The City of Brotherly Love beat out the Steel City on a list no one wanted to top.
Philadelphia came in at No.1 on Terminix’s ranking of the top 50 most bedbug-infested cities in the country. Further down the list, Pittsburgh landed at No. 16, while Harrisburg came in at 27th to round out the Pennsylvania’s representation.
Philly reclaimed its No. 1 standing, which it last held in 2014. It knocked out Cleveland from the top spot, which had spent the past two years as No. 1 on the list.
Overall, Ohio dominated the list with six cities on the list, including Cincinnati (5th), Cleveland (7th) and Columbus (11th). And watch out if you’re vacationing in the Sunshine State, as five Florida cities made the list.
New York City was second overall and Dallas-Fort Worth was third.
Earlier this month, bedbugs infested the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, closing it for several days.
One woman reported being bit 102 times by the pests while on the Incline.
The company warned that research shows that 22% of Americans have had a bedbug encounter, and the odds are higher for those with children at 35%.
Traveling often unknowingly exposes people to the pests, as they can easily hitchhike from place to place via personal belongings. The company advises people to check hotel rooms for signs of the bugs and to wash clothes in warm water and then toss in the dryer when returning home.
Terminix shared some signs that might indicate a bedbug presence, including reddish-brown blood spots on your sheets or mattress, small blood smears on sheets, a strong, musty odor and seeing the the bedbugs themselves.
Terminix based its rankings on the number of services rendered in each city. The rankings are bases on data gathered from April 2018 to 2019 from more than 300 Terminix branches.
