Philly No Longer America’s Top Bedbug City

Good news: Philly is no longer America’s top bedbug city. Detroit claims the honors in the latest rankings from Terminix, the pest-extermination company.

The bad news: We didn’t slip very far: After four years on top, Philly only dropped to No. 2 this year.

But don’t feel too bad, Philly: There are lots of bedbugs everywhere these days.

“We’ve seen a steady increase in bed bugs since the 1990s,” Paul Curtis, Terminix’s manager of technical services, said in a statement accompanying the rankings.

The company’s list was compiled by compiling data from the more than 300 Terminix branches across the country. The rankings represent Metropolitan Statistical Areas with the highest volume of calls during 2015. Which means the suburbs are included in Philly’s rankings.

The ranking is no joking matter to city officials: In 2014, Councilman Mark Squilla called for hearings on the bedbug infestation of Philadelphia.

“If you have a person who is on a fixed income, and they found out they have bed bugs, the cost could be thousands of dollars in extermination fees, not counting materials you might have to buy to encase your mattresses and get rid of some of the stuff you have,” he said.

Of course, bedbugs don’t just afflict beds: Last month, two branches of the Free Library temporarily shut down due to bedbug infestation.

But hey: We’re no longer No. 1. Coming in second-place has never felt so non-itchingly good.