Chicago holds No. 1 spot on Orkin's 2026 bed bug list for sixth straight year

Chicago topped Orkin's 2026 Bed Bug Cities List for at least the sixth consecutive year, based on treatment data the pest-control company collected from May 2025 through May 12, 2026. Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis rounded out the top five. Orkin released the rankings as U.S. summer travel volumes build, pointing to several high-traffic tourist destinations as newly active markets.

The cities in motion

Nashville and Oklahoma City each climbed 10 spots on this year's list. Tampa and Myrtle Beach, which Orkin described as cities expecting large visitor volumes for concerts, festivals and sporting events this summer, recorded increased bedbug activity. Youngstown, Omaha and Knoxville posted the largest declines.

Orkin attributed year-over-year shifts to what it called "the persistent and evolving nature of bedbug activity across the nation." The list tracks where Orkin performed the most residential and commercial treatments: a demand signal for pest control services rather than a direct population count of infestations.

A competing data set

A separate analysis from casino.ca, published earlier this summer, combined Orkin and Terminix treatment records with TripAdvisor hotel reviews and social media posts to estimate bedbug risk by state. Michigan ranked highest, followed by Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Hawaii and Oregon ranked lowest. Warren, Michigan, topped that report's city-level rankings; North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Madison, Wisconsin, also appeared among the biggest hot spots identified.

What the researchers say

Zachary DeVries, associate professor of urban entomology at the University of Kentucky, cautioned against reading city-level rankings as a complete map of exposure. Urban density and available pest control services push treatment volume toward cities, he noted, while rural residents may carry comparable risk with fewer options for resolving an infestation. Dini Miller, professor of urban pest management at Virginia Tech, has observed that locations draw bedbug attention partly because visitors arriving there are actively looking for signs. Orkin recommends that travelers inspect mattress seams, upholstered furniture and the area behind headboards, and use a sticky lint roller on clothing, upholstery and shoe bottoms to detect hitchhiking insects before departure.