Local wasp information

Wasp control in Massachusetts

Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.

Wasps in Massachusetts: what to know

Around Massachusetts

Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.

What to note

Where you see wasps, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.

A useful next step

Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.

Local research

Wasps in Massachusetts: what the public record shows

Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which wasps actually live in Massachusetts, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.

first reported in 1978 around Boston

First North American report of the European paper wasp

Massachusetts is where this now-nationwide eave-nesting wasp arrived.

Penn State Extension

Wasp species recorded in Massachusetts

German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica) — UC IPM: 'becoming more common in many urban areas of California, where it frequently nests in houses.' Named among Ohio's three main species (German, Eastern, Common yellowjacke…
Bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) — Penn State: 'found in most of the 48 contiguous states and D.C., throughout Canada and in Alaska'; actually an aerial yellowjacket that builds the football-shaped gray paper nes…
European hornet (Vespa crabro) — Penn State: 'first detected in the 1840s', 'well established in the eastern United States', 'first reported from Arkansas in 1999'; workers 'up to an inch (25 mm) long', nests '…
European paper wasp (Polistes dominula) — Penn State: 'first reported in 1978 around Boston', now 'coast to coast ... although they are apparently less common in the Southeast and Great Plains'; nests in 'eaves of struc…

When wasps are busiest in Massachusetts

Queens emerge in April–May, colonies peak August–October, and workers die at the first hard frosts; only new queens overwinter (OSU, Penn State, UMN).

Penn State: European paper wasps were 'first reported in 1978 around Boston' and have spread coast to coast. Bald-faced hornet range per Penn State covers most of the 48 contiguous states and D.C. European hornet is established across the eastern United States (Penn State).

Rules that apply in Massachusetts

For context, nationally

788 — Deaths from hornet, wasp, and bee stings, 2011–2021 (US). CDC MMWR
72 deaths per year — Average annual sting deaths, 2011–2021 (US). CDC MMWR

Sources: European Paper Wasp; CDC MMWR; Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasps (Pest Notes); Baldfaced Hornet; European Hornet. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources

Explore Massachusetts cities

Boston

Humid Continental · urban setting

Wasp control in Massachusetts

Wasps in Massachusetts: what to know

Around Massachusetts

What to note

A useful next step

Wasps in Massachusetts: what the public record shows

Wasp species recorded in Massachusetts

When wasps are busiest in Massachusetts

Rules that apply in Massachusetts

For context, nationally

Explore Massachusetts cities

Boston

Brockton

Brookline

Cambridge

Fall River

Framingham

Haverhill

Lawrence

Lowell

Lynn

Malden

New Bedford

Newton

Plymouth

Quincy

Somerville

Springfield

Taunton

Waltham

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Salem

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