New York City’s housing stock creates flea conditions you simply do not find anywhere else. In Brooklyn brownstones, Queens rowhouses, Manhattan co-ops, and Bronx apartment buildings, shared walls, shared utility chases, common hallways, and basement access points mean a flea infestation rarely stays contained to one unit.
There is also a factor that catches a lot of New Yorkers off guard: you do not need a pet to have fleas. NYC’s rat and mouse population is a documented flea vector — rodents carry fleas into basements and ground-floor units of older buildings across every borough. And dormant flea pupae left behind by a previous tenant can survive for months in carpet fibers, waiting to hatch the moment a new resident moves in and the warmth of an occupied apartment triggers them.
If you have no pets, never had pets, and still found bites on your ankles — this is almost certainly what happened. It is a common scenario across New York City, and it is exactly the kind of infestation that requires a technician who understands how this city’s buildings actually work.