Pest Control in Dearborn, Michigan

Two cities merged into one, and a housing stock to match

Today’s Dearborn is a consolidation. The Dearborn Historical Museum records that on January 9, 1929, voters approved a charter merging the cities of Fordson and Dearborn, and Clyde M. Ford was sworn in as mayor of the combined city on January 15 of that year. A month later Ford Motor Company’s Fordson Plant was renamed the River Rouge Plant. The east-west split that residents still talk about traces back to those two original towns.

The houses reflect that history. American Community Survey estimates for 2020–2024 count about 39,400 housing units in Dearborn. Roughly 24 percent were built in 1939 or earlier, another 22 percent in the 1940s and 24 percent in the 1950s — so about seven in ten homes predate 1960. Only about 16 percent were built in 1980 or later. Nearly three quarters of all units are detached single-family houses, and just under a third of occupied homes are rented. The 2020 Census counted 109,976 residents.

For an exterminator, that profile matters more than almost anything else. Seventy-year-old foundations, settled basement walls, old service penetrations and wood porches give rodents and insects far more ways in than a house built in the last generation, and a large rental share means many homes change occupants and are inspected by the city along the way.

The Rouge River and a sewer system built for three inches of rain

The Rouge is Dearborn’s defining waterway. According to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), the Rouge River watershed covers 48 communities and drains 466 square miles of southeastern Michigan before discharging into the Detroit River; the whole watershed is a designated Great Lakes Area of Concern. An EGLE staff report notes that the river has four branches and that the Lower Rouge joins the Main Branch near Dearborn. From there, the Main Branch runs east and southeast through a heavily industrialized corridor and enters the Detroit River near Delray.

Water below ground is part of the same story. The City of Dearborn says its sewer system was built to handle three inches of rain in 24 hours, while individual storms dropped roughly 5.8 inches in 2014 and 7.5 inches in 2021, causing catastrophic flooding. The city is spending on added stormwater capacity and asks residents to clear gutters and drains and seal cracks in foundations and siding.

Old sewers, wet basements and cracked foundations are exactly the conditions Norway rats use to move between the underground network and the house. That is why a Dearborn rodent call often starts at the foundation, the floor drain and the garage slab rather than the attic.

What the city does about rats, underground and above ground

Dearborn runs its own rodent program through a Vector Control Division. Bridge Michigan reported that a citywide subterranean rat prevention program began as a summer pilot with 160 traps in the sewer system and was expanded by 300 more in January 2024. Michigan Public reported that the total reached 460 underground bait stations placed in the sewer system, where rats shelter in colder months, with bait kept above the water line and stations checked monthly by a private contractor working with the division. City officials described Dearborn as the second municipality in Michigan to take this approach, after Ypsilanti.

The underground work is paired with complaint response above ground. The city’s code enforcement manager asked residents to keep reporting rat sightings to the Vector Control Division at 313-943-2150, because clusters of surface complaints can shift where the sewer baiting is focused. The division’s prevention advice is plain: keep the property free of clutter, keep grass cut to six inches, and seal cracks, holes and breaks in foundations, pipes, windows, vents and screens.

Dearborn also pays for the program partly with federal community development money. The city’s 2024 Annual Action Plan funds Vector Control environmental technician positions to continue the rodent control and health services program, including complaint investigation, inspection of food establishments and child care facilities, and inspection of rental and multi-family homes for harborage, with target areas in Fordson East, Fordson West and Salina in east and southeast Dearborn.

What the city program does not do is work inside a private house. Sewer baiting cuts down the population below the street; the rats already nesting under a porch, in a garage or behind a basement wall are the owner’s job, which is where a licensed company comes in.

Property maintenance rules that shape a rat problem

Dearborn’s property maintenance requirements read like a rodent prevention checklist. The city requires grass and weeds to stay at six inches or less, prohibits accumulations of trash, rubbish, yard waste, outdoor-stored furniture and appliances, requires yards to be kept clean of yard, animal and junk waste, and tells residents not to leave pet food outside or put food on the ground to feed animals. Violations are handled by the Code Enforcement Division, which can issue a notice of violation, perform an abatement or write a ticket; reports go to 313-943-2150.

Each spring the city runs a two-week Dearborn Spring Sweep. For 2026 it ran from May 18 to May 29, with inspections focused on tall grass and overgrowth, trash, items left on lawns and curbs, property upkeep and alley maintenance. Alleys matter for rats: shared carts, dumped items and overgrown fence lines behind a row of houses can feed and shelter a colony that no single homeowner controls.

Rentals, certificates of occupancy and cockroaches

Cockroach calls in Dearborn tend to come from rented and shared housing. The city requires a Certificate of Occupancy before a property is listed for rent. It is issued only after a city inspector completes a rental inspection of basic safety and property maintenance items, cited violations are repaired, and a re-inspection confirms the repairs. The owner has 90 days from the first inspection to finish the work, and an inspection report stays valid for one year. For businesses, the city’s commercial re-occupancy application tells applicants to abate insect and rodent infestations before the inspection.

Michigan State University Extension identifies the German cockroach as the most common indoor cockroach, favoring warm, humid kitchens and bathrooms and producing several generations a year. It is usually carried in with cardboard boxes, grocery bags, drink cartons and secondhand appliances, which is why unit turnover, shared walls and common laundry or trash rooms are where infestations spread. In a two-family house or apartment, treating one unit while the neighboring one stays infested rarely ends the problem, so owners and tenants do better when the licensed company can inspect adjoining units at the same time.

Termites in older wood-framed houses

MSU Extension calls subterranean termites the most serious wood-destroying pest in Michigan. The eastern subterranean termite nests in moist soil and builds mud shelter tubes to reach wood, including over or through concrete foundations, and winged termites found indoors are a sign of an active infestation nearby. Dearborn’s older housing gives them plenty to work with: wood sills and porch framing in contact with soil, damp basements after heavy rain, and additions built decades after the original house. Termite inspection and treatment in Michigan fall under MDARD Category 7B, Wood Destroying Pest Management, which also covers carpenter ants.

ZIP codes served

How to check a Dearborn exterminator’s Michigan credentials

Two credentials are in play on every job. The company applying pesticides for hire needs an MDARD Pesticide Application Business License, and the person doing the work needs his or her own commercial applicator certification or registration. Those credentials run on a three-year cycle, expiring on December 31 of the third year unless renewed with recertification credits or by retesting.

Ask which categories the technician holds, because they differ by pest. Category 7A, General Pest Management, covers pest work in and around homes and food-handling establishments, which is where cockroach jobs fall. Category 7B covers termites and carpenter ants. Category 7D, Vertebrate Pest Management, covers rats, mice and birds, so a rodent baiting program around a Dearborn house should be run by someone certified in 7D. MDARD publishes a Find a Licensed Business search and a list of certified applicators, and a legitimate company will give its license number when asked.