Illinois · Midwest
Tick risk in Knox County, Illinois
Knox County covers 35 towns. CDC reports too few cases here to publish a county Lyme rate, but each town still has a daily score built from local weather, habitat, and season. Pick your town below for today's reading.
Highest and lowest tick risk in Knox County
Peak-season modeled risk. Tick risk is local, even within one county.
At the summer peak, tick risk across Knox County runs from East Galesburg (moderate) at the high end to Ontario (low) at the low end. The difference is habitat: forest cover across the county ranges from 1% to 60%, and more forest and woodland edge means more places ticks can quest for a host.
- East GalesburgModerate risk
- MaquonModerate risk
- PersiferModerate risk
- KnoxvilleModerate risk
- AbingdonModerate risk
Tick species in Knox County
CDC county surveillance (established or reported)
- Deer tickReported
- American dog tickReported
- Lone star tickReported
- Gulf Coast tickNot established
Reported in this county for the deer tick, the main Lyme carrier. “Not established” means no CDC surveillance record for Knox County, not that a town is tick free. Source: CDC tick surveillance (ArboNET Tick Module), 2025.
Diseases found in local ticks
Pathogens detected in ticks tested from Knox County (CDC tick-testing surveillance, 2025). This lists what has been found, not how common it is.
Tick control in Knox County, IL
Professional tick control across Knox County usually means a barrier treatment along the lawn edge, leaf litter, stone walls, and shady borders where ticks wait for a host, applied two to four times a season by a licensed pest control company. It is the single most effective way to cut tick numbers in the part of the yard your family actually uses, and it matters most in Knox County's more wooded towns.
How much does tick control cost in Knox County?
Most Knox County homeowners pay about $100 to $200 per visit for professional tick spraying, or roughly $350 to $600 for a full season of barrier treatments, depending on lot size and how wooded the property is. Quotes are free, so it costs nothing to get a real number for your yard.
From a vetted local tick exterminator serving Knox County. No cost, no obligation.
Common questions about ticks in Knox County
Which towns in Knox County have the highest tick risk?
At the summer peak, East Galesburg carries the highest modeled tick risk in Knox County, followed by Maquon, Persifer, Knoxville, Abingdon. Risk tracks how wooded a town is: forest cover across Knox County ranges from 1% to 60%, and the more forest and woodland edge a town has, the more habitat ticks have to quest from. Ontario sits at the low end. Every town has its own daily score, so check the one nearest you.
What ticks live in Knox County?
CDC county surveillance does not yet list an established tick species for Knox County, but that reflects a surveillance gap, not absence. The blacklegged (deer) tick, the main Lyme carrier, is found across the midwest. Take the usual precautions after time outdoors.
Is Lyme disease common in Knox County?
CDC reports too few cases in Knox County to publish a stable county Lyme rate, which is common in rural or low-population counties. That does not mean the risk is zero: Lyme and other tickborne illnesses occur across the Northeast.
All towns in Knox County
Tick risk is local. Pick the town nearest you.