The 2026 U.S. Wasp Pressure Index

Detroit faces more wasp pressure than any other large U.S. metro in 2026, according to the Pestcura Wasp Pressure Index — a ranking of 52 major U.S. media markets by two measurable signals: how intensely residents search for wasp help, and what pest-control advertisers pay for a customer call in that market. Portland, Virginia Beach, Cincinnati, and Dallas–Fort Worth round out the top five.

The pattern is the story. Wasp pressure in America concentrates in northern and midwestern metros, not the Sun Belt: the top ten includes Detroit, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Cleveland, while Phoenix ranks 45th of 52, Miami 42nd, and New York 51st. That inversion of the usual pests-love-heat assumption is consistent with the biology — the University of Maryland Extension describes the arc plainly: “The nest population gradually increases until it reaches its largest number of wasps by late summer or early autumn.” That is exactly when northern search demand spikes.

The five metros that clear 60 on both axes are, precisely, the top five. Every number in this ranking traces to one of two sources: Google Trends metro-level search data pulled August 15, 2026, or Pestcura’s own network of ZIP-level advertiser bid tables. The full methodology — including what this index does not measure — is published below.

The 2026 index: 25 U.S. metros ranked

Scores are 0–100 composites: 60% search demand, 40% advertiser call value. Fifty-two metros were evaluated; the top 25 are published.

1. Metros with identical one-decimal scores (Cleveland–Milwaukee at 55.1; Denver–Orlando at 46.4) are listed alphabetically; the underlying differences are inside the index’s sampling noise.
2. One media market = one row: Dallas–Fort Worth includes both cities; Los Angeles includes Riverside. Figures reflect each metro’s full media market (Nielsen DMA).

The top ten, city by city

1. Detroit, MI — 84.1.No metro comes close on demand. Detroit is the only city in the index to hit the demand ceiling (100.0), and it does it with corroboration: the highest “wasp exterminator” and the highest “wasp nest removal” readings of any of the 52 metros, elevated at the same time. This is not a one-term fluke — every commercial term we track runs hot in Detroit, and in our August 2026 national pull, the neighboring Flint–Saginaw market posted the most intense wasp-removal search interest in the country. Michigan isn’t just first; it’s first with company. Median advertiser call value: $105.

2. Portland, OR — 76.2. Portland takes the opposite route: solid demand (65.6) multiplied by a $125 median advertiser call value — second only to Atlanta’s $130. When residents search and the market pays, that’s pressure on both axes at once. Homeowners on the receiving end can start with wasp and stinging-insect removal in Portland.

3. Virginia Beach, VA — 70.8.The only Atlantic-coast metro in the top five, and the most balanced entry in it — 67.2 demand, 76.2 call value, neither axis carrying the other. Virginia appears twice in the top 16: Richmond, at No. 16, is tied with Cincinnati for the second-highest demand score in the entire index. Median call value in the Virginia Beach market: $115.

4. Cincinnati, OH — 70.1.Cincinnati is the demand story after Detroit — 76.6, tied with Richmond for second-highest of all 52 metros. Ohio places three metros in the top 25 — Cincinnati, Cleveland (No. 10), and Columbus (No. 17) — second only to Texas, which places four. Median call value: $105.

5. Dallas–Fort Worth, TX — 68.9. The highest-ranked Sun Belt metro, and the exception that proves the northern rule: 64.1 demand and a $115 median call value, strong on both axes. The market here spans Dallas and Fort Worth — one media market, one row. North Texas is also the one top-five market where Pestcura runs live seasonal disease surveillance: see the North Texas mosquito report.

6. Atlanta, GA — 67.2. Atlanta carries the single highest advertiser call value in the index — a $130 median top bid, the ceiling every other metro is scaled against. Search demand is mid-table (45.3); what puts Atlanta sixth is what the market pays when the call comes. Start with wasp and stinging-insect removal in Atlanta.

7. Minneapolis, MN — 59.8.A short season doesn’t mean low pressure. Measured across a full trailing year, Minneapolis demand (59.4) outruns Houston’s, Atlanta’s, Jacksonville’s, and Orlando’s — the late-summer spike in the Upper Midwest is that steep. Median call value: $105.

8. Houston, TX — 58.4. A price-driven entry: demand is modest (35.9), but the $125 median call value — second only to Atlanta — gives Houston the same price score as Portland. When advertisers pay Portland prices in a Texas metro, the calls behind those bids are real. Wasp and stinging-insect removal in Houston.

9. Kansas City, MO — 56.9.Kansas City anchors the index’s most striking pricing pattern: ten of the top 25 metros — every one of them in the Midwest or Rust Belt — share an identical $105 median call value. Advertisers, in aggregate, price this entire region inside a one-dollar band, and within that band KC sits fourth on demand, behind only Detroit, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis.

10. Cleveland, OH — 55.1.Cleveland and Milwaukee land in a dead heat — identical 55.1 scores from identical component profiles (51.6 demand, 60.3 call value, $105 median) — and are listed alphabetically. Cleveland is Ohio’s second top-ten metro; only Texas matches that.

The bottom of the table

If wasp pressure tracked heat, Phoenix (45th of 52), Miami (42nd), and Tucson (dead last) would top this table. They anchor its bottom instead, alongside New York at 51st. Two honest notes on reading that: this is a wasp index by construction — its search basket is wasp-specific, so bee pressure never enters the score (bee and hive issues are covered separately under bee removal) — and a low rank means low relative search intensity, not an absence of wasps. The pattern is still loud: the American wasp problem, measured by who is actually asking for help and what the market pays to answer, lives in the North and the Midwest.

How the index is built

The Pestcura Wasp Pressure Index scores 52 major U.S. media markets and publishes the top 25. Each metro’s score is a 0–100 composite of two axes: Score = 0.6 × Demand + 0.4 × Price.

Demand (60%).Google Trends, metro (DMA) level, trailing 12 months, pulled August 15, 2026, across a five-term basket: “wasp exterminator,” “wasp nest removal,” and “wasp removal” (commercial intent), plus “wasp nest” and “wasps” (informational). The three commercial terms enter as a median — a deliberate robustness choice, so no city can ride a single anomalous term value up the table. The two informational terms enter as a mean. The two groups blend 50/50, and the blend is rescaled linearly so the highest metro (Detroit) reads 100 and the lowest (Miami) reads 0.

Price (40%).The axis nobody else publishes: what pest-control advertisers actually bid for a customer call, by geography. Pestcura’s network bid tables — more than 40,000 named-ZIP bid records nationwide, spot schedule, May 2026 snapshot — aggregate to a median top bid for each metro’s anchor city. No advertiser is named and no individual bid is exposed; only the metro median is published. Medians rescale linearly from the lowest in the set (Baltimore, $67) to the highest (Atlanta, $130).

Why the blend matters.Richmond is tied for the second-highest demand score in the entire index (76.6) but carries one of its lowest anchor-city medians ($71) — it lands 16th, not 2nd. Demand tells you who’s asking; price tells you what answering is worth. Pressure is both.

One media market counts as one metro: Dallas–Fort Worth is a single row, Los Angeles includes Riverside, and San Francisco includes San Jose. The index re-ranks annually at this URL.

What this index does not measure

• Trends values are relative search interest, not infestation counts or call volumes. Google samples its data, so small values can wobble between pulls; the top-ten ordering rests on large, corroborated gaps, not ±2 noise.
• The price axis is Pestcura network data — real advertiser bids, but one network’s, from a May 2026 snapshot — and it prices pest-control calls generally, not wasp calls specifically.
• We know of no public dataset that counts wasp infestations by city, which is why this page does not claim to rank the most infested cities. It ranks pressure: measured demand and measured market price, nothing else — no treatment counts, no trade-association statistics.
• A media-market merge can flatter or dilute a metro: Fort Worth’s searches count toward the Dallas row, Riverside’s toward Los Angeles.

If your city made this list

Late summer is when the problem peaks — the University of Maryland Extension puts it directly: “The nest population gradually increases until it reaches its largest number of wasps by late summer or early autumn.” Professional wasp nest removal typically runs $150 to $1,200, with a national average around $525 (HomeGuide, updated February 2026). The worst DIY mistake is sealing a nest opening: the University of Minnesota Extension is emphatic, in capital letters — “DO NOT seal the nest opening until you know all of the yellowjackets are dead, as this can also cause yellowjackets to move into your house.” For species identification, timing, and what professionals actually do differently, see the full wasp nest removal guide— or skip straight to a licensed local pro.

Sources

• Google Trends— metro-level (DMA) search interest, trailing 12 months; pulled August 15, 2026.
• Pestcura network advertiser bid tables— May 2026 snapshot, aggregated metro medians only.
• University of Maryland Extension — Social Wasps: Yellowjackets, Hornets, and Paper Wasps. Source of the late-summer colony-peak quotation. extension.umd.edu
• University of Minnesota Extension — Wasps and Bees. Source of the do-not-seal-the-nest-opening warning. extension.umn.edu
• HomeGuide — Wasp & Hornet Nest Removal Cost (revision dated February 9, 2026). Source of the $150–$1,200 range and the $525 national average. homeguide.com
• Pestcura — Wasp Nest Removal in 2026: When DIY Works and When It Doesn’t

Pestcura is a nationwide network connecting homeowners to licensed local pest control professionals; we do not perform pest control services. This index is an editorial data compilation for public information. Rankings reflect measured search demand and advertiser bid data only, and are not a measure of infestation rates or public-health risk.