Bedbugs like Philly more than most U.S. cities

First came the rats. Now, the bedbugs.

According to an annual report released this week by pest control company Orkin, Philadelphia ranks third in the country among cities with the most bedbugs. The news follows the city’s sixth-place ranking on a list of most popular cities for rats in the country.

“Bedbugs are extremely resilient, making them difficult to control,” Ben Hottel, Orkin entomologist, said in a statement.

The bedbug list is based on metropolitan areas where the company performed the most bedbug treatments in commercial and residential spaces between Dec. 1, 2022, and Nov. 30, 2023.

Philadelphia’s place on the list didn’t change compared to last year, but has ticked up in the rankings over the last few years. When the list came out in 2021, Philadelphia took 14th place among the cities, and then jumped to second place in 2022, before coming down to its current ranking.

Among the top 50 cities with the most bedbug treatments, new to the list this year were Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and Las Vegas.

The top 10 U.S. cities for bedbug infestation are:

1. Chicago, Ill.

2. New York, N.Y.

3. Philadelphia, Pa.

4. Cleveland-Akron, Ohio

5. Los Angeles, Calif.

6. Detroit, Mich.

7. Washington, D.C.

8. Indianapolis, Ind.

9. Charlotte, N.C.

10. Champaign, Ill.

Bedbugs aren’t a new problem for Philadelphia.

In 2015, SEPTA received 31 complaints about insects on board transit vehicles, around the time a photo went viral that purported to show a bedbug on a bus. In 2018, a video of what were alleged to be bedbugs on a SEPTA bus seat caught the attention of many. At the time, SEPTA was in the process of overhauling its upholstered seats on buses, switching to plastic which is harder for the bugs to scale, according to Billy Penn.

Throughout the years, Philadelphia has also taken measures to mitigate its issue.

The city established a bedbug task force after Councilmember Mark Squilla got bedbugs himself in 2014. Then in 2019, new rules were passed which put the responsibility of investigating and remediating a bed bug infestation on landlords.

Bedbugs can be seen by the human eye, are 3/16 of an inch long, and can range from red to brown in color. The bugs are mostly active at night when people are sleeping, and they can access their food source — blood.

Orkin recommends routinely checking a home for bedbugs. To do so, they advise to look in places bedbugs tend to hide. These places include on mattress tags and seams and behind baseboards, headboards, and picture frames.

Bedbugs can travel by attaching themselves to clothing, luggage, or furniture. To avoid bringing them home, Orkin recommends:

Local exterminators can be found through an online tool from the National Pest Management Association.

Ian Williams, technical services manager at Orkin, told The Inquirer last year that while waiting for an exterminator, people can take steps to help the situation: