(Pictured: Adult bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed and are typically reddish brown. Their small size and ability to hide make them difficult to see during the day, so it’s important to look for the black, ink-like stains they can leave behind. Photo: Orkin)
ATLANTA – Baltimore tops this year’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list, released by Orkin. In the six years Orkin has released the bed bug city rankings, this is the first time Baltimore has made the top five, moving up nine spots since last year. Four metro regions — Las Vegas, Portland, Salt Lake City and Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem — made the list for the first time this year.
The list is based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatments from December 1, 2015 – November 30, 2016. This ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.
1. Baltimore | 26. Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (+4) |
2. Washington, D.C. | 27. Phoenix (-1) |
3. Chicago | 28. Denver (-6) |
4. Los Angeles (+2) | 29. Milwaukee |
5. Columbus, Ohio | 30. Hartford-New Haven, Conn. (+1) |
6. Cincinnati (+2) | 31. Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. (+5) |
7. Detroit | 32. Boston (-4) |
8. New York (-4) | 33. Syracuse, N.Y. (+7) |
9. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose | 34. Dayton, Ohio (-2) |
10. Dallas-Fort Worth (+5) | 35. St. Louis (+2) |
11. Indianapolis | 36. Seattle (-2) |
12. Philadelphia | 37. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (+9) |
13. Atlanta (+3) | 38. Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, M.I. (new to list) |
14. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio (-1) | 39. Omaha, N.E. (-6) |
15. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (-3) | 40. Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque, Iowa (-2) |
16. Richmond-Petersburg, Va. (-5) | 41. San Diego (new to list) |
17. Houston | 42. Lexington, Ky. (+1) |
18. Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va. (+2) | 43. Honolulu, Hawaii (+5) |
19. Charlotte, N.C. (-3) | 44. Louisville, Ky. (-3) |
20. Buffalo, N.Y. (-2) | 45. Las Vegas (+4) |
21. Knoxville, Tenn. | 46. Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem, N.C. (-4) |
22. Nashville, Tenn. (+1) | 47. New Orleans (new to list) |
23. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich. (+4) | 48. Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C. (-9) |
24. Pittsburgh | 49. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. (-14) |
25. Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. | 50. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. (new to list) |
“We have more people affected by bed bugs in the United States now than ever before,” says Orkin Entomologist and Director of Technical Services Ron Harrison, Ph.D., adding that bed bugs are a growing issue. “They were virtually unheard of in the U.S. 10 years ago,” he says.
According to a 2015 “Bugs without Borders Survey” by the National Pest Management Association, nearly all (99.6 percent) of pest professionals nationwide have treated bed bugs in the past year, up from five, 10 and 15 years ago.
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