Local wasp information

Wasp control in Pennsylvania

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

Wasps in Pennsylvania: what to know

Around Pennsylvania

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 Pennsylvania: what the public record shows

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

upwards of 300 individuals

Bald-faced hornet colony size in Pennsylvania (Penn State)

The gray football nest in a shrub can hold hundreds of defensive workers.

Penn State Extension

200–400 workers

European hornet peak nest size (Penn State)

Large nests may reach 1,000 workers; they are active at night and drawn to porch lights.

Penn State Extension

a few dozen adults, but can grow to over 200

Paper wasp colony size (Penn State)

Eave nests are small but multiply around a single house.

Penn State Extension

Wasp species recorded in Pennsylvania

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…
Eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) — UF/IFAS lists it with the southern yellowjacket as Florida's two yellowjackets; OSU lists it for Ohio; Texas A&M notes it is 'generally found in eastern Texas'. Ground nests 9.5…
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 '…

When wasps are busiest in Pennsylvania

Paper wasp queens 'establish nests in May' and colonies are essentially gone 'By the end of September'; European hornet nests peak in mid-September and die at the first hard frosts (Penn State).

Penn State: European hornet is 'well established in the eastern United States, including all of Pennsylvania' and is the 'only nocturnal wasp in Pennsylvania'. Yellowjacket colonies 'range in size from only a few hundred individuals to thousands of members'.

Rules that apply in Pennsylvania

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: Baldfaced Hornet; European Hornet; Penn State Extension; CDC MMWR; Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasps (Pest Notes); Yellowjackets and Hornets, Vespula and Dolichovespula spp. (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Vespidae). Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources

Explore Pennsylvania cities

Allentown

Humid Continental · urban setting

Wasp control in Pennsylvania

Wasps in Pennsylvania: what to know

Around Pennsylvania

What to note

A useful next step

Wasps in Pennsylvania: what the public record shows

Wasp species recorded in Pennsylvania

When wasps are busiest in Pennsylvania

Rules that apply in Pennsylvania

For context, nationally

Explore Pennsylvania cities

Allentown

Altoona

Bethlehem

Chambersburg

Chester

Easton

Erie

Harrisburg

Hazleton

Lancaster

Lebanon

New Castle

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Pottstown

Reading

Scranton

State College

Wilkes-Barre

Williamsport

York

Monroeville

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