Tick risk in Orange County, North Carolina
Orange County covers 3 towns and carries the 11th-highest tick-borne-disease baseline of North Carolina's 97 counties, with a Lyme rate of 3 cases per 100,000 people a year (155th of 1378 counties in the South). CDC surveillance lists Deer 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 Orange County
Peak-season modeled risk. Tick risk is local, even within one county.
At the summer peak, tick risk across Orange County runs from Carrboro (moderate) at the high end to Hillsborough (moderate) at the low end. The difference is habitat: forest cover across the county ranges from 68% to 80%, and more forest and woodland edge means more places ticks can quest for a host.
- CarrboroModerate risk
- Chapel HillModerate risk
- HillsboroughModerate risk
Tick species in Orange County
CDC county surveillance (established or reported)
- Deer tickEstablished
- American dog tickReported
- Lone star tickReported
- Gulf Coast tickReported
Established in this county for the deer tick, the main Lyme carrier. “Not established” means no CDC surveillance record for Orange 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 Orange 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 Orange County, NC
Professional tick control across Orange 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 Orange County's more wooded towns.
How much does tick control cost in Orange County?
Most Orange 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 Orange County. No cost, no obligation.
Common questions about ticks in Orange County
Which towns in Orange County have the highest tick risk?
At the summer peak, Carrboro carries the highest modeled tick risk in Orange County, followed by Chapel Hill, Hillsborough. Risk tracks how wooded a town is: forest cover across Orange County ranges from 68% to 80%, and the more forest and woodland edge a town has, the more habitat ticks have to quest from. Hillsborough sits at the low end. Every town has its own daily score, so check the one nearest you.
What ticks live in Orange County?
CDC surveillance records one established tick species in Orange County: Deer tick. The blacklegged (deer) tick is the main carrier of Lyme disease. "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 Orange County?
Orange County reports about 3 Lyme cases per 100,000 people a year (U.S. CDC), the 155th-highest of 1378 counties in the South and the 11th-highest of North Carolina's 97 counties. Lyme is a smaller factor here than in the Northeast, but TickZone still uses this county rate as part of the disease baseline behind every town's score, alongside local lone-star tick pressure.
All towns in Orange County
Tick risk is local. Pick the town nearest you.