There are a lot of overlapping reasons that have been building for decades. These include milder winters that allow ticks to survive year to year, suburban development that has more people close to wildlife, and growing deer populations.
It’s not your imagination: ticks really are a bigger deal than they were ten or twenty years ago. Emergency department visits for tick bites were up more than 50% in April 2026 compared to the previous April. Plus, reported Lyme disease cases have been climbing steadily since the early 2000s.
Over time, winters have been becoming milder. Temperatures have not gone up by much, but they don’t need to for more ticks to survive during the coldest months. The greater number of survivors also benefit from warmer, earlier springs. In New England, the tick season for the last few years has spanned roughly March to November—longer than it used to.
There is also suburban development playing a role too. A lot of neighborhoods are being built in places that were once wooded or undeveloped, meaning people live closer to deer, mice, and other wildlife, all of which carry ticks. Plus, the areas where suburban lots border woods are exactly the areas where ticks thrive.
Of all the wildlife considerations, the growing deer population is the most important. White-tailed deer are the primary reproductive host for adult blacklegged ticks. In areas where deer populations are high, which includes most of eastern Massachusetts, tick populations are similarly high.
The subtle changes in climate and wildlife populations have been allowing ticks to expand their range. That means new species are coming up from the south, like the lone star tick which is an aggressive biter known to spread ehrlichiosis and alpha-gal syndrome (which causes a red meat allergy).
None of these trends are likely to reverse on their own. For individual homeowners, the best response you can have is to manage tick habitats on your own property and use professional treatment to suppress the local population.
Mosquito Squad of Boston Metro South can help. Mosquito Squad treats the places where ticks breed and hide. This reduces the population by up to 90% at a time, with regular re-treatment every 21 days.
