St. Louis Has a Big Old Bedbug Problem

Don't tell those out-of-town guests about to take up residence for the holidays, but St. Louis has a bad bedbug problem that's only getting bigger.

A new study by pest control company Terminix ranked the metro area the No. 11 "top bed bug city" in the U.S. That's five spots higher (or is that lower?) than our No. 16 ranking in 2017. The ranking is based on the number of bed bug calls to service the national exterminator handled in the last twelve months.

Making this bad news even worse? The Terminix study is not per capita — so it's not like the St. Louis area's relatively modest size made it easier for us to catapult to the top. No, we're No. 11 overall in terms of the number of bed bug interventions needed, beating out much bigger cities like (gulp) Chicago.

Below is Terminix's list of the top 25 offenders. And if you're dispirited by our worsening infestation, consider this: At least we're not Cleveland, No. 1 on the list for the second year in a row. Yikes!

1. Cleveland
2. Philadelphia
3. Los Angeles
4. Indianapolis
5. Cincinnati
6. Dallas-Fort Worth
7. New York
8. Columbus, Ohio
9. Houston
10. Dayton, Ohio
11. St. Louis
12. Chicago
13. Detroit
14. Atlanta
15. San Francisco
16. Baltimore
17. Tampa, Fla.
18. Washington, D.C.
19. Louisville, Ky.
20. Phoenix
21. Nashville, Tenn.
22. Pittsburgh
23. Memphis, Tenn.
24. Boston
25. Denver

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