U.S. online traffic to classifieds Web sites increased 84 percent in February 2009 compared with last year according to a new report from Hitwise.

As the state of the U.S. economy has declined, visits to classifieds Web sites have continued to increase, up 28 percent from December 2008 to February 2009.

“Consumers have embraced free classifieds as a way to generate income by selling personal items, while others take advantage of the deals available at the fire sales,” said Heather Dougherty, Hitwise research director.

“Currently the economy is driving the growth among online classifieds, but satisfied buyers may continue to turn to the Web sites when researching purchases.”

The market share of U.S. Internet visits increased 90 percent to the Craigslist Cities custom category year-over-year in February 2009, while visits to all other classifieds grew 22 percent. This trend indicates that the U.S. economy may be boosting visits to classifieds Web sites and contributing to the recent increase in visits to both Craigslist and all other classifieds.