Tick risk in Story County, Iowa
Story County covers 14 towns and carries the 7th-highest tick-borne-disease baseline of Iowa's 99 counties, with a Lyme rate of 5 cases per 100,000 people a year (0th of 0 counties in the Midwest). CDC surveillance lists Deer tick and American dog tick as established here. Pick your town below for today's score, a 7-day outlook, and what's driving it.
Highest and lowest tick risk in Story County
Peak-season modeled risk. Tick risk is local, even within one county.
Tick species in Story County
CDC county surveillance (established or reported)
- Deer tickEstablished
- American dog tickEstablished
- Lone star tickReported
- Gulf Coast tickNot established
Established in this county for the deer tick, the main Lyme carrier. “Not established” means no CDC surveillance record for Story County, not that a town is tick free. Source: CDC tick surveillance (ArboNET Tick Module), 2025.
Diseases found in local ticks
No CDC tick-testing records for Story County. That is a surveillance gap, not a sign these diseases are absent. Lyme and other tickborne illnesses occur across the region.
Tick control in Story County, IA
Professional tick control across Story 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 Story County's more wooded towns.
How much does tick control cost in Story County?
Most Story 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 Story County. No cost, no obligation.
Common questions about ticks in Story County
Which towns in Story County have the highest tick risk?
At the summer peak, Maxwell carries the highest modeled tick risk in Story County, followed by Ames, Cambridge, Huxley, Roland. Risk tracks how wooded a town is: forest cover across Story County ranges from 7% to 32%, and the more forest and woodland edge a town has, the more habitat ticks have to quest from. Kelley sits at the low end. Every town has its own daily score, so check the one nearest you.
What ticks live in Story County?
CDC surveillance records 2 established tick species in Story County: Deer tick, American dog tick. The blacklegged (deer) tick is the main carrier of Lyme disease in the Northeast. "Not established" for a species means there is no CDC surveillance record for the county, not that the tick is absent.
Is Lyme disease common in Story County?
Story County reports about 5 Lyme cases per 100,000 people a year (U.S. CDC), the 0th-highest of 0 counties in the Midwest and the 7th-highest of Iowa's 99 counties. Lyme is the dominant blacklegged-tick disease, so TickZone uses this county rate as the disease baseline behind every town's score.
All towns in Story County
Tick risk is local. Pick the town nearest you.