Not only does Chicago hold the murder capital title for 2012, but they have achieved an even higher honor – bed bug capital of the U.S. They edged out Jimski’s Cincinnati by a bug’s leg. Maybe next year. Rahm must be so proud. Maybe they should ban beds. Philly fell off the list because the beds in West Philly are so disgusting, even the bed bugs won’t go near them.
America’s Top Bedbug Cities Named
by Brian Rademaekers | January 16, 2013 at 2:04 PM
Chicago has beat out Cincinnati for a dubious, itchy distinction – top U.S. city for bedbugs.
That’s according to a new list released by the pest control company Orkin, which looked at bedbug service calls made across the country in 2012 to rank the top 50 cities.
And while the Windy City jumped from the number two spot in 2011 to number one in 2012, Orkin says the bedbug-killing business is up nearly 33 percent nationally for their parent company, Rollins. In all, Rollins runs eight U.S. pest control companies, including Orkin.
Also hard hit was the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, which jumped 14 spots to land at number 13 overall among the country’s top bedbug hotspots.
Orkin says Indianapolis, Omaha, Milwaukee, Hartford-New Haven, Knoxville, Charleston-Huntington, Cedar Rapids-Waterloo and Minneapolis also saw notable spikes over the last year.
The list wasn’t all bad news: Atlanta, Honolulu, Charlotte and Las Vegas all dropped significantly, Orkin’s numbers show.
Some cities – including Philadelphia and Salt Lake City – were on the 2011 list, but improved enough in 2012 to be dropped from the top 50.
“This list shows that bedbugs continue to be a problem throughout the U.S.,” Orkin says in a statement accompanying the list.
Orkin says adult bedbugs resemble apple seeds in size and color; newly-hatched babies are as small as a pinhead and pale in color.
Here’s a look at the complete top 50 list:
The following cities are ranked in order of the number of bedbug treatments Orkin performed from January to December 2012 along with their shift, if any, in ranking compared to January to December 2011.
1. Chicago (+1)
2. Detroit (+1)
3. Los Angeles (+2)
4. Denver
5. Cincinnati (-4)
6. Columbus, Ohio
7. Washington, D.C. (+1)
8. Cleveland/Akron/Canton (+5)
9. Dallas/Ft. Worth (-2)
10. New York (-1)
11. Dayton, Ohio (+4)
12. Richmond/Petersburg, Va. (-2)
13. Seattle/Tacoma (+14)
14. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose (-2)
15. Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville, N.C. (+4)
16. Indianapolis (+15)
17. Omaha, Neb. (+11)
18. Houston (-7)
19. Milwaukee (+13)
20. Baltimore (-2)
21. Syracuse, N.Y. (+2)
22. Boston (-8)
23. Colorado Springs/Pueblo, Colo. (+2)
24. Lexington, Ky. (-2)
25. Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (-1)
26. Hartford/New Haven, Conn. (+10)
27. Knoxville, Tenn. (+11)
28. Buffalo, N.Y. (+1)
29. Atlanta (-8)
30. Louisville, Ky. (+5)
31. Charleston/Huntington, W. Va. (+18)
32. San Diego, Calif. (-6)
33. Cedar Rapids/Waterloo, Iowa (+12)
34. Minneapolis/St. Paul (+12)
35. Phoenix (-1)
36. Pittsburgh (-6)
37. Honolulu (-19)
38. Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Mich. (+1)
39. Grand Junction/Montrose, Colo. (-1)
40. Nashville, Tenn.
41. Lincoln/Hastings/Kearney, Neb. (+7)
42. Albany/Schenectady/Troy, N.Y. (+2)
43. Charlotte (-10)
44. Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla.
45. Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, Calif. (-4)
46. Las Vegas (-30)
47. Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, S.C.
48. Champaign/Springfield, Ill.
49. Portland, Or.
50. Sioux City, Iowa
Source: Orkin
