Are bedbugs a growing problem in Cedar Rapids?

Cedar Rapids has moved up on a list that may make your skin crawl. Orkin published its latest Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list on June 30. Cedar Rapids jumped up 19 spots to number 20, signaling increased bedbug activity in the City of Five Seasons. Davenport occupies number 21 on the list, moving up eight spots from the year before.

The list is compiled using treatment data from metro areas where Orkin performed the most bedbug treatments — residential and commercial — from May 15, 2024 to May 14, 2025.

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Lindsay Trebon, owner of Bed Bug and Beyond in Jesup services all of the major cities in Iowa, including Cedar Rapids and Davenport. She said Cedar Rapids has the most bedbug activity of all of the metro areas she services, and it’s rising, especially in apartment complexes where bedbugs can easily spread.

Trebon, who has operated her company for four years, said language barriers lead to a “snowball effect” with bedbug infestations.

“So then what happens is a person has bedbugs, and they don’t know how to tell someone that they have bedbugs, so then they’re living with them for six months, one year, two years,” Trebon said. “Well, when that happens, then it starts to spread and it goes to other units.”

As homelessness in Cedar Rapids has increased, Trebon said that she’s seen an increase in bedbugs in areas where unhoused people shelter for the night.

“They sleep in the hallways. If they have bedbugs on them, then they go into the units,” she said.

Summer is a hot time of year for bedbugs, followed by the weeks following winter holidays.

“Make sure you’re removing your bedding every couple of weeks and running it through the washer and dryer so you can keep an eye on your bed to make sure that you’re not seeing anything on there,” Trebon said. “The sooner you can catch it, the cheaper it is.”

Resources for bedbug removal in Linn County are sparse

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Bedbug removal is a costly treatment, and Trebon said that the seriousness of bedbug infestations is downplayed.

“And there’s no resources there for bedbug remediation really because people who give out those resources don’t see bedbugs as an issue because they don’t carry any type of transmittable disease,” Trebon said.

In June 2024, Linn County Public Health partnered with Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity and Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) to offer residents and landlords financial assistance for home repairs to address lead, mold and pest control.

The program was funded with $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, said Ruby Perin, healthy homes branch supervisor with Linn County Public Health. Of that, $50,000 was set aside to assist residents with infestations of rodents, bedbugs or cockroaches. The remaining $250,000 was used for lead pipes and other home repairs.

The need for pest removal was so great, Perin said, that two months later, the program had to limit pest remediation funding to only cockroach and bedbug infestations.

“Nobody likes living with bugs and they have the stigma that you’re not clean,” Perin said of bedbugs. “Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with cleanliness.”

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“We’ve gotten into several properties with our Safe Home Program that we were able to remediate and get rid of the bedbugs. A lot of those were owner occupied, that were elderly people that had no resources and they were living with the bedbugs,” Perin said.

Bed Bug and Beyond conducted pest removal for the program.

The Safe Home Program quickly ran out of funding, Perin said, and according to Linn County’s website, the program is no longer available.

The Code Enforcement Division of Cedar Rapids’ Building Services Department receives complaints relating to pest infestations.

“Most of the complaints are from tenants in rental housing,” Buelow said in an email to The Gazette. “Owner-occupied properties are less likely to report to (the) Code Enforcement Division if they have a pest infestation, although our department does get some referrals from various sources like other family members, neighbors, first responders or health care providers.”

In 2024, the city received 39 pest infestation complaints, the most in the past five years. These complaints included infestations of cockroaches, rodents, bedbugs and fleas.

In 2021, the city received 15 complaints, the least in the past five years. Between Jan. 1 and June 30 this year, the city has received 14 complaints.

“Most complaints are resolved through voluntary compliance, but our staff has had to write violations for bedbugs and further follow-up on six cases in 2022, two cases in 2023, 30 cases in 2024, and two cases through June 30 of this year,” Buelow said.

What to do if you find bedbugs in your home

First, exercise caution when traveling and inspect clothing and luggage to ensure bedbugs didn’t come home with you. Buelow advised installing a protective cover on your mattress and box spring to make it easier to detect bedbugs and prevent them from infesting the furniture.

“Sanitation is often an issue with bedbugs as they can thrive and hide in clutter,” Buelow said. “Seal cracks and crevices in walls, baseboards and furniture to eliminate potential hiding space.”

Perin said if you find signs of bedbugs in your home, confirm that it is actually bedbugs and not another pest, like fleas. If it is bedbugs, prevent them from spreading.

“And that means don’t move out of your bedroom and go to your living room,” Perin said. “They are normally within a 10 foot radius of where we sleep. So when you (relocate), they transfer.”

Trebon said it’s best to hire an exterminator as opposed to buying over the counter products.

“You will never get rid of them on your own, doing any sort of self treatment ... it ends up resulting in causing the bedbugs to go harborage, hide deeper into areas, takes them a while longer to come out,” Trebon said.

This leads to a higher bill from the exterminator because it requires more work to get the pest out, she said.

If you’re picking up second hand furniture, check for bedbugs.

“In fact, if you’re going to throw away (something) with bedbugs,” Perin said, “I would actually recommend defacing it somehow or wrapping it in plastic that says bedbugs on it.”

Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities 2025

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com