Who controls mosquitoes in Florida, and when do you hire a company?

County and district mosquito programs

Section 482.211 exempts mosquito control by a local government or district under chapter 388, and by its contractor, from the pest control licensing chapter. UF/IFAS's Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory lists the county programs. Among them are Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk, Hernando, Brevard, Lee, Leon and St. Lucie, plus Jacksonville Mosquito Control for Duval County, the City of Gainesville and the Orange County program.

What they offer differs. Broward's page says its inspectors tip, toss or treat standing water and spray adulticide by truck only when surveillance meets criteria, adding that not every service request leads to spraying. Orange County's district lists free mosquitofish for a resident's own property, and Leon County's page says its services are conducted at no cost. Miami-Dade's April 2024 release counts more than 320 trap sites.

Mosquito control cost in Florida: what our model says

A mosquito visit comes to $105 to $200 per visit in our model, and a season has its own row. Two national ranges scaled by Florida's wage ratio of 0.99 set both, and neither is a quote.

One Florida company price for a mosquito job was counted, short of the five needed to set a range of its own. Ask your county program whether it will inspect for standing water near you before you compare private bids.

Estimated range. Built from national published ranges (2 sources), adjusted by Florida's pest control worker wage ratio to the US (0.99, BLS May 2025), with no permit fee added because pest control has no city permit. Not a quote. Four Florida pest control companies publish a price we could count on their own websites; where five or more price the same job, the range is the middle half of their prices, and where two to four do, the estimate is widened to take them in. Coupons, specials and figures a page gives as an average are not counted. Only one Florida company publishes a price we could count for this job, so the range is our national estimate alone. Full method. Prices as of Oct 24, 2026.

This year's dengue and West Nile counts

The Department of Health's week 41 report covers October 11 to 17, 2026. As of October 17, it counts 425 locally acquired dengue cases in eleven counties: Hillsborough 346, Pinellas 51, Miami-Dade 9, Orange 8, Pasco 4, Citrus 2, and Brevard, Broward, Manatee, Palm Beach and Polk 1 each. A county left off that list isn't reported as zero; the report simply doesn't name it.

The report also lists 5 locally acquired human West Nile cases (Alachua 2, Duval, Holmes and Walton) and one locally acquired human EEE case in Leon County, and its counts are weekly and cumulative for 2026. As of October 24, 2026, Pinellas County's mosquito page says the county is under a mosquito-borne illness alert and a local state of emergency for dengue and West Nile.

Advisories, alerts and the notice rule for treatments

As of the same report, Bay, Brevard, Broward, Holmes, Leon, Manatee, Martin, Palm Beach, Polk and Walton counties were under a mosquito-borne illness advisory, and Alachua, Citrus, Duval, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco and Pinellas under an alert.

For a private treatment, s. 482.2267 keeps an FDACS registry of people who need advance warning. A physician's certificate and a $50 fee register a person, and a company must then notify that person at least 24 hours before applying pesticide to a lawn, plant bed or exterior foliage within the distance the physician sets. Rule 5E-14.147 also has the company post a notice of at least 4 by 5 inches when it treats a lawn or exterior foliage.

Hiring a company for the yard

A private company that treats your yard for hire is a pest control business and needs an FDACS license for its location with a certified operator in charge. Chapter 482's operator categories don't name mosquitoes, so ask which one the company's operator in charge holds. On request it must give you its business name, the identification card number of the person applying, the pesticide's common or brand name and active ingredient, and the label's safety information.

Is a mosquito problem a same-day call?

Steps before the visit

1. Ask your county mosquito control program for an inspection first.
2. Empty containers that hold standing water around the yard.
3. Ask a private company for the pesticide's name and active ingredient.
4. Ask which operator category it holds for yard work.
5. Ask whether the price is for one visit or a season.

Rules for private mosquito treatments

A private company needs an FDACS business license for each location and a certified operator in charge, and an employee applying pesticide carries an identification card after at least 5 days of field training. Your county's mosquito program doesn't license private companies, and a city or county can only add a local business tax receipt. Ask for the license number and look it up with FDACS or call 1-800-HELP-FLA.

Ask for the company's FDACS business license number and the name of its certified operator in charge, and check the license with FDACS before any work starts.

Questions people ask

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Related services

• Quarterly service
• Wildlife removal
• Wasps and bees
• Emergency pest control

Florida licensing, code and permit facts · Report a wrong price or rule