New data has revealed Northumberland as England's fifth least pest-infested county

The last thing anyone wants in their home is unwanted guests, pests can be a real nuisance and prove difficult to eliminate. They like to bite holes through walls and furniture whilst scavenging for any leftover food. During the summer months, they are most active, so members of the public might be noticing an increase in pest problems at the moment.

So here at Household Quotes, we decided to conduct an investigation into which English counties are the most and least pest-infested. We did this using Google search data which revealed how many people in each county were searching for different pests.

Research has revealed Northumberland as England’s fifth least pest-infested county. Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Norfolk made up the rest of the top five.

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is located in the centre of England and contains many large settlements. These include; Leicester, Loughborough, Hinckley, Market Harborough and Melton Mowbray. It has been ranked as the least pest-infested English county in this study, with particularly small search rates for pigeons (480) and rats (720) when compared to counties with similar populations.

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county notorious for the tales of Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. They ranked second behind their neighbours Leicestershire in this study. The county is home to Nottingham, Mansfield, Newark and Worksop, all of which have town centres which are popular with locals. However, these settlements are more spread out than those in Greater Manchester and Greater London, which could be a big reason for the lack of pests in the county.

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a pretty rural county, and is renowned for its farmland. It hosts one of the most famous service stations in the UK, which sells a variety of local produce. It was ranked as the third least pest-infested English county in this study. Like Nottinghamshire, this could be down to its large rural population.

Norfolk

To find the fourth least pest-infested English county we need to travel to Norfolk in East Anglia. It’s particularly popular with tourists, with thousands heading to Cromer, Hunstanton and Great Yarmouth every year. It will come as a huge relief to farmers that Norfolk seems to have a low pest problem compared to the rest of the country. Norfolk has averaged 2,130 pest searches on average per month over the past year.

Northumberland

Northumberland is one of England’s border counties, it sits north of Newcastle and south of Scotland. Like many others in the top five, Northumberland is a very rural county, and according to the Telegraph, it is the least densely populated county in England. The county has an average pest search per month of 790, which is low even for the smaller population of around 320,000.

Joshua Houston, Pest Expert at Household Quotes:

‘’Pests are a real nuisance, so at Household Quotes, we were keen to see if pest problems differed depending on where you lived in England.

Through the results, you can identify areas with more pest concerns than others. A big factor that might explain the differences is population density, as some counties are more rural and others are more densely populated.’’