Jan 10th, 2018
Bedbugs travel from place to place and can make their way into homes, apartments, and even offices.
Orkin, a nationwide pest management company, released its annual list of cities with the most bedbug infestations. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., continue to rank the highest for infestations. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, joined the top 10 list this year.
Orkin based its list on treatment data from metro areas where it performed the most bedbug treatments from Dec. 1, 2016, to Nov. 30, 2017. The rankings include both residential and commercial treatments.
“The number of bedbug infestations in the United States is still rising,” says Tim Husen, an Orkin entomologist. “They continue to invade our homes and businesses on a regular basis because they are not seasonal pests, and only need blood to survive. … Any type of home is prone to budbegs. It has nothing to do with sanitation. We have treated for bedbugs everywhere, from newly built upscale homes to public housing.”
Here are how the 50 cities ranked for 2018:
1. Baltimore
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Chicago
4. Los Angeles (moved up 2 spots this year)
5. Columbus, Ohio
6. Cincinnati (+2 spots)
7. Detroit
8. New York (-4 spots)
9. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
10. Dallas-Fort Worth (+5 spots)
11. Indianapolis
12. Philadelphia
13. Atlanta (+3 spots)
14. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio (-1 spots)
15. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (-3 spots)
16. Richmond-Petersburg, Va. (-5 spots)
17. Houston
18. Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va. (+2 spots)
19. Charlotte, N.C. (-3 spots)
20. Buffalo, N.Y. (-2 spots)
21. Knoxville, Tenn.
22. Nashville, Tenn. (+1 spots)
23. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich. (+4 spots)
24. Pittsburgh
25. Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C.
26. Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (+4 spots)
27. Phoenix (-1 spots)
28. Denver (-6 spots)
29. Milwaukee
30. Hartford-New Haven, Conn. (+1 spots)
31. Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. (+5 spots)
32. Boston (-4 spots)
33. Syracuse, N.Y. (+7 spots)
34. Dayton, Ohio (-2 spots)
35. St. Louis (+2 spots)
36. Seattle (-2 spots)
37. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (+9 spots)
38. Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, M.I. (new to list)
39. Omaha, N.E. (-6 spots)
40. Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque, Iowa (-2 spots)
41. San Diego (new to list)
42. Lexington, Ky. (+1 spots)
43. Honolulu, Hawaii (+5 spots)
44. Louisville, Ky. (-3 spots)
45. Las Vegas (+4 spots)
46. Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C. (-4 spots)
47. New Orleans (new to list)
48. Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C. (-9 spots)
49. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. (-14 spots)
50. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. (new to list)
Source: Orkin
