Food Photography” could be presented in such a way that it appeals to those interested in the “Design” category by changing the photo you use, the text on image, the title, and description. Remember to always save it to the most relevant Board first (generally you’ll look to the Board name to decide relevancy) and not to save it to more than 10 boards. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to where you save your Pins. Quickly saving Pins at the best times for engagement and to more than one Board at sensible intervals is where a Pinterest marketing tool like Tailwind can make you more effective AND efficient.
Optimize Your Pinterest Strategy
While this blog post provides an overview, our Pinterest Marketing Course dives deeper into how to leverage categories to achieve your goals. From crafting compelling Pins to analyzing performance, you’ll gain actionable insights to elevate your strategy.
Ready to create content that connects? Focus on the most popular Pinterest categories and start seeing results.
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