As people prepare to travel for summer vacation, a top pest-control company is revealing the U.S. cities where you’re likely to encounter bedbugs.
Bedbugs are small insects that feed on blood and live near humans or animals, favoring places we sleep or rest, such as beds, couches and nearby furniture. They can cause itchy bites, skin irritation, and in some cases, allergic reactions.
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Chicago once again topped the list of Orkin’s 2026 Bed Bug Cities List, retaining the pest control and extermination company’s number one ranking as America’s city where it performed the most bedbug treatments.
Orkin announced last year that the Windy City had held onto its spot as the most bedbug-infested city in the nation for the fifth consecutive year.
Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis rounded out the top five this year. Popular tourist hot spots Tampa and Myrtle Beach experienced increased bedbug activity, Orkin reported.
"Many cities where bedbug activity has been the worst in the last year are also some of the country’s most popular travel destinations and are expected to welcome large numbers of visitors for major concerts, festivals and sporting events throughout the summer and beyond," Orkin announced in a press release.
Nashville and Oklahoma City each climbed 10 spots on this year’s list, the company said, while Youngstown, Omaha and Knoxville recorded some of the largest declines.
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According to Orkin, "These year-over-year changes highlight the persistent and evolving nature of bedbug activity across the nation."
The rankings are based on treatment data from metro areas where Orkin performed the most bedbug treatments from May 2025 to May 12, 2026, and includes both residential and commercial bedbug treatments.
A report by casino.ca released earlier this summer ranked Michigan as the state with the highest estimated risk of encountering bedbugs, followed by Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Fox News Digital previously reported. Hawaii and Oregon ranked lowest on the list.
Warren, Michigan, topped the list of U.S. cities, with North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Madison, Wisconsin, also ranking among the biggest hot spots, according to the report.
The casino.ca analysis combined bedbug data from Orkin and Terminix with TripAdvisor hotel reviews, treatment records and social-media posts to estimate travelers' risk of encountering bedbugs.
While such reports "make for fun reads," Zachary DeVries, associate professor of urban entomology at the University of Kentucky, previously cautioned Fox News Digital against putting too much stock in them.
"The main problem I have with these [rankings] is they make it seem like urban areas have all the bedbug problems, but from some recent work we’ve done and anecdotal reports, we know bedbugs can show up anywhere — urban, suburban or rural," he said.
"In fact, while people are more packed together in urban areas and thus more likely to bump into bedbugs, those living in rural areas may have less access to good pest control services and thus may find it more difficult to get rid of bedbugs," he added.
Dini Miller, professor of urban pest management at Virginia Tech, told Fox News Digital that places tend to get attention for bedbugs when people are visiting and looking for them.
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Experts recommend inspecting mattress seams, upholstered furniture and behind headboards for bedbugs while traveling.
They also suggest using a sticky lint roller on clothing, upholstery and the bottoms of shoes to help detect hitchhiking bed bugs.
from Health News Today on Fox News https://ift.tt/GbuMj6h
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