Top 25 ‘Roachiest’ Cities in America

IMAGE: PEST GNOME

Austin, Texas-based Pest Gnome, part of the Home Gnome family of home service databases, recently went through data from the Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics as well as climate info to come up with the Top 25 Roachiest Cities in America.

The top city on the list is Houston, Texas, with 37 percent of homes showing signs of these pests in the past 12 months. The data showed that heat and humidity were the main causes of two of the most common types of cockroach species showing up in Houston: the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) and German cockroach (Blattella germanica).

San Antonio, Texas, landed at No. 2 on the list with about 28 percent of homes showing signs of cockroaches in the past 12 months. Tampa, Fla., Phoenix, Ariz., and Las Vegas, Nev., rounded the Top 5.

Check out the interactive map and the full list of the Top 25 Roachiest Cities:

1. Houston, Texas
2. San Antonia, Texas
3. Tampa, Fla.
4. Phoenix, Ariz.
5. Las Vega, Nev.
6. Miami, Fla.
7. Atlanta, Ga.
8. Birmingham, Ala.
9. Dallas, Texas
10. Oklahoma City, Okla.
11. New York, N.Y.
12. Richmond, Va.
13. Los Angeles, Calif.
14. Washington, D.C.
15. Philadelphia, Pa.
16. Baltimore, Md.
17. Riverside, Calif.
18. Chicago, Ill.
19. Minneapolis, Minn.
20. San Jose, Calif.
21. Boston, Mass.
22. Detroit, Mich.
23. San Francisco, Calif.
24. Rochester, N.Y.
25. Seattle, Wash.

Pest Gnome synthesized data from U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 25 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) to arrive at these rankings. The Census Bureau survey was released in 2023.

The city that earned the highest average score was ranked as No. 1, or the “Roachiest,” and the lowest average score as No. 25, or “Least Roachy.”

IMAGE: PEST GNOME