Airbnb coding interview
questions, leaked.
58 problems reported across recent Airbnb interviews. Top patterns: array, string, hash table. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Airbnb's interview is heavy on array manipulation and string problems. Out of 58 total questions, 34 are array-focused and 20 involve strings. You're facing 29 medium and 18 hard problems, so expect to code under pressure. The good news: the patterns repeat. Text Justification, Trapping Rain Water, and Palindrome Pairs dominate the hard tier. If you freeze mid-OA on a simulation or two-pointer problem, StealthCoder runs invisibly during screen share and surfaces a working solution in seconds. You need to know arrays inside out before your interview.
Top problems at Airbnb
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Text Justification | HARD | 100.0 | 48% | Array · String · Simulation |
| 02 | Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling | HARD | 94.5 | 54% | Array · Binary Search · Dynamic Programming |
| 03 | Palindrome Pairs | HARD | 94.5 | 36% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 04 | Flatten 2D Vector | MEDIUM | 89.9 | 50% | Array · Two Pointers · Design |
| 05 | Combination Sum | MEDIUM | 87.2 | 75% | Array · Backtracking |
| 06 | Smallest Common Region | MEDIUM | 84.1 | 68% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 07 | Pour Water | MEDIUM | 82.9 | 48% | Array · Simulation |
| 08 | Alien Dictionary | HARD | 80.4 | 37% | Array · String · Depth-First Search |
| 09 | Cheapest Flights Within K Stops | MEDIUM | 80.4 | 40% | Dynamic Programming · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 10 | Trapping Rain Water | HARD | 80.4 | 65% | Array · Two Pointers · Dynamic Programming |
| 11 | Sliding Puzzle | HARD | 79.0 | 73% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Backtracking |
| 12 | Simple Bank System | MEDIUM | 74.3 | 61% | Array · Hash Table · Design |
| 13 | Minimum Window Substring | HARD | 74.3 | 45% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 14 | Shortest Path to Get All Keys | HARD | 74.3 | 54% | Array · Bit Manipulation · Breadth-First Search |
| 15 | Employee Free Time | HARD | 74.3 | 73% | Array · Line Sweep · Sorting |
| 16 | Contains Duplicate II | EASY | 72.4 | 49% | Array · Hash Table · Sliding Window |
| 17 | Word Search II | HARD | 72.4 | 37% | Array · String · Backtracking |
| 18 | Two Sum | EASY | 72.4 | 56% | Array · Hash Table |
| 19 | Add Two Numbers | MEDIUM | 72.4 | 46% | Linked List · Math · Recursion |
| 20 | Intersection of Two Linked Lists | EASY | 72.4 | 61% | Hash Table · Linked List · Two Pointers |
| 21 | Basic Calculator II | MEDIUM | 72.4 | 46% | Math · String · Stack |
| 22 | Maximum Candies You Can Get from Boxes | HARD | 72.4 | 69% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Graph |
| 23 | Contains Duplicate III | HARD | 70.4 | 24% | Array · Sliding Window · Sorting |
| 24 | Maximal Square | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 49% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Matrix |
| 25 | Robot Bounded In Circle | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 56% | Math · String · Simulation |
| 26 | Design File System | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 64% | Hash Table · String · Design |
| 27 | Number of Ways to Build House of Cards | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 62% | Math · Dynamic Programming |
| 28 | Convert Sorted Array to Binary Search Tree | EASY | 70.4 | 74% | Array · Divide and Conquer · Tree |
| 29 | Pyramid Transition Matrix | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 53% | Bit Manipulation · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 30 | Minimum Number of Vertices to Reach All Nodes | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 81% | Graph |
| 31 | Contains Duplicate | EASY | 70.4 | 63% | Array · Hash Table · Sorting |
| 32 | Valid Parentheses | EASY | 70.4 | 42% | String · Stack |
| 33 | Happy Number | EASY | 70.4 | 58% | Hash Table · Math · Two Pointers |
| 34 | House Robber | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 52% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 35 | IP to CIDR | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 55% | String · Bit Manipulation |
| 36 | Mini Parser | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 40% | String · Stack · Depth-First Search |
| 37 | Minimum Number of Flips to Convert Binary Matrix to Zero Matrix | HARD | 70.4 | 72% | Array · Hash Table · Bit Manipulation |
| 38 | Single Number | EASY | 70.4 | 76% | Array · Bit Manipulation |
| 39 | Regular Expression Matching | HARD | 70.4 | 29% | String · Dynamic Programming · Recursion |
| 40 | Merge k Sorted Lists | HARD | 70.4 | 57% | Linked List · Divide and Conquer · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 41 | Minimize Rounding Error to Meet Target | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 45% | Array · Math · String |
| 42 | Add Strings | EASY | 70.4 | 52% | Math · String · Simulation |
| 43 | Strings Differ by One Character | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 41% | Hash Table · String · Rolling Hash |
| 44 | Convert to Base -2 | MEDIUM | 70.4 | 61% | Math |
| 45 | Reverse Bits | EASY | 70.4 | 63% | Divide and Conquer · Bit Manipulation |
| 46 | Design Tic-Tac-Toe | MEDIUM | 59.5 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · Design |
| 47 | Subarray Product Less Than K | MEDIUM | 55.6 | 53% | Array · Binary Search · Sliding Window |
| 48 | Shortest Uncommon Substring in an Array | MEDIUM | 55.6 | 48% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 49 | Design Excel Sum Formula | HARD | 50.8 | 43% | Array · Hash Table · String |
| 50 | All O`one Data Structure | HARD | 44.8 | 44% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Airbnb OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE.
Get StealthCoder- array34 · 59%
- string20 · 34%
- hash table18 · 31%
- breadth first search11 · 19%
- matrix9 · 16%
- dynamic programming9 · 16%
- math9 · 16%
- design8 · 14%
- depth first search7 · 12%
- simulation6 · 10%
Arrays are non-negotiable here. 58 percent of problems touch arrays, often combined with strings (Text Justification), hash-tables (Palindrome Pairs), or DFS/BFS (Smallest Common Region). Hash-table problems appear in roughly 31 percent of the set, and BFS shows up frequently in graph and matrix traversals like Sliding Puzzle and Shortest Path to Get All Keys. The hard problems cluster around simulation, two pointers, and dynamic programming, meaning you'll need to drill Trapping Rain Water and Maximum Profit in Job Scheduling early. String and array overlap is real (Alien Dictionary, Minimum Window Substring), so don't treat them separately. Study two-pointer and sliding-window techniques across both domains. If you hit a wall on a problem mixing three or four topics during the live assessment, StealthCoder is your safety net, surfacing a working approach while you stay invisible to the proctor.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Airbnb, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Airbnb.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made by a working Amazon engineer who got tired of watching qualified friends bomb OAs they'd solve cold in an IDE. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Airbnb interview FAQ
How many array problems should I solve before the Airbnb interview?+
Array problems represent 59 percent of the reported set. Solve at least 20 to 25 distinct array problems, prioritizing Two Pointers (Trapping Rain Water), simulation (Text Justification), and hash-table combinations (Palindrome Pairs). Don't just grind count. Focus on pattern recognition across these three.
Is hash-table knowledge critical for Airbnb?+
Yes. Hash-table problems account for roughly 31 percent of the set and frequently appear alongside arrays and strings. Minimum Window Substring and Palindrome Pairs are textbook hash-table plus string/array hybrids. Drill sliding window with hash-maps early.
What should I study first: strings or arrays?+
Arrays first. They're 34 out of 58 problems and form the foundation for most string and hash-table problems. Master Two Pointers and simulation on arrays (Trapping Rain Water, Text Justification), then move to string overlaps (Alien Dictionary, Minimum Window Substring).
How many hard problems do I need to solve?+
18 of the 58 are hard. You should solve 8 to 12 hard problems under time pressure before the OA. Trapping Rain Water, Sliding Puzzle, and Alien Dictionary cover the major patterns. Medium problems (29 total) are your warm-up; don't skip them.
Are graph and BFS topics important for Airbnb?+
Moderately. BFS appears in 11 problems and DFS in 7. Most are paired with arrays or matrices (Sliding Puzzle, Shortest Path to Get All Keys, Smallest Common Region). Understand BFS for grid traversal and shortest-path problems, but prioritize arrays and two-pointer techniques first.