Early data from 2026 says yes. Emergency department visits for tick bites were up more than 50% this spring compared to the previous year, and tick surveillance programs across New England reported earlier-than-normal activity.
Yes, ticks are worse than they have been in a long time. It’s not your imagination. But it’s important to realize: this is not a one-year spike. It’s the continuation of a very long upward trend.
The winter that New Hampshire saw in 2025–2026 was a mild one compared to the typical norm. And that matters a lot because it’s sustained freezing temperatures that help control tick populations during the winter.
Cold, dry winters take out the nymphs and adults that shelter in leaf litter through the year. A mild one lets more of them survive into spring. This year, ticks were active unusually early, so much so that blacklegged ticks were picked up by surveillance staff in early March, weeks ahead of the typical timeline.
Spring moisture added to the problem. Ticks need humidity to survive. A wet spring keeps the leaf litter and soil damp, extending the hours and days during which ticks can actively quest for hosts. When it’s dry, ticks retreat to the ground to avoid drying out. That wasn’t the case this year.
Zooming out, the year-to-year comparison is less important than the broad trend. Tick populations across New Hampshire and the rest of New England have been increasing for more than 20 years. Winters have been running milder, with a few degrees of difference being enough to greatly reduce the number of freezing nights in the winter. Suburbia also keeps pushing into the woods, putting more people next to the woods where ticks live. The year to year tick populations fluctuate, but the baseline is climbing.
If you want to reduce tick populations on your Central New Hampshire property, Mosquito Squad of Central New Hampshire can help. Mosquito Squad targets the shaded edges and ground cover where ticks wait for hosts, reducing populations by up to 90% with treatments every 21 days.
