Pest Control NYC: $100 to $600 a Visit + Bed Bug Law (2026)

We found no New York price from a publisher we use. Every row is a national figure and is labeled that way; the company that answers quotes its own first-visit or inspection fee before anything is booked.

Do this now, before you call a New York exterminator

1. If someone has trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, or dizziness after stings or bites, call 911. Everything else below can wait a few minutes.
2. Photograph what you saw and where: the insect, the droppings, the mud tube, the bite pattern. Keep a dead sample in a sealed bag if you can. A company identifies the pest before it prices anything, and NC State's advice for bed bugs applies everywhere: ask the technician to show you a live specimen from your home before you accept a treatment.
3. Do not spray store-bought products over the area first. Repellent sprays scatter roaches into new rooms (UC IPM) and hide the evidence a company would use to find the source.
4. If you rent, report the problem to the owner or manager in writing first. NYC HPD says that is the first step for bed bugs and rats; if the owner does not act, file with 311 online or by phone. For a closed area such as an apartment or basement, include your contact details so an inspector can schedule access.
5. Do not drag an infested mattress or sofa to the curb or a common hallway until a company says treatment is complete; it spreads bed bugs to neighbors, and HPD issues a violation only when an inspector sees live bed bugs.

Is it urgent? What counts as a pest emergency in New York

Three situations are worth a prompt call, and none of them is a verdict on your house: a wasp or hornet nest at a door, a deck or a play area; rodents inside a home with young children, since mice and rats gnaw wiring and contaminate food; and winged termites or shed wings inside the house, which Texas A&M and NC State both describe as the usual sign of an active colony in or under the structure. In NYC the urgent cases are bed bugs when a move or a new lease is days away, rats inside an apartment, and roaches in a kitchen with an infant or an asthma patient; a company would confirm the pest, then quote the treatment and the follow-up visits.

Everything else, a few ants at the sink, an occasional roach, a spider in the garage, can wait for a normal booking. HomeGuide's one-time visit range of $100 to $600 covers the ordinary cases; the high end belongs to bed bugs and termites, where the first visit is usually an inspection with a written quote.

Bed bug exterminator NYC: the law behind the treatment

New York City has more bed bug rules than any other city on this site. Local Law 69 of 2017 requires owners of multiple dwellings to file an annual bed bug report with HPD every December 1 to 31, covering November 1 through October 31: total units, units with an infestation, units treated and units reinfested. Filing is free, the report goes to every tenant at lease signing or renewal or is posted in the building within 60 days, and HPD publishes it on HPDONLINE, so you can look up a building's history before you sign. New York State separately requires a one-year bed bug infestation history disclosure form for new tenants.

Owners must hire only pest professionals licensed by the NYS DEC, and after an HPD violation a DOHMH Commissioner's Order requires inspecting the cited apartment plus the adjacent, upper and lower units and common areas with a DEC-certified, registered company and keeping records. HomeGuide prices bed bug work at $300 to $500 per room or $2,500 to $5,000 per home, heat at $1 to $3 per square foot and chemical treatment at $2 to $5 per square foot. What each method involves is on bed bug treatment cost.

Rats in NYC: mitigation zones, the rat czar and owner duties

On April 12, 2023, the city named Kathleen Corradi its first Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation. The Harlem Rat Mitigation Zone covers Community Boards 9, 10 and 11, including 28 NYCHA developments, 73 Parks locations, nearly 70 schools and more than 10,000 private properties, with $3.5 million from fiscal 2023; private properties in the zone are inspected twice a year and city sites monthly. The Health Department's rats page now describes a rat contraceptive pilot in the Harlem zone lasting about a year, a Rat Information Portal that shows inspection results by address, and free Rat Academy classes.

For owners the rules are plain: keep the property rat-free, seal cracks and holes in foundations, walls, floors, doors and windows, store garbage in rat-resistant containers with tight lids, and, for commercial and multi-unit buildings, hire a pest management professional. After a 311 complaint an inspector visits, the owner receives a commissioner's order, a follow-up comes about 10 days later, and uncorrected conditions bring a summons with fines of $300 to $2,000; the city may do the rat work and bill the owner. HomeGuide's national range for rats is $150 to $600. See rat exterminator cost.

Roaches, mice and the age of NYC housing

The Census puts New York City's median home at 1952, the oldest on this site by far. Pre-war walk-ups and 1950s and 1960s buildings have shared walls, risers and chases that can carry German cockroaches and mice between apartments, so a company treating one unit would ask about the neighbors and the building's super. HomeGuide prices cockroach work at $100 to $600 and mice at $150 to $550 nationally. Costs and what to expect are on cockroach exterminator cost and mouse exterminator cost.

Check an NYC exterminator with the DEC

New York licenses pest control through the State Department of Environmental Conservation, not the city. Any business that offers, advertises or performs pesticide applications for hire must register with the DEC (a 3-year registration with $1,000,000 in liability insurance), employ a certified applicator or technician for each category it works in, and have its own employees do the work. The public can verify an applicator's certification and look up a registered business on the DEC's NYSPAD portal. Bureau of Pesticides Management: 518-402-8748.

Local pest rules and contacts for New York City, from official state, city and county pages unless marked.

More New York repair guides

Leaks and sweating pipes feed roaches and mold: a New York plumber and mold removal in New York. After a flooded basement: water damage restoration in New York. Compare pest control in Atlanta and pest control in Charlotte. All pest pages: pest control. Calls go to an independent pest control company that serves your area and takes this kind of job (how calls work).