What a rodent visit should cover
For house mice, UC IPM lists cleaning up debris, removing food and shelter, eliminating entryways and using traps or baits. Electronic repellers don't work. UC IPM's words are that high-frequency electronic devices aren't effective, and its rodent Quick Tips add that traps belong out of reach of children and pets.
Ask which entry points the company found, who will close them and whether the quote covers that work.
What rodent control costs in California
Our estimate for rodent control in California is $140 to $750 per job. That's a model, built from one published national range and adjusted by California's pest control wage ratio of 1.09, and it isn't a quote.
No California company price for rodent work is in our count, so the national range stands alone. When a company quotes you, ask what the price includes for sealing, how many visits it covers and how long the company will recheck.
| Item | Figure | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated range, not a quote | $140 to $750 per job | Built from one national published range, adjusted by the California pest control worker wage ratio (1.09). Five California companies (Sacramento and Fresno) advertise a starting monthly plan price and one prices a one-time treatment, but the units differ company to company, so no company price anchors a plan estimate. One company prints a regular price for a one-time treatment, too few to move that estimate. Basis: no state company sample (no counted California company price for this job), national estimate only. |
| Pest control worker wage, California mean | $24.21 an hour | The workers' mean hourly pay in BLS's May 2025 figures, as against a price. |
| State fee, Applicator license | $35 to license, $35 to renew | Paid by the person to the Board, not added to your bill as a line. Effective July 1, 2025. |
| Bond a registered company must keep | $12,500 | A registered company keeps this with an admitted surety insurer under B&P 8697. |
Estimated range. Built from national published ranges (1 source), adjusted by California's pest control worker wage ratio to the US (1.09, BLS May 2025), with no permit fee added because pest control has no city permit. Not a quote. Five California companies (Sacramento and Fresno) advertise a starting monthly plan price and one prices a one-time treatment, but the units differ company to company, so no company price anchors a plan estimate. One company prints a regular price for a one-time treatment, too few to move that estimate. We have no counted California company price for this job, so the range is our national estimate alone. Full method. Prices as of Oct 23, 2026.
Which rodent poisons California limits
Food and Agricultural Code 12978.7, as amended by AB 1322, prohibits the second-generation anticoagulants brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum and difethialone until the DPR director makes a certification. Diphacinone is prohibited and treated as a restricted material, and chlorophacinone and warfarin are prohibited and restricted. Using any first- or second-generation anticoagulant is barred in wildlife habitat areas, meaning parks and refuges managed by a state agency, regional government, quasi-government agency or special district.
The exemptions the statute lists include government public health users, vector control districts, medical waste generators, agricultural sites and certain food and drug facilities. DPR adds that since January 1, 2024, diphacinone products labelled for a prohibited use can be sold to an end user only by a DPR-licensed pest control dealer, and that its list of prohibited uses includes residential or home uses. UC IPM warns that every rodenticide is toxic to non-target species, pets and people.
What California's health reports say about rodents
CDPH's 2025 report counted 299 flea-borne typhus cases; 251 people were hospitalized and two died. It also reported one human plague case in a resident of El Dorado County, who survived, and six hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases from El Dorado, Mono and Placer counties; three were fatal. Since 1980, hantavirus infection has been diagnosed in 99 California residents. These reports track diseases associated with vectors and rodents statewide; they do not establish that rodents at a particular home are infected.
Public rodent inspections in some counties
San Diego County's Vector Control Program takes requests for a rat inspection, and the Santa Clara County Mosquito and Vector Control District lists a rodent inspection among its requests. San Mateo County's district lists rodent prevention and control with surveillance. For anywhere else, the zip-code search on westnile.ca.gov finds your local vector control agency, and you can ask it whether it takes rodent calls.
What the company must hand you before it applies anything
Under B&P 8538 a registered company must give the owner and any tenant a written notice before application that names the pest, the pesticide and its active ingredient. The notice carries a caution statement telling you to call your physician or poison control, and the company, if flu-like symptoms appear within 24 hours, and it lists who to contact, including the county agricultural commissioner and the Board. For Branch 2 or 3 work the notice can come as late as just before the application.
Rodents: what can wait
- Droppings or chewed packaging in the kitchen or pantry: seal the food and book an inspection that week.
- One mouse seen with no droppings in a food area.
- Scratching in a wall that stops by daylight.
Before you call a company
- Seal food in containers and clear debris, since UC IPM lists food and shelter among what to remove.
- Look along walls and floors for droppings and gnawing, and photograph what you find.
- Close the openings you can reach before any bait goes outside.
- Keep traps where children and pets can't reach them.
- Ask the company to name the active ingredient of any bait it proposes.
Registration and branches for rodent work
B&P 8505 defines household pests as pests other than wood destroying pests, including rodents, vermin and insects, and it counts inspections, bids, contracts and the use of pesticides or mechanical devices as structural pest control. The Board describes its Branch 2 as control of household pests, excluding fumigation. Ask the company which branches its registration covers, then look the number up in the Department of Consumer Affairs license search, where the Board's licensees are listed.
The Board says an Applicator, a Field Representative or an Operator may work only for a registered company and may not contract pest control work on his or her own behalf. Ask whose registration the person at your door works under.
Ask for the company's state pesticide business license number and the applicator's name, and look both up with your state's pesticide regulator before any work starts.
Questions people ask
How do I keep mice out of a California house?
UC IPM says to clean up debris, remove food and shelter, eliminate the entryways and use traps or baits. It adds that high-frequency electronic devices aren't effective, so the entryways are where the effort belongs.
Can a pest control company use any rat poison in a California home?
No: second-generation anticoagulants are prohibited under FAC 12978.7 until the DPR director certifies otherwise. Diphacinone is also prohibited and restricted, and DPR lists residential or home uses among the prohibited ones. The exemptions are for groups such as government public health users and vector control districts, so ask the company for the product name.
Is a landlord responsible for rodents in California?
Civil Code 1941.1 treats a dwelling as untenantable when it substantially lacks common areas under the landlord's control kept clean, sanitary and free from rodents and vermin. Health and Safety Code 17920.3 lists infestation of insects, vermin or rodents, as determined by a health officer, among substandard building conditions. Neither section says who pays for treatment, so a renter's next call is the local health officer or code enforcement office.
Do rodents spread disease in California?
CDPH's 2025 report counts 299 flea-borne typhus cases and six hantavirus pulmonary syndrome cases. It reports one human plague case in an El Dorado County resident. UC IPM says to keep traps out of reach of children and pets.
How much does rodent control cost in California?
$140 to $750 per job is the model's estimate for rodent work, and it isn't a quote. The figure is a national range adjusted for California pay, with no California company price behind it. Ask each company what the price includes for sealing and for follow-up visits.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025: Pest Control Workers (SOC 37-2021), California, mean hourly wage Read Oct 23, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025: Pest Control Workers (SOC 37-2021), United States, mean hourly wage Read Oct 23, 2026.
- PestControlMatch: how we estimate costs, California (editorial policy) Read Oct 23, 2026.
- SPCB industry advisory: fee changes effective July 1, 2025 Read Oct 20, 2026.
- B&P 8697 Read Oct 20, 2026.
- UC IPM Pest Notes: House mice (pn7483) Read Oct 20, 2026.
- UC IPM: Rats Read Oct 20, 2026.
- Food and Agricultural Code 12978.7; DPR: AB 1322 implementation Read Oct 20, 2026.
- DPR: AB 1322 implementation Read Oct 20, 2026.
- CDPH VBDS Annual Report 2024, preface Read Oct 20, 2026.
- San Diego County Vector Control Program Read Oct 22, 2026.
- Santa Clara County Mosquito and Vector Control District Read Oct 22, 2026.
- San Mateo County Mosquito and Vector Control District Read Oct 22, 2026.
- westnile.ca.gov; MVCAC Read Oct 22, 2026.
- B&P 8538 Read Oct 20, 2026.
- B&P 8505; SPCB: What is structural pest control Read Oct 20, 2026.
- SPCB: How do I become a licensee (three branches); B&P 8560 Read Oct 20, 2026.
- SPCB: Search for a licence (DCA License Search); search.dca.ca.gov tested Read Oct 20, 2026.
- Civil Code 1941.1; Health and Safety Code 17920.3 Read Oct 20, 2026.
- CDPH Vector-Borne Disease Section Annual Report 2025 Read Oct 26, 2026.