Bed-Buggiest Cities: 3 Illinois Cities Make The List, One Is #1

As a life-long Illinois resident, I'll admit that I'm sometimes bothered by all the criticism that Illinois takes from the rest of the nation--especially when so much of it is true.

The things that we're number-one in aren't really the things you want to brag about as a state:

• Highest property taxes in the nation
• Highest cell phone taxes in the nation
• Highest unemployment in the Midwest
• Governors who are super-familiar with the layout of a prison cell

I could go on, but I don't want to depress myself or you. My point is that it would be nice to be number-one here in Illinois for something good, instead of property taxes, cellphone taxes, unemployment, incarcerated governors, and...rats and bedbugs.

For The 5th Straight Year, Chicago Has Been Named "Bedbug Capital Of America"

Chicago has topped Orkin's 2025 list of the nation's most bed bug-infested cities for the fifth consecutive year. The rankings are based on treatment data from May 15th, 2024, to May 14th, 2025, encompassing both residential and commercial bed bug treatments.

That title would be bad enough, until you consider that Chicago has also held the title of the most rat-infested city in the country for 6 straight years. Rats and bedbugs are really something that Chicago's tourism board would much rather leave off of their "Visit Chicago" brochures.

Now, in addition to Chicago's perennial appearance on the bedbugs list, we've got two other Illinois cities that have found their way onto Orkin's annual listing, and one of them landed in the top ten with Chicago.

Chicago May Be Number-One In The Nation When It Comes To Both Bedbugs And Rats, But Two Other Illinois Cities Are Also Having Bedbug Problems

Those two Illinois cities would be Champaign, which comes in at #9 in the entire country, and Peoria, which landed in Orkin's #33 spot. Here's the full top-50 list:

1. Chicago
2. Cleveland
3. Detroit
4. Los Angeles
5. Indianapolis
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Grand Rapids
8. Columbus, Ohio
9. Champaign
10. Milwaukee
11. Baltimore
12. Pittsburgh
13. Cincinnati
14. Denver
15. New York
16. Flint
17. Atlanta
18. St. Louis
19. Charleston, W. Va.
20. Cedar Rapids
21. Davenport
22. Youngstown
23. Raleigh, N.C.
24. Dallas
25. Philadelphia
26. Omaha
27. South Bend
28. Richmond
29. Knoxville
30. Greenville
31. Norfolk
32. Charlotte
33. Peoria
34. Oklahoma City
35. Hartford
36. Toledo
37. Buffalo
38. Fort Wayne
39. Seattle
40. Minneapolis
41. Miami
42. San Francisco
43. Dayton, Ohio
44. Nashville
45. Houston
46. Las Vegas
47. Boston
48. Lansing
49. San Diego
50. Syracuse