New data has revealed Tyne and Wear as England's sixth most pest-infested county

The last thing anyone wants in their home is unwanted guests, pests can be a real nuisance and prove difficult to eliminate. They like to bite holes through walls and furniture whilst scavenging for any leftover food. During the summer months, they are most active, so members of the public might be noticing an increase in pest problems at the moment.

So here at Household Quotes, we decided to conduct an investigation into which English counties are the most and least pest-infested. We did this using Google search data which revealed how many people in each county were searching for different pests.

Research has revealed Tyne and Wear as England’s sixth most pest-infested county. Greater London, Bristol, Merseyside, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester made up the top five.

Greater London

Greater London is the capital city of the United Kingdom, and according to Road Genius, 20.3 million people visited it in 2023. With a high amount of tourists, added to a large population of around 8.9 million, this produces a lot of waste. The city requires an efficient waste management system, but it’s clear from these results that Greater London has a pest problem. It ranked as England’s most pest-infested county in this study, with one in every 146 people researching pests each month.

Bristol

Bristol ranked as the second most pest-infested county in England. Located in the southwest, only a few miles away from the Welsh border, the City of Bristol has a population of just over 479,000. It’s popular with students, as it’s host to two universities, and this has given the city a reputation for partying and art. Rats and pigeons were the pests that particularly stuck out in the city’s average monthly search volumes, with there being 1,000 and 720 respectively.

Merseyside

Merseyside which is home to settlements including; Liverpool, St Helens and Birkenhead ranked as the third most pest-infested English county. Pigeons prove a real problem with around 1,600 searches a month on average. It was discovered that there is one pest search a month for every 220.5 people in Merseyside.

West Midlands

The West Midlands is home to England's second most popular city Birmingham. It saw high searches for pests like rats, pigeons, cockroaches and ants which was enough to place it as the fourth most pest-infested county. This could be down to the county being urban and very densely populated, offering more food sources to potential pests.

Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester is made up of many different towns and cities, including; Manchester, Salford, Wigan, Bolton, Rochdale, Bury and Oldham to name a few. Due to the large population, and many frequented town centres, it may come as no surprise that Greater Manchester was ranked fifth in this study. Like the West Midlands, Greater Manchester has a clear pigeon problem due to the sheer number of searches each month (2,900).

Joshua Houston, Pest Expert at Household Quotes:

‘’Pests are a real nuisance, so at Household Quotes, we were keen to see if pest problems differed depending on where you lived in England.

Through the results, you can identify areas with more pest concerns than others. A big factor that might explain the differences is population density, as some counties are more rural and others are more densely populated.’’