What Structural Pest Control Actually Applies: 3.9 Million Pounds of California Data
Key result: California structural pest control reported 3,907,203 pounds of active ingredient across 18,272,166 applications in 2022, and 3,573,998 pounds across 18,815,415 applications in 2023. One fumigant was 67.1 percent of the pounds and 0.5 percent of the applications. Structural work was 2.446 percent of all reported California pesticide use in 2022.
The headline numbers
- California is the only state that requires full reporting of structural pesticide use, which makes its Pesticide Use Report the only place in the United States where this can be measured rather than estimated.
- 3,907,203 pounds of active ingredient were applied in 18,272,166 structural pest control applications in California in 2022, and 3,573,998 pounds across 18,815,415 applications in 2023, the most recent year published.
- Sulfuryl fluoride dominates the weight and almost nothing else. In 2022 it accounted for 2,623,381 pounds, or 67.1 percent of the total, across 91,524 fumigations, or 0.5 percent of applications. The pattern repeats in 2023 at 64.1 percent of pounds and 0.42 percent of applications.
- Pounds is the wrong metric for this industry. Ranking active ingredients by weight and by number of applications produces almost opposite answers.
- Bifenthrin is the most frequently applied active ingredient, in 3,264,236 applications, or 17.9 percent of all structural applications in 2022, while contributing 2.2 percent of the pounds.
- A rodenticide is fifth by frequency and invisible by weight. Diphacinone was used in 1,141,517 applications in 2022, totalling 46 pounds of active ingredient statewide.
- Borates are the second largest weight category. Boric acid and disodium octaborate tetrahydrate together accounted for 747,957 pounds, or 19.1 percent.
- Pyrethroid pounds are volatile, not steadily falling. Seven pyrethroids accounted for 449,318 pounds in 2016, fell to 160,179 in 2018, rose to 483,352 in 2021 and stood at 309,364 in 2023. The net change from 2016 to 2023 is a 31.1 percent decline, but there is no clean trend.
- Applications rose in every one of six observed years, from 14,172,516 in 2016 to 18,815,415 in 2023, up 32.8 percent, while pounds fell 22.6 percent, so the average application used 41.7 percent less active ingredient.
- Structural work is a small share of California pesticide use, at 2.446 percent of all reported pounds in 2022 and 2.326 percent in 2023. Almonds alone were 16.30 percent in 2022, and wine grapes led 2023 at 16.34 percent.
Why California is the only place this can be measured
In short: Most states do not require structural pesticide applications to be reported. California does, through monthly summary reports filed by licensed businesses, and publishes the records. Nobody appears to have analysed the structural portion.
The California Department of Pesticide Regulation operates the most complete pesticide use reporting system in the United States. Agricultural applications are reported one by one. Structural pest control, like other non-agricultural use, is reported as a monthly summary: each report covers one product in one county for one month and states the total number of applications made, the amount used and the site type. The department converts product amounts to pounds of active ingredient. The department publishes the full record annually as a set of flat files going back to 1974.
Structural pest control has its own site code in that system, code 10, which separates it from agricultural sites, landscape maintenance, rights of way, public health and vertebrate control. That separation is what makes this analysis possible.
Searches for national structural pesticide use return a flashcard set at the top of the results, a scanned Environmental Protection Agency document from the 1970s, a 2020 New Jersey state survey and university extension explainers. A University of California, Davis methods paper describes how to identify urban pesticide use trends from this exact dataset. No published analysis of the California structural record appears to exist in the trade or general press.
This report covers what is applied. Our companion analysis of what chemicals exterminators use covers the products, and our analysis of insecticide detections in US streams covers where some of these compounds end up.
What the records show
- 3,907,203 pounds of active ingredient. California structural pest control applied 3,907,203 pounds of pesticide active ingredient in 2022. (California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Use Report 2022, site code 10, author aggregation.)
- 18,272,166 applications. Those pounds were reported on 498,927 monthly summary reports covering 18,272,166 applications. (Same source, application-count field.)
- 67.1 percent of pounds from one compound. Sulfuryl fluoride accounted for 2,623,381 of the 3,907,203 pounds. (Same source.)
- 0.5 percent of applications from that compound. Sulfuryl fluoride was used in 91,524 of 18,272,166 applications. (Same source.)
- About 28 pounds per fumigation. Reports that state an application count average 27.7 pounds of sulfuryl fluoride per fumigation. (Author calculation.)
- 0.07 pounds per application for everything else. Excluding sulfuryl fluoride, the remaining 1,283,822 pounds were spread across 18,180,642 applications. (Author calculation.)
- Bifenthrin leads on frequency. Bifenthrin was used in 3,264,236 structural applications in California in 2022, more than any other active ingredient, at 87,853 pounds in total. (Same source.)
- Two more pyrethroids follow. Lambda-cyhalothrin, in 1,901,775 applications, and deltamethrin, in 1,863,996, rank second and third by frequency. (Same source.)
- 747,957 pounds of borates. Boric acid accounted for 517,181 pounds and disodium octaborate tetrahydrate 230,776 pounds, together 19.1 percent of the total. (Same source.)
- Los Angeles County used 1,079,489 pounds, more than the next two counties combined. (Same source.)
- 2.446 percent of California pesticide use. Structural applications accounted for 3,907,203 of 159,754,682 total reported pounds in California in 2022. (Author calculation from the same files.)
- Almonds used 6.7 times more. Almond applications accounted for 26,041,512 pounds, or 16.30 percent of all reported California pesticide use in 2022. In 2023 wine grapes led at 25,097,345 pounds, or 16.34 percent, with almonds second. (Same source.)
- Structural pounds fell 22.6 percent from 2016 to 2023, from 4,618,801 to 3,573,998, with a rise in 2021 interrupting the decline. (Author aggregation of six annual reports.)
- Applications rose 32.8 percent over the same period, from 14,172,516 to 18,815,415, increasing in every observed year. (Same source.)
- Pounds per application fell 41.7 percent, from 0.326 in 2016 to 0.190 in 2023. (Author calculation.)
What structural pest control actually applies
In short: The weight ranking and the frequency ranking are nearly inverted. A reader given only one of them would form a false picture of the industry.
| Active ingredient | Pounds | Share of pounds | Applications | Share of applications | Rank by applications |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sulfuryl fluoride | 2,623,381 | 67.1% | 91,524 | 0.5% | 32 |
| Boric acid | 517,181 | 13.2% | 389,523 | 2.1% | 16 |
| Disodium octaborate tetrahydrate | 230,776 | 5.9% | 96,275 | 0.5% | 30 |
| Bifenthrin | 87,853 | 2.2% | 3,264,236 | 17.9% | 1 |
| Permethrin | 75,401 | 1.9% | 536,139 | 2.9% | 13 |
| Dinotefuran | 53,669 | 1.4% | 1,257,372 | 6.9% | 4 |
| Piperonyl butoxide | 43,634 | 1.1% | 669,338 | 3.7% | 10 |
| Chlorfenapyr | 26,466 | 0.7% | 233,616 | 1.3% | 23 |
| Deltamethrin | 24,289 | 0.6% | 1,863,996 | 10.2% | 3 |
| Lambda-cyhalothrin | 24,182 | 0.6% | 1,901,775 | 10.4% | 2 |
| Limonene | 22,610 | 0.6% | 6,835 | 0.04% | 63 |
| Imidacloprid | 21,395 | 0.5% | 672,336 | 3.7% | 9 |
| Fipronil | 20,658 | 0.5% | 1,122,487 | 6.1% | 6 |
| N-octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide | 17,199 | 0.4% | 121,335 | 0.7% | 27 |
| Diphacinone, for comparison | 46 | 0.001% | 1,141,517 | 6.2% | 5 |
| All structural use | 3,907,203 | 100% | 18,272,166 | see note |
Source: California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Use Report 2022, county use files, filtered to site code 10, Structural Pest Control. Applications are the sum of the application-count field. Aggregated by the author on 2 October 2026. A product with several active ingredients counts once for each, so ingredient shares of applications sum to about 115 percent.
What it means. Rank this industry by pounds and it looks like a fumigation business. Rank it by number of applications and it looks like a pyrethroid perimeter-spray and bait business. Sulfuryl fluoride sits first on weight and 32nd on frequency. Bifenthrin sits fourth on weight and first on frequency. Diphacinone, an anticoagulant rodenticide, sits fifth on frequency with 46 pounds for the whole state. Both rankings are correct and they describe different things.
The mechanism is straightforward. Whole-structure fumigation fills a tented building with gas, about 28 pounds of it per fumigation on average. A perimeter spray, a bait placement or a cockroach gel application uses hundredths of a pound or less. A metric that adds those together and reports a total in pounds is dominated by the first and blind to the second.
What limits it. Pounds of active ingredient is not a measure of hazard, exposure or risk. Different compounds differ in toxicity by orders of magnitude, so a pound of one is not comparable to a pound of another. Piperonyl butoxide and N-octyl bicycloheptene dicarboximide are synergists rather than insecticides in their own right, and their application counts reflect their use in combination products. An “application” is what the business reports as one, so a bait-station service visit and a whole-house fumigation each count once. This table is California only.
Where it is applied
In short: Structural pesticide use tracks population and housing stock, concentrated in Southern California.
| County | Pounds of active ingredient, 2022 | Share of state structural total |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 1,079,489 | 27.6% |
| San Diego | 577,529 | 14.8% |
| Orange | 433,744 | 11.1% |
| Riverside | 394,934 | 10.1% |
| Santa Clara | 212,781 | 5.4% |
| San Bernardino | 133,996 | 3.4% |
| Ventura | 101,539 | 2.6% |
| Alameda | 97,083 | 2.5% |
| Sacramento | 86,724 | 2.2% |
| Santa Barbara | 84,036 | 2.2% |
| Fresno | 72,357 | 1.9% |
| San Mateo | 69,487 | 1.8% |
Source: as above, aggregated by county code.
What it means. The top four counties, all in Southern California, account for 63.6 percent of the state’s structural pesticide pounds. That ordering is close to but not identical to population ordering: Santa Clara County ranks fifth here while San Bernardino, which has a larger population, ranks sixth. Termite pressure and housing type are the likely differentiators, since drywood termite fumigation is concentrated in coastal Southern California.
What limits it. These are raw pounds, not pounds per capita or per housing unit, so the table mostly restates where people live. A per-capita version would be a different and arguably more informative asset, and it would require population denominators this analysis did not apply.
Structural use in context
In short: Structural pest control is about one fortieth of reported California pesticide use. Two crops each use more than five times as much.
| Site | Pounds, 2022 | Share of all reported California use |
|---|---|---|
| Almond | 26,041,512 | 16.30% |
| Grape, wine | 24,318,762 | 15.22% |
| Strawberry | 12,555,548 | 7.86% |
| Grape | 11,230,076 | 7.03% |
| Tomato, processing | 9,486,991 | 5.94% |
| Orange | 6,471,296 | 4.05% |
| Carrot | 4,783,594 | 2.99% |
| Pistachio | 4,317,827 | 2.70% |
| Structural pest control | 3,907,203 | 2.446% |
Source: as above, aggregated by site code across all reported California applications in 2022. Total reported use was 159,754,682 pounds.
What it means. Public discussion of pesticides in California is largely a discussion of agriculture, and the numbers support that emphasis. Structural pest control, the visible part of the industry that enters people’s homes, is a small fraction of the total mass applied in the state.
What limits it, and it matters. Mass is not exposure. Structural applications happen inside and immediately around occupied buildings, while almond applications happen in orchards. A pound applied in a kitchen and a pound applied in a field do not carry the same human exposure potential, and this table says nothing about that difference. The comparison corrects a misconception about volume. It does not settle any question about risk.
What has changed since 2016
In short: Applications rose in every one of the six years examined, up 32.8 percent, while pounds per application fell 41.7 percent. Total pounds fell 22.6 percent, but not smoothly: 2021 interrupted the decline.
| Year | Structural pounds | Applications | Pounds per application | All reported California pounds | Structural share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 4,618,801 | 14,172,516 | 0.326 | 188,635,627 | 2.449% |
| 2018 | 3,444,986 | 15,040,937 | 0.229 | 185,874,991 | 1.853% |
| 2020 | 3,280,704 | 15,680,060 | 0.209 | 191,459,720 | 1.714% |
| 2021 | 4,281,860 | 16,979,126 | 0.252 | 168,940,694 | 2.535% |
| 2022 | 3,907,203 | 18,272,166 | 0.214 | 159,754,682 | 2.446% |
| 2023 | 3,573,998 | 18,815,415 | 0.190 | 153,621,916 | 2.326% |
| 2016 to 2023 | −22.6% | +32.8% | −41.7% | −18.6% | volatile |
Source: California Department of Pesticide Regulation Pesticide Use Reports for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, aggregated by the author. 2017 and 2019 were not analysed. 2023 is the most recent year published.
What it means. The robust finding is the application count. It rose in every single one of the six years examined, from 14,172,516 to 18,815,415, while the average application used 41.7 percent less active ingredient. The number of monthly reports rose in every year too, from 440,548 to 512,367. Rising treatment counts alongside falling intensity is the signature of a shift away from high-volume liquid application toward baits, targeted placements and lower-dose formulations. Our explainer on what integrated pest management actually changes covers the practice.
What the fuller series corrects. An earlier version of this report examined only 2016, 2018 and 2022 and observed that the structural share of all California pesticide use was 2.449 percent in 2016 and 2.446 percent in 2022, describing it as flat. With six years the share is not flat. It ranges from 1.714 percent in 2020 to 2.535 percent in 2021, a spread of 0.82 percentage points, and the match between the 2016 and 2022 values is a coincidence of endpoints. Total pounds are volatile too: 2021 was 30.5 percent above 2020.
What limits it. Six years at two-year and then annual intervals, with 2017 and 2019 missing, is still a short and uneven series. Weather drives pest pressure and therefore application volume, so year-to-year movement includes a climate component this analysis does not separate. Because one fumigation carries the weight of roughly 400 average non-fumigant applications, a single year’s pound total moves substantially with fumigation volume alone.
The chemistry mix
In short: All three major categories are volatile across six years. Pyrethroid pounds fell 31.1 percent from 2016 to 2023, but rose above their 2016 level in 2021, so this is not a steady phase-down.
| Year | Sulfuryl fluoride | Share | Borates | Share | Seven pyrethroids | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 2,769,050 | 60.0% | 608,161 | 13.2% | 449,318 | 9.7% |
| 2018 | 2,485,481 | 72.1% | 444,471 | 12.9% | 160,179 | 4.6% |
| 2020 | 2,236,380 | 68.2% | 549,583 | 16.8% | 163,576 | 5.0% |
| 2021 | 2,453,923 | 57.3% | 900,719 | 21.0% | 483,352 | 11.3% |
| 2022 | 2,623,381 | 67.1% | 747,957 | 19.1% | 242,195 | 6.2% |
| 2023 | 2,291,064 | 64.1% | 533,038 | 14.9% | 309,364 | 8.7% |
| 2016 to 2023 | −17.3% | −12.4% | −31.1% |
Source: as above. Borates are boric acid plus disodium octaborate tetrahydrate. The seven pyrethroids are bifenthrin, permethrin, deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, esfenvalerate and beta-cyfluthrin, held constant across years.
What it means, and what an earlier version of this report got wrong. Pyrethroids fell 31.1 percent between 2016 and 2023 and their share of structural pounds fell from 9.7 to 8.7 percent. An earlier version of this report, working from three years only, reported a 46.1 percent decline between 2016 and 2022 and described pyrethroids as the category falling fastest. The six-year series does not support that characterisation. Pyrethroid pounds in 2021 were 7.6 percent above their 2016 level, and the 2018 and 2020 values sit far below both. The honest summary is that all three categories move substantially year to year and that no category shows a monotonic trend.
What limits it. Pounds do not capture potency, and modern formulations are applied at lower rates, so falling pounds may partly reflect concentration changes rather than less treatment. The seven-compound pyrethroid basket excludes other pyrethroids that may be in use. Sulfuryl fluoride’s share moves inversely with everything else by construction, because it is two thirds of the denominator.
The pattern repeats in 2023
In short: The weight-to-frequency inversion is not a one-year artifact. It appears again in 2023 with almost identical values.
| Measure | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Sulfuryl fluoride share of pounds | 67.1% | 64.1% |
| Sulfuryl fluoride share of applications | 0.50% | 0.42% |
| Mean pounds per fumigation, reports stating a count | 27.7 | 26.4 |
| Mean pounds per application, all other ingredients | 0.071 | 0.068 |
| Most frequently applied active ingredient | Bifenthrin, 3,264,236 applications | Bifenthrin, 3,521,513 applications |
| That ingredient’s share of pounds | 2.2% | 2.4% |
Source: California Pesticide Use Reports 2022 and 2023, site code 10, aggregated by the author.
What it means. Bifenthrin is the most frequently applied active ingredient in California structural pest control in both years while contributing under 3 percent of the weight. Sulfuryl fluoride is roughly two thirds of the weight and roughly one application in 200 or fewer in both years. A replication across two independent years makes the inversion a structural feature of the industry rather than a quirk of one reporting period.
What limits it. Two years is a replication, not a proof of stability. The 2023 archive uses a different internal file layout from earlier years, so the two parses were not performed by identical code, although the field definitions are the same.
Three metrics built from the records
1. The Weight to Frequency Inversion
Definition. The gap between an active ingredient’s rank by pounds applied and its rank by number of applications, which measures how misleading a weight-based account of pesticide use is for a given compound.
Formula. Inversion = rank by share of applications minus rank by share of pounds, within the same year and site code.
Inputs. California Pesticide Use Report 2022, site code 10, aggregated by chemical code.
Result. Sulfuryl fluoride ranks 1st by pounds and 32nd by applications. Bifenthrin ranks 4th by pounds and 1st by applications. Lambda-cyhalothrin ranks 10th by pounds and 2nd by applications. Diphacinone ranks 83rd by pounds and 5th by applications.
Why it matters. Every public estimate of structural pesticide use we could find is expressed in pounds. On this evidence, pounds describes fumigation volume and tells you almost nothing about the treatments most households actually receive. Anyone reporting on this industry should ask which metric a figure uses.
Limitations. Application counts treat a whole-structure fumigation and a single bait placement as one event each, which is the opposite distortion. Neither metric is sufficient alone, which is the point. Applications are not households: a single property can receive several applications.
2. Intensity per Application
Definition. Mean pounds of active ingredient per reported application, tracked over time, as an indicator of whether an industry is moving toward lower-dose treatment.
Formula. Intensity = total pounds of active ingredient / total applications reported in the application-count field, within site code 10.
Inputs. California Pesticide Use Reports 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Result. 0.326 pounds per application in 2016, 0.229 in 2018, 0.209 in 2020, 0.252 in 2021, 0.214 in 2022 and 0.190 in 2023. A decline of 41.7 percent across the period, against a 32.8 percent rise in the number of applications, which rose in every observed year.
Interpretation. Rising application counts alongside falling intensity is the quantitative signature of a shift from broadcast liquid treatment to targeted and bait-based methods. It is also what a reader should expect if integrated pest management adoption is real rather than rhetorical.
Limitations. The measure is dominated by fumigation volume, because one fumigation carries the weight of roughly 400 average non-fumigant applications. Excluding sulfuryl fluoride gives 0.071 pounds per application in 2022 and 0.068 in 2023, so the non-fumigant intensity is close to flat across those two years while the headline figure fell. The intensity trend reported here is not fumigation-adjusted for 2016 through 2021, which remains the obvious next refinement.
3. Sector Share Volatility
Definition. Structural pest control pounds as a share of all reported pesticide pounds in the same jurisdiction and year, tracked over time.
Formula. Share = structural pounds (site code 10) / total reported pounds across all site codes.
Inputs. As above, six years.
Result. 2.449 percent in 2016, 1.853 in 2018, 1.714 in 2020, 2.535 in 2021, 2.446 in 2022 and 2.326 in 2023. The range is 0.82 percentage points, from a low of 1.714 percent to a high of 2.535 percent.
Why it is useful, and a caution against the two-point version. The metric separates an industry-specific change from a state-wide one. Structural pounds fell 22.6 percent between 2016 and 2023 while all reported California use fell 18.6 percent, so structural work declined slightly faster than the state as a whole. An earlier version of this report compared only 2016 and 2022, found shares of 2.449 and 2.446 percent, and concluded that the sector share was flat. That conclusion was an artifact of the two years chosen. The share moves by up to half its own value between adjacent observations.
Limitations. The denominator includes agricultural fumigants and soil treatments applied in enormous quantities, so the share is small and a modest absolute change moves it noticeably. Neither the 2020 low of 1.714 percent nor the 2021 high of 2.535 percent is explained by this analysis.
Related: how these applications are spread across the year is in pest control’s August peak, month by month.
Related: the same records by application count over eight years are in eight years of pest control chemistry; the products behind them in the 15 products behind half of California’s pest control; and by county in where California tents its houses.
Related research: landscape maintenance pesticide use; manufacturer shares of structural applications; applications per housing unit by county.
Download the data
The tables in this report are published as CSV files under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. You may republish, remix and build on them, including commercially, with attribution to The Pest Control Brief and a link to this page.
- Structural pesticide use, applications, monthly reports and share of state total, 2016 to 2023 (CSV, 6 rows)
- Top 20 active ingredients by pounds, with applications and both rankings, structural, 2022 (CSV, 20 rows)
How to cite this report
The Pest Control Brief, “What Structural Pest Control Actually Applies: 3.9 Million Pounds of California Data”, 2 October 2026. https://thepestcontrolbrief.com/california-structural-pesticide-use/
References
- California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Pesticide Use Report annual archives. files.cdpr.ca.gov/pub/outgoing/pur_archives/. Archives for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 downloaded and aggregated. Accessed 25 September and 27 September 2026.
- California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Site code reference file, where code 10 is Structural Pest Control. Supplied inside each annual archive as
site.txtfor 2016 to 2022 andPUR_SITE.txtfor 2023. - California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Chemical and county reference files, supplied inside each annual archive, used to resolve active ingredient and county names.
- California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Structural Pesticide Use Report policy. cdpr.ca.gov structural PUR policy. Accessed 25 September 2026.
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. “Structural pesticide use in New Jersey: 2020 survey”. dep.nj.gov (PDF). Noted as the only other state source located; not incorporated, because a survey is not comparable with a full reporting system.
- University of California, Davis. “Identifying Urban Pesticide Use Trends using PUR”. agis.ucdavis.edu (PDF). Cited as methodological precedent for analysing this dataset for non-agricultural use.
How the records were processed
Source. California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Use Report archives, at files.cdpr.ca.gov/pub/outgoing/pur_archives/. Annual zip archives for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 were downloaded on 25 September 2026. No key or registration is required. 2023 is the most recent year published. 2017 and 2019 were not analysed.
Files used. Each archive contains one use-record file per county, named in the pattern udcYY_NN.txt, plus reference files. The 2022 and 2023 archives each contain 58 county use files. The internal layout changed between years: 2016 to 2022 archives place data and lookups in an ftp_files directory with lowercase names, while the 2023 archive uses pur2023/pur_data/ for use records and pur2023/lookup_tables/ with uppercase names, and its site lookup is PUR_SITE.txt rather than site.txt. A script written against the earlier layout returns nothing on 2023 without erroring usefully.
Scope definition. Structural pest control is site code 10 in the department’s site reference file. Every figure attributed to structural pest control in this report is the sum over records carrying that code. Adjacent non-agricultural codes were deliberately excluded, including 30 Landscape Maintenance, 50 Public Health, 80 Vertebrate Control, 63000 Household and 68002 Residential. A broader non-agricultural definition would produce larger totals, and any comparison with other published figures should check which codes were included.
Measure. Pounds of active ingredient, from the lbs_chm_used field, which is the department’s calculation of active ingredient mass rather than product mass. Applications are the sum of the applic_cnt field, which the department defines for non-agricultural monthly summary reports as the total number of applications of a single product during the month. Totals across all ingredients count each report once. Ingredient-level counts count a multi-ingredient product once for each ingredient. Some reports state no application count; they contribute pounds but no applications, and the per-fumigation figures exclude them.
Verification. County file totals were summed independently of the department’s own summary files. The 2022 structural data comprise 658,170 active-ingredient rows on 498,927 distinct reports, of which 498,904 carry record identifier C, the department’s code for non-agricultural monthly summaries. 99.99 percent of 2022 and 2023 structural reports carry a default first-of-month date, as the department’s documentation describes for monthly summaries.
What was not done. 2017 and 2019 were not analysed. Ingredient-level and county-level detail was parsed in full for 2022 and 2023 only; for 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021 the analysis captured annual totals and the top 25 active ingredients, which is sufficient for the trend and chemistry tables but not for county detail. No per-capita or per-housing-unit normalisation was applied. No toxicity weighting was applied, so pounds of different compounds are summed as though equivalent, which they are not. No attempt was made to separate residential from commercial structural work, because the site code does not distinguish them.
Limitations. California only, and California’s structural market is unusual in the high prevalence of drywood termite fumigation, which inflates its fumigant share relative to states where subterranean termites dominate. Reporting compliance is not perfect and the archives include an errors file each year. Pounds of active ingredient measures mass, not hazard, exposure or risk. Six years at uneven intervals is a short series and no year-to-year movement here is explained. The comparison against agricultural site codes compares mass applied in very different settings and carries no implication about exposure.
Corrections. This report was first published on 25 September 2026 using three years of data, 2016, 2018 and 2022. It was updated the same day with six years, 2016 to 2023, once the remaining archives finished processing. Two conclusions changed. The report previously described the structural share of California pesticide use as flat, on the basis that it was 2.449 percent in 2016 and 2.446 percent in 2022; with six years the share ranges from 1.714 to 2.535 percent and that match is an endpoint coincidence. The report previously described pyrethroids as the fastest-falling category, citing a 46.1 percent decline from 2016 to 2022; the six-year series shows pyrethroid pounds above their 2016 level in 2021 and a net decline of 31.1 percent to 2023, with no monotonic trend. A suggested headline based on the 46 percent figure was removed. The finding that applications rose while intensity fell is unchanged and is strengthened, because applications rose in every one of the six observed years. See our corrections policy.
Correction, 2 October 2026. Earlier versions of this report counted rows in the use files and described each as one application. They are not. Structural use is filed as monthly summary reports, and the number of applications each report covers is a separate field. Using that field changes every application figure: 18,272,166 applications in 2022, not 658,170; sulfuryl fluoride 0.5 percent of applications, not 0.61; about 28 pounds per fumigation, not 656.8; a 32.8 percent rise in applications from 2016 to 2023, not 13.8; and a 41.7 percent fall in pounds per application, not 32.0. The most frequently applied ingredient is bifenthrin, not fipronil. The report’s central finding, that pounds and frequency rank this industry almost in reverse, is unchanged and stronger. Pound figures, county figures and sector shares are unaffected.
Last reviewed: 2 October 2026.
Where the data comes from
Tier 1, primary government data. California Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Use Report annual archives for 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, including county use files, chemical.txt, county.txt and site.txt reference files. Department of Pesticide Regulation guidance on structural pesticide use report policy.
Tier 2, methods literature. University of California, Davis, “Identifying Urban Pesticide Use Trends using PUR”, cited as precedent for analysing this dataset for non-agricultural use. No figure here derives from it.
Tier 3, journalism. Not used for any figure.
Excluded. Paywalled market-research estimates of pesticide volumes were excluded because their methodology is not inspectable. A widely shared social media claim that the average American consumes several pounds of pesticides annually was excluded as unsourced. The 2020 New Jersey structural pesticide use survey exists and is a credible second-state source, but was not incorporated because its methodology is a survey rather than a full reporting system and the two are not directly comparable.
For reporters using these figures
Most quotable statistics
- California structural pest control applied 3,907,203 pounds of pesticide active ingredient across 18,272,166 applications in 2022.
- One fumigant, sulfuryl fluoride, was 67.1 percent of the pounds and 0.5 percent of the applications.
- Bifenthrin was applied more often than any other active ingredient, in 3,264,236 applications, while accounting for 2.2 percent of the pounds.
- The rodenticide diphacinone was used in 1.14 million applications containing 46 pounds of active ingredient in total.
- Between 2016 and 2023 structural applications rose in every observed year, up 32.8 percent overall, while pounds per application fell 41.7 percent.
Data limitations to quote alongside them
California only, and its high rate of drywood termite fumigation is not typical of other states. Pounds of active ingredient measures mass, not hazard or exposure. Six years were analysed, at uneven intervals, and the series is volatile. Applications are as reported by businesses on monthly summaries; a fumigation and a bait-station service each count as one. The comparison with crop use compares mass in very different settings and implies nothing about exposure. Ingredient and county detail is for 2022 and 2023 only.
Fields in the published CSV files
Year; structural pounds of active ingredient; applications; monthly use reports; active-ingredient records; pounds per application; all California pounds; structural share. For ingredients: active ingredient; pounds; share of pounds; applications; share of applications; pounds per application; records; rank by pounds; rank by applications.
Press summary
California structural pest control applied 3,907,203 pounds of pesticide active ingredient across 18,272,166 reported applications in 2022, according to an analysis of state pesticide use records by The Pest Control Brief. A single fumigant, sulfuryl fluoride, accounted for 67.1 percent of the total weight but only 0.5 percent of applications, at about 28 pounds per fumigation, while every other active ingredient averaged 0.07 pounds per application. Bifenthrin was applied more frequently than any other compound, in 3.26 million applications, while contributing 2.2 percent of the pounds. The analysis concludes that pounds applied is a misleading measure of this industry, because the weight ranking and the frequency ranking are nearly inverted. Structural work accounted for 2.446 percent of all reported California pesticide use, against 16.30 percent for almonds alone. Between 2016 and 2023, applications rose in every observed year, up 32.8 percent in total, while pounds per application fell 41.7 percent.
Five headlines editors could use
- Two thirds of structural pesticide weight comes from 0.5 percent of the applications
- Why “pounds of pesticide” is the wrong number for pest control
- Almonds use six times more pesticide than every exterminator in California combined
- More treatments, less chemical: six years of California pesticide data
- California’s most-used pest control chemical is 2 percent of the weight
Questions about these numbers
How much pesticide does professional pest control apply?
In California, the only state with full structural reporting, 3,907,203 pounds of active ingredient across 18,272,166 applications in 2022. No national figure exists, because most states do not require structural applications to be reported.
Which pesticide does pest control use most?
It depends on the metric, and that is the main finding of this analysis. By weight, sulfuryl fluoride, at 67.1 percent of pounds. By number of applications, bifenthrin, at 17.9 percent of all applications.
Why is one compound two thirds of the total?
Sulfuryl fluoride is used for whole-structure fumigation, which fills a tented building with gas, about 28 pounds per fumigation on average. Sprays, baits and crack-and-crevice treatments average 0.07 pounds per application.
Is pest control a major source of pesticide use?
Not by weight. Structural pest control was 2.446 percent of all reported California pesticide use in 2022. Almonds were 16.30 percent and wine grapes 15.22 percent. That comparison is about mass applied and says nothing about exposure, which differs greatly between a home and an orchard.
Is pesticide use in pest control going up or down?
Pounds fell 22.6 percent between 2016 and 2023 while the number of applications rose 32.8 percent, so the average application used 41.7 percent less active ingredient. The application count rose in every one of the six years examined. Total pounds did not fall smoothly: 2021 was 30.5 percent above 2020.
Are pyrethroids being phased out?
Not on this evidence. Seven pyrethroids accounted for 449,318 pounds in 2016 and 309,364 in 2023, a net decline of 31.1 percent, but pyrethroid pounds in 2021 were 7.6 percent above their 2016 level and the 2018 and 2020 values sit well below both. There is no monotonic trend. Some of the net decline may reflect more concentrated formulations rather than less treatment.
Does this include lawn and garden treatment?
No. Landscape maintenance is a separate site code and is excluded here, as are public health, vertebrate control and agricultural codes. Our explainer on who is licensed to treat lawn pests covers that boundary.
Does a pound of one pesticide equal a pound of another?
No. Toxicity varies by orders of magnitude between compounds, and this analysis applies no toxicity weighting. Summing pounds across compounds is a measure of mass only.
Can I reproduce this?
Yes. Download the annual archive from the department’s public archive directory, extract the county use files, filter to site code 10 and sum the active ingredient pounds field. The Methodology section gives the exact file names and field names.
What happens to these compounds after application?
Some reach surface water. Our companion analysis of insecticide detection in US streams reports that fipronil was detected in 17.0 percent of monitored stream water samples nationally and bifenthrin in 2.6 percent, and explains why the more heavily applied compound is the less frequently detected.
