[Bed Bug Supplement] The Resurgence and Status Of Bed Bugs In The United States

Editor's note: The research on the following pages was compiled by Gary Curl of Specialty Products Consultants, Mendham, N.J. Founded in 2000, SPC is a market research company dedicated exclusively to the professional pesticide industry. To reach Curl, e-mail him at gcurl@giemedia.com.
 

This report examines the rising status of bed bugs at the national and regional level. The five regions, respectively, include the following states:

• Northeast — Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Vermont.
• Southeast — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
• Midwest — Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
• South Central — Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
• West — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

To obtain the comprehensive data needed for this bed bug market assessment, SPC employed a two-fold approach. The quantitative core was provided by a survey of professional pest control operators throughout the United States, which was supplemented by in-depth, quantitative and qualitative information obtained from various industry sources.

SPC commissioned The Olson Research Group, Ewing, N.J., to conduct the survey. The survey comprised a representative national sample of 801 pest control operators. Sample selection was carried out at the state level, so that the universe of pest control companies within each state was sampled in a representative manner. The interviews were conducted from early November 2010 through early March 2011. In total, 27 percent of the respondents in the 2010 survey were participants in the 2009 survey.

Data were collected primarily by means of telephone interviews with owners or managers of the pest control companies sampled. A total of 275 surveys (34.3 percent) were completed online. Care was taken to assure consistency between the data collected from the telephone interviews and that collected from the online responses. Survey participants received a cash incentive to encourage accurate reporting and as a token of appreciation for their time and information. These interviews were supplemented by in-person and telephone interviews with leading pest control companies and other industry experts to obtain additional, in-depth information complementing the survey data.

All estimates of industry revenue are projections based on the survey data.

To see the data charts, click here.