Houston Bed Bug Report · 2026

Houston Bed Bug Report: What Official City Records Reveal by ZIP Code

We pulled real code-enforcement citations from the City of Houston’s own open-data portal — the ordinance that covers insect and ectoparasite infestations — mapped them by ZIP code, and cross-checked the hotspots against Census income data. The pattern isn’t quite what you’d expect.

How we built this (and its limits)

This report is built on real City of Houston code enforcement records, published on the city’s open data portal by the Department of Neighborhoods. We filtered for citations issued under Houston Code of Ordinances Sec. 10-344(a), which covers property conditions that “encourage infestation of insects, ectoparasites, rodents or pests” — ectoparasites being the technical category bed bugs fall under. These are code violations, not confirmed bed bug cases specifically, and they only capture infestations severe or visible enough to be reported and cited. Treat this as where pest-infestation enforcement actually concentrates, not a full prevalence map. Income data is 2024 Census ACS 5-year estimates by ZIP.

The headline: income explains most of it — but not all of it

🏢 The expected pattern

Four of the top five ZIPs — Sharpstown (77074, $47,810 median income), Independence Heights (77076, $42,522), Trinity Gardens (77016, $47,677) and the 77022 area ($52,739) — sit well below Houston’s citywide median of $64,813. Older, denser rental housing and slower professional pest control line up with more citations, which is the pattern you’d predict.

🏘️ The exception that matters

77009 (Near Northside / Woodland Heights) breaks the pattern entirely — a median household income of $83,148, nearly $19,000 above the city average, yet it lands 4th for infestation citations. This is one of Houston’s older, denser, fast-gentrifying neighborhoods, where aging housing stock and high unit turnover appear to matter more than income.

Houston ZIP codes with the most infestation-related code citations

Citations issued under Ordinance Sec. 10-344(a), City of Houston Dept. of Neighborhoods records, 2014–2026. Longer bar = more citations on record.

77035Westbury / Fondren 35 77074Sharpstown 32 77076Independence Heights 20 77009Near Northside 10 77022Independence Hts (N) 10 77016Trinity Gardens 8 Below-median income area Above-median income area (the exception)

Why this lines up with a live city debate

In May 2026, Houston City Council passed its first-ever apartment inspection ordinance, creating a registry of “high-risk” rental buildings — those with ten or more health-and-safety violations in six months. Three of our top citation ZIPs (77074, 77076, 77016) are exactly the kind of older, denser, lower-income rental areas that ordinance was written to target. The presence of 77009 near the top of the list is the more interesting wrinkle: it suggests building age and density can drive infestation citations independently of neighborhood income.

Sources: City of Houston Department of Neighborhoods, Building Code Enforcement Violations (open data), citations under Code of Ordinances Sec. 10-344(a), 2014–2026; U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 5-year estimates; City of Houston apartment inspection ordinance (2026).

See a hotspot near you?

Wherever you are in the Houston metro, a bed bug problem is treatable — and confirming it early keeps it from spreading. We cover Houston and the surrounding suburbs.

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