A York Region field study · public-health data
The York Region tick report
Ten years ago ticks were barely a York problem. Today every one of the region's nine municipalities is an estimated Lyme-disease risk area, and more than one in five blacklegged ticks tested here carries the bacteria. Here is where they live, how to know them, and when they bite. If they are already in your yard, our tick control in Vaughan and across York Region treats the shaded edges where they wait.
Where ticks live in York
All of York is now a risk area, but habitat is not even. Tap a municipality on the map for its tick profile. North to south, the Oak Ridges Moraine forest is the engine; the cities inherit it through their ravines.
Know your tick
Only one of these spreads Lyme in York. Tap a tick for how to tell them apart and where each turns up.
When they bite
Human risk through the year. Two waves: adult ticks in spring and fall, and the tiny summer nymphs that cause most Lyme cases because they are so easy to miss.
Ticks in the yard, or a property backing onto a ravine or trail?
Protect yourself, and check for ticks
On trails and in long grass, stick to the centre of the path, wear light colours and long sleeves, tuck pants into socks, and use a Health Canada approved repellent with DEET or icaridin. After you come in, do a full-body tick check (they favour the groin, armpits, waistband and scalp), shower, and put clothes through a hot dryer for ten minutes. Check pets too; they carry ticks indoors.
If you find one attached: grip it with fine-tipped tweezers as close to the skin as possible and pull straight up, slowly, without twisting or crushing it. Save the tick, and submit a photo to eTick.ca to have the species identified. The risk of Lyme rises the longer a tick stays attached, so see a health provider promptly if it was on for a while or you develop a rash or fever. This page is a guide, not medical advice; York Region Public Health and your provider are the authorities.
Our own yard tick and mosquito control reduces tick habitat around the home: managing leaf litter and long grass, treating the yard edge where lawn meets woods, and cutting back the brush ticks wait in.
Sources: Public Health Ontario and York Region Public Health (estimated risk area status, infection rates, active surveillance at Boyd and Kortright), and eTick.ca. Map boundaries: York Region Open Data. Reviewed September 2026.