’50 Bedbug Cities’ list: Find out where DC and Baltimore rank

WASHINGTON — For the third year in a row, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. have festered atop a pest control company’s “Top 50 Bedbug Cities” list.

The list, compiled by Orkin, doesn’t count the number of the “normally nocturnal insects that come out of hiding to take blood meals from sleeping or quietly resting humans,” but ranks cities where it performs residential and commercial treatments.

“Bedbugs are the number one urban pest in many cities today,” Chelle Hartzer, an Orkin entomologist, said in a news release. “No one is immune. Sanitation has nothing do with prevention: from public transit to five star resorts, bedbugs have been and can be found everywhere humans are.”

Causing itchy bites, bedbugs are capable of multiplying quickly. An adult female lays two to five eggs per day — up to 500 in her lifetime, according to Orkin.

Adult bed begs are the size of an apple seed and are typically reddish brown. In attempting to determine whether they are present, experts suggest looking for blood stains on pillows and sheets, and inky-black bedbug excrement stains on sheets, mattresses, and bed clothes.

Getty Images/iStockphoto/tifonimages

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Getty Images/iStockphoto/marchello74

AP Photo/John Antczak

AP Photo/Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Travelpix Ltd/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images

AP Photo/John Minchillo

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File

Getty/Thinkstock

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

(1/10)

Share This Gallery:

• Share This:
• share on facebook
• share on X
• share on threads
• share on linkedin
• share on email
• print

Here’s the complete “Orkin’s Top 50 Bedbug Cities” list:

• 1. Baltimore
• 2. Washington, D.C.
• 3. Chicago
• 4. Los Angeles
• 5. Columbus, Ohio
• 6. New York (+2)
• 7. Cincinnati (-1)
• 8. Detroit (-1)
• 9. Atlanta (+4)
• 10. Philadelphia (+2)
• 11. Cleveland-Akron (+3)
• 12. San Francisco (-3)
• 13. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (+2)
• 14. Indianapolis (-3)
• 15. Dallas (-5)
• 16. Norfolk, Va. (+2)
• 17. Richmond, Va. (-1)
• 18. Greenville, S.C. (+7)
• 19. Charlotte, N.C.
• 20. Grand Rapids, Mich. (+3)
• 21. Buffalo, N.Y. (-1)
• 22. Knoxville, Tenn. (-1)
• 23. Nashville, Tenn. (-1)
• 24. Champaign, Ill. (+2)
• 25. Pittsburg (-1)
• 26. Houston (-9)
• 27. Denver (+1)
• 28. Milwaukee (+1)
• 29. Miami (+8)
• 30. Louis (+5)
• 31. Charleston, W.Va.
• 32. Lansing, Mich. (new to list)
• 33. Syracuse, N.Y.
• 34. Phoenix (-7)
• 35. Tampa, Fla. (+14)
• 36. Greensboro, N.C. (+10)
• 37. Omaha, Neb. (+2)
• 38. Boston (-6)
• 39. Seattle (-3)
• 40. Las Vegas (+5)
• 41. Orlando, Fla. (new to list)
• 42. Davenport, Ill. (new to list)
• 43. Hartford, Conn. (-13)
• 44. Cedar Rapids, Iowa (-4)
• 45. Dayton, Ohio (-11)
• 46. Honolulu (-3)
• 47. Flint, Mich. (-9)
• 48. Wayne, Ind. (new to list)
• 49. San Diego (-8)
• 50. Youngstown, Ohio (new to list)