diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 592c941b8..b91e8827b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+v4.21.1
+=======
+
+* Slightly speed up the ``contains`` keyword by removing some unnecessary validator (re-)creation.
+
 v4.21.0
 =======
 
diff --git a/jsonschema/_keywords.py b/jsonschema/_keywords.py
index 69d7580b1..f30f95419 100644
--- a/jsonschema/_keywords.py
+++ b/jsonschema/_keywords.py
@@ -95,8 +95,10 @@ def contains(validator, contains, instance, schema):
     min_contains = schema.get("minContains", 1)
     max_contains = schema.get("maxContains", len(instance))
 
+    contains_validator = validator.evolve(schema=contains)
+
     for each in instance:
-        if validator.evolve(schema=contains).is_valid(each):
+        if contains_validator.is_valid(each):
             matches += 1
             if matches > max_contains:
                 yield ValidationError(
diff --git a/jsonschema/benchmarks/contains.py b/jsonschema/benchmarks/contains.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..739cd044c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jsonschema/benchmarks/contains.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+"""
+A benchmark for validation of the `contains` keyword.
+"""
+
+from pyperf import Runner
+
+from jsonschema import Draft202012Validator
+
+schema = {
+    "type": "array",
+    "contains": {"const": 37},
+}
+validator = Draft202012Validator(schema)
+
+size = 1000
+beginning = [37] + [0] * (size - 1)
+middle = [0] * (size // 2) + [37] + [0] * (size // 2)
+end = [0] * (size - 1) + [37]
+invalid = [0] * size
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    runner = Runner()
+    runner.bench_func("baseline", lambda: validator.is_valid([]))
+    runner.bench_func("beginning", lambda: validator.is_valid(beginning))
+    runner.bench_func("middle", lambda: validator.is_valid(middle))
+    runner.bench_func("end", lambda: validator.is_valid(end))
+    runner.bench_func("invalid", lambda: validator.is_valid(invalid))
diff --git a/noxfile.py b/noxfile.py
index 2bead0e86..2c611278b 100644
--- a/noxfile.py
+++ b/noxfile.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ def docs_style(session):
         for each in BENCHMARKS.glob("[!_]*.py")
     ],
 )
-def perf(session, benchmark):
+def bench(session, benchmark):
     """
     Run a performance benchmark.
     """