Atlanta Ranks in Top 20 For Bed Bugs

(Image: Orkin)

Atlanta is the 19th worst city in the nation for bedbugs, according to Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities ranking.

Chicago is No. 1, for the fourth year in a row.

The list ranks cities by the number of bed bug treatments Orkin serviced from January through December 2015 and after an Orkin inspection verified bed bugs were present. The list includes both residential and commercial treatments.

This is the first year Orlando has ranked on Orkin’s Bed Bug Cities List, and Philadelphia is on the list for the first time since 2011. Fourteen cities in the Midwest – more than any other region – are included in the ranking, including multiple cities in Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky.

Six cities made double-digit jumps on Orkin’s Bed Bug Cities List compared to 2014, including Washington, D.C., which jumped to third on the list. Several cities also dropped significantly in the past year, including Dayton, Ohio, Louisville, Ky. and Sacramento, Calif.

1. Chicago
2. Los Angeles (+2)
3. Washington, D.C. (+11)
4. New York (+14)
5. Columbus, Ohio (-2)
6. Philadelphia
7. Detroit (-5)
8. Cincinnati (-1)
9. Richmond-Petersburg, Va.
10. Baltimore (+21)
11. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. (+6)
12. Cleveland-Akron-Canton, Ohio (-7)
13. Dallas-Ft. Worth (-7)
14. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (+2)
15. Indianapolis (-4)
16. Charlotte, N.C. (+14)
17. Houston (-5)
18. Denver (-10)
19. Atlanta (+6)
20. Buffalo, N.Y. (+6)
21. Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, N.C. (+26)
22. Nashville, Tenn. (+1)
23. Phoenix (+9)
24. Knoxville, Tenn. (+10)
25. Boston-Manchester (+4)
26. Milwaukee (-11)
27. Dayton, Ohio (-17)
28. Seattle (-15)
29. Pittsburgh
30. Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.
31. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.
32. Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Crk., Mich. (-12)
33. Lexington, Ky. (-9)
34. Hartford-New Haven, Conn. (+3)
35. Charleston-Huntington, W.Va. (-16)
36. Omaha, Neb. (-15)
37. San Diego (+2)
38. Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Fla.
39. Louisville, Ky. (-17)
40. St. Louis (+6)
41. Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Dubuque, Iowa (-6)
42. Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (-4)
43. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (-10)
44. Kansas City, Mo. (-3)
45. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, Calif. (-18)
46. Syracuse, N.Y. (-18)
47. Colorado Springs-Pueblo, Colo. (-3)
48. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y. (-5)
49. Honolulu (-7)
50. Myrtle Beach-Florence, S.C. (-5)

While bed bugs are not known to spread human diseases like many other pests and some people have no reaction to bed bug bites, others may experience itchy red welts and swelling.

Since a resurgence in the late 1990s, bed bugs persist as a problem across the United States. According to recent surveys by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), 99.6 percent of pest professionals surveyed treated for bed bugs in 2015 and one out of five Americans has had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs at home or in a hotel.