Lunar Pest Control · 2026 Data Report
Under UV light, every scorpion in your yard fluoresces blue-green. We mapped 2,043 verified sightings across 21 Phoenix-area cities to crown the Valley's 2026 Scorpion Capital. Move your cursor. It's your blacklight.
Same-day Scorpion Guard service across the entire Valley, every city on this map.
A March heat wave woke the Valley's scorpions weeks ahead of schedule. Banner Poison Center logged 237 sting calls before spring officially arrived, an 18% jump over last year. Our sighting data shows the same surge: 2025 was the biggest scorpion year on record in this dataset, and 2026 is pacing right alongside it.
2026 is partial: January through June 12 only.
Per capita, it's Cave Creek, and it isn't close. By raw count, it's Phoenix. Here's what the data says about the Valley's ten most scorpion-dense cities, and why each one earns its spot.
Cave Creek didn't just win, it lapped the field. The town logged 67 verified sightings among barely 5,200 residents, which works out to 129.4 per 10,000 people. That's more than seven times the runner-up. The reason is geography. Cave Creek sits directly against open Sonoran Desert, full of granite outcroppings and natural washes that scorpions occupied long before the houses showed up. Ask anyone who lives there; the per-capita math just confirms it.
The Valley's wealthiest town is also its second most scorpion-dense, at 17.6 sightings per 10,000 residents. Homes here back up to Camelback and Mummy Mountain, and all that lush, irrigated landscaping creates the cool, damp hiding spots scorpions go looking for in the desert. One detail worth knowing: more than half of Paradise Valley's identified sightings were Arizona bark scorpions, the dangerous one.
This rural community at the Valley's far north edge comes in at 7.9 sightings per 10,000 residents. Big unfenced lots and natural washes mean scorpions move freely between open desert and homesites.
Apache Junction sits at the foot of the Superstition Mountains and recorded 30 verified sightings, good for 6.8 per 10,000 residents. The foothills are classic scorpion country, and they run right into the neighborhoods on the city's east side.
Scottsdale's 134 sightings are the second-highest raw total in the Valley behind Phoenix, and the rate stays high (5.4 per 10,000) even with a quarter-million residents. North Scottsdale drives the numbers. Homes border the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, new construction keeps pushing into native desert, and 32 of the sightings were confirmed bark scorpions.
Gold Canyon is a small community pressed against the Superstitions, and it shows the same pattern as Cave Creek on a smaller scale: 5.4 sightings per 10,000 residents, almost all of it down to living right next to the desert.
The West Valley's fastest-growing city sits at 4.0 sightings per 10,000 residents. Construction is a real factor here. Grading and building push scorpions out of native desert into the finished neighborhoods next door, and the Estrella foothills keep supplying more.
Peoria's 79 sightings (4.0 per 10,000 residents, 24 of them bark scorpions) skew toward its northern reaches along the Lake Pleasant corridor, where new development meets open desert.
Phoenix recorded 622 verified sightings, far more than any other city, but at 3.7 per 10,000 residents it ranks ninth on density. The story inside the city limits is the mountain preserves. South Mountain, the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, and North Mountain thread native scorpion habitat straight through residential neighborhoods. Phoenix also logged 251 bark scorpions, the highest raw count in the Valley.
Tempe is the most unsettling result in the dataset. Overall density is moderate at 3.6 per 10,000, but 61 of its 68 identified sightings (90%) were Arizona bark scorpions, the only Valley species capable of a medically serious sting. Tempe's older, heavily irrigated neighborhoods suit bark scorpions perfectly. They climb, they follow moisture, and aging block walls and palm skirts give them plenty of places to hide.
Verified scorpion sightings per 10,000 residents, Jan 2021 to Jun 2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0: free to republish with credit to Lunar Pest Control and a link to this page.
Our dataset identified four species across the Valley. The Arizona bark scorpion (721 sightings) is the one that matters medically. It's the only U.S. scorpion whose sting can be life-threatening, and it climbs walls and squeezes through gaps as thin as a credit card. The stripe-tailed scorpion (576 sightings) is the Valley's sturdy generalist; its sting is comparable to a bee's. The desert hairy scorpion (326) is the giant of the group at up to six inches, but also the least venomous. The yellow devil scorpion (204) rounds out the four; despite the name, its sting is mild.
Wash the site with soap and water, apply a cool compress, and take an over-the-counter pain reliever if needed. Then call the Arizona Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222. The line is free, answers around the clock, and they'll tell you whether the symptoms need treatment. Go straight to emergency care if the sting victim is a young child, or if anyone develops muscle twitching, unusual eye movements, drooling, or difficulty breathing. Those are the hallmark signs of serious bark scorpion envenomation. Do not rely on folk remedies; milk does not neutralize venom.
Yes, under ultraviolet (UV) light. Compounds in a scorpion's exoskeleton fluoresce a bright blue-green under a blacklight, which is why pest professionals hunt them at night with UV flashlights. They don't glow in ordinary darkness; you need a UV light source.
Deaths are extremely rare. The Arizona bark scorpion is the only U.S. species capable of a life-threatening sting, and Arizona reports 2,500 to 3,000 confirmed stings per year with fatalities almost unheard of thanks to antivenom and poison-center care. Young children, the elderly, and people with allergies face the highest risk and should be evaluated quickly after a sting.
It's a folk remedy, and it doesn't work. Milk does not neutralize scorpion venom. If someone is stung, wash the site with soap and water, apply a cool compress, and call the Arizona Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222 for guidance.
Expect immediate, intense pain at the site, often followed by numbness or tingling that can radiate up the limb, and heightened sensitivity to touch. Severe envenomation, which is more common in small children, can cause muscle twitching, unusual eye movements, drooling, or difficulty breathing, and needs emergency care.
Three things: moisture (irrigation, drips, pooled water), shelter (block-wall voids, debris piles, palm skirts, citrus trees), and food. Scorpions eat crickets and roaches, so a home with an insect problem is a scorpion buffet. Controlling the prey insects is a core part of effective scorpion treatment.
Seal foundation cracks, weep screens, and door thresholds; clear wood piles and yard debris; trim vegetation off the structure; and treat the insect population scorpions feed on. Bark scorpions can climb stucco and enter through gaps as thin as a credit card, so professional perimeter treatment targeting wall voids and entry points is the most reliable control.
Scorpions become active when overnight temperatures hold above roughly 70°F, typically March through October in the Phoenix Valley, peaking through the monsoon summer. The 2026 season started early: a March heat wave had Banner Poison Center logging 237 sting calls before spring officially began.
Very. Phoenix recorded 622 verified scorpion sightings between 2021 and mid-2026, the most of any Valley city, including 251 Arizona bark scorpions. Practically every Phoenix zip code has scorpion activity, with the heaviest pressure in neighborhoods bordering the mountain preserves.
Scorpion Guard treats the block walls, cracks, and entry points they breed in, before they reach the bedroom.
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