With tick activity reaching alarming highs this summer, pest-control company Terminix included New Jersey in its first-ever ranking of the Top 25 Most Tick-Infested U.S. States.
Based on proprietary 2024 pest-management data, the report reveals which states are facing the greatest tick pressure and risk of tick-borne illnesses.
States like California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and New York are at the top of this list because of their warm climates, high humidity, and abundance of green spaces. New Jersey ranked seventh. New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. rank as the top five tick-infested cities in the country, indicating that densely populated areas are not removed from tick activity. Overall, the Northeastern region of the U.S. generally experiences the highest populations of ticks.
The findings correspond with data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which said this summer could be one of the worst tick seasons in recent years.
Nationwide emergency-room visits related to tick bites have soared to five-year highs this year, according to the CDC’s Tick Bite Data Tracker. In the Northeast, tick bites accounted for 283 ER visits per 100,000 during the peak month of May, up from 209 around the same period in 2024.
The CDC reported by July 6 that the number of emergency department visits for tick bites had already topped nearly 10 years of July records, with 92 visits per 100,000 reported across the nation. Children ages 0 to 9 and people over the age of 70 were the most frequent ER patients.
“This isn’t just a nuisance; tick activity is reaching new levels across the country, posing a serious and growing public health threat,” said Tom Dobrinska, technical service manager at Terminix. “Climate change continues to increase tick populations. As winters become milder and warm seasons increase in length, tick survival and risk for human exposure increase significantly.”
While not all ticks carry illness-causing pathogens, disease risk can vary by tick species. According to the CDC, Northeastern states like Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, as well as parts of the Upper Midwest, are often identified as the worst places for ticks in the U.S. due to their high rates of Lyme disease cases. The Southeast and Southcentral U.S. might see more cases of ehrlichiosis or spotted fever rickettsiosis.
