Chicago Has Worst Bedbug Problem Driven By Global Warming

By Douglas McIntyre  •  September 13, 2025
Pixabay Pexels

Bedbugs, a major problem for hotels and airlines, have started to infiltrate people’s homes. They multiply at an alarming rate and can survive months without food. In beds and on other furniture, that food is human blood. Although their bites rarely cause serious disease, they can live for months or years in some areas. Their growing footprint in the US is partially due to climate change. They are active for months longer in warm areas than in cold regions. According to a new survey, Chicago is the city with the worst bedbug problem, which is well into the northern tier of US cities. 

Warm weather also raises the metabolism of bedbugs. They breed faster and spread more quickly. Warm weather also allows them to adapt more quickly to treatments to kill them.

Dangerous Insects Grow

According to Orkin, the city that has done the poorest job in eliminating bedbug spreading. Each year, Orkin releases a list of the cities with the largest pest problems. Chicago has topped the list five years in a row.  Among the top 10 cities on the Orkin list, seven are in the northern tier of US cities–Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Columbus, and Champlain. 

Bedbuds are among a growing number of insects that have a larger footprint in the US because of rising global warming temperatures. Among the most dangerous are certain mosquitoes that spread West Nile Virus, and ticks that carry Lyme Disease. 

The bedbug spread is another example that the warming trend in the US is not benign.

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