Miami Is One of the Most Roach- and Rat-Infested Cities in America

If you live in Miami, you've almost certainly come across a large creepy, crawly cockroach making its way through your home. In fact, it has probably happened more than you'd care to admit. So it's not surprising that data from the U.S. Census Bureau confirms Miami is one of the most roach-infested cities in America. It turns out the Magic City also has a pronounced rat problem. The good news: Mice aren't a big deal here. 

The Census Bureau doesn't count every roach living in the United States. Instead, it counts the number of housing units in cities that have evidence of mouse, rat, or roach infestation over the past 12 months as a measure of standard of life. Collected as part of the American Housing Survey, a measure of infestation in 25 cities is released every other year. The latest data, released last week, is from 2013. 

The report shows 30.4 percent of households in Miami had evidence of a roach infestation over the past 12 months at the time the survey was taken. That's about the same rate as Orlando and only trails Houston and roach grand champion Tampa, where 37.6 percent of homes had evidence of a roach infestation. As the Tampa Bay Times points out, it's really no surprise Florida cities have such a strong showing of roaches. Our climate and ecosystem are particularly hospitable to the buggers, much more so than northern cities. 

More surprising is that Miami also has something of a rat problem. Granted, only 1.8 percent of households had a rate infestation, but of the 25 cities surveyed, only Austin and Seattle had more. 

Conversely, Miami had one of the lowest rates of mouse infestations in the nation, with only 2.0 percent of homes having evidence of mouse infestation.