Your best pest control customer is probably older than you think.
Ask an owner running six to 20 trucks to picture the ideal customer, and you'll hear about a young family in a new subdivision. New house, new sod, new ant problem. But Federal Reserve data shows that families headed by someone 75 or older now have the highest median net worth of any age group. That's why pest control marketing to older homeowners deserves its own plan.
Independent pest control companies already serve plenty of these customers. The question is whether your website and your office make it easy for them to say yes. Below: what the Fed found, why this group hires out pest work, the adult child who books for a parent, and a checklist.
One honest limit up front. Net worth isn't spending money. Much of it is the house itself, and many people in this group live on fixed incomes. This plan helps you win the ones who already want to hire a pro, and keep them for years.
What Did the Federal Reserve Find About Families 75 and Older?
Families headed by someone 75 or older have the highest median net worth of any age group. According to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, that median reached $504,900 in 2025, up 37% from $367,300 in 2022, in inflation-adjusted dollars. The youngest families went the other way.
Federal Reserve data also shows that the median for families under 35 fell 23%, to $33,000. The survey takes a new snapshot every three years, so the 2025 group isn't the same set of households as in 2022. The headline still holds: the oldest households are now the wealthiest by median.
| Family Group | 2022 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 75 and older, median | $367,300 | $504,900 | +37% |
| Under 35, median | $42,700 | $33,000 | -23% |
| All families, median | $211,100 | $215,900 | +2% |
| 75 and older, mean | $1,777,400 | $1,962,200 | +10% |
(Source: Federal Reserve, "Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025", Table 2, October 2026. All figures in 2025 dollars. Report page.)
Median family net worth in 2025 by age. Source: Federal Reserve, Table 2.
Why Do Older Homeowners Hire Out Pest Control Work?
Older homeowners hire out pest work because they have the equity, the older houses, and little interest in crawling under them. They've also lived in one place a long time, and long-time customers renew. For a pest control company, that adds up to steady recurring revenue and word-of-mouth referrals in the neighborhood.
In 2025, the National Association of Realtors reported that adults 70 to 78 had stayed in their current homes a median of 16 years, longer than any other age group. A house owned that long may have a crawl space or an attic its owner would rather pay you to check. It also has neighbors who ask, "Who do you use?"
Loyalty is where the money is. "Recurring revenue accounted for 85.4 percent of the residential pest control service revenue generated, up slightly from the 85.2 percent measured in 2024." (Source: Pest Control Technology, on the Specialty Consultants 2025 study) A customer who keeps a quarterly plan and a termite warranty for a decade beats a one-time ant call every time.
Who Is the Adult Child Booking Pest Control for a Parent?
The person booking service for an older homeowner is sometimes a grown son or daughter, maybe from another town. They're checking whether your company is safe to send to Mom's house. They read reviews, look for a license, and want to know exactly who will knock on the door and what it will cost.
This buyer may be booking from work, on a phone, between meetings. Your site has to answer their questions on one screen. Are you licensed and insured? Who's coming? Can I get the estimate by email?
One line on your contact page tells them they're in the right place: "Booking for a parent? Tell us, and we'll keep you both in the loop." Add a field for a second phone number or email.
What Should Pest Control Marketing to Older Homeowners Include?
Pest control marketing to older homeowners should make your website easy to read, easy to call from, and easy to trust. That means a big tap-to-call number, readable text, real technician photos, plain pricing, and recurring plans explained in plain words. These fixes cost little, and they help every customer you serve.
Some people call this marketing to seniors. Your customers would rather you call it good service.
Make Your Pest Control Website Easy to Read and Call
Start with what a visitor sees in the first five seconds:
- Put a big tap-to-call phone number at the top of every page.
- Set body text at 16 pixels or larger, dark on a light background.
- Make buttons big enough for a thumb. WCAG 2.2 sets a 24-by-24-pixel minimum for most tap targets, so treat that as the floor.
- Drop auto-play pop-ups that cover the phone number.
A pest control homepage hero with a small phone number, next to the same hero with a large tap-to-call button.
A phone number in 11-point gray type is like a termite colony. It's technically there, but nobody notices it until the damage is done. Our pest control website audit counted a click-to-call link that fails on a key page as a severe problem, and it found click-to-call links that didn't work on mobile.
Contrast is the fix most sites miss. The WCAG 2.2 standard requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text at Level AA. The W3C chose that ratio to offset the contrast loss of 20/40 vision, which it describes as typical at roughly age 80. Yet WebAIM's 2026 scan of the top 1 million home pages found low-contrast text on 83.9% of them.
Make Your Pest Control Company Easy to Trust and Book
Once a visitor can read the page, give them reasons to book:
- Show real tech photos with first names, and say who's coming to the house.
- Put "licensed and insured" near the top, with your license number. If your techs are background-checked, say so.
- Post starting prices, and send written estimates a family member can read.
- Add the "booking for a parent?" line to your contact page.
- Explain quarterly plans and termite warranties in plain words, including how to cancel.
- Walk customers through posting a Google review by phone, or hand them a printed QR card. Never post a review for them.
For the rest of the page, see these homepage elements that drive sales.
Don't Older Customers Just Pick Up the Phone Anyway?
Some do, and your website still decides whether they call you or the next company. Older adults are online, but they don't browse all day. A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 14% of adults 65 and older say they're online almost constantly, versus 63% of adults 18 to 29. A short visit has to work the first time.
When a site trips them up, they may never tell you. Nielsen Norman Group noted, "In our studies we often saw users thwarted due to simple query typos and punished for entering hyphens or parentheses in telephone or credit-card numbers." Users tend to blame themselves, not the design. A picky phone field loses older homeowner pest control leads quietly, and your call log never shows it.
What Turns Older Customers Away From a Pest Control Company?
Older customers walk away when a company talks down to them, hides the phone number, or pushes too hard. They've hired roofers and plumbers for decades and know a sales trick when they see one. Respect, plain words, and patience on the phone win this customer.
Watch for these five mistakes:
- Talking down, with cutesy labels or cartoon grandparents
- Tiny fonts and light gray text, on the site and on estimates
- A chatbot with no phone number in sight
- "Today only" pricing and pressure to sign on the first visit
- Fear selling, like swarm close-ups and "your home is at risk" headlines
Show the finding, explain it, and let them decide. For channel advice by age group, read more on marketing by generation.
How Would an 8-Truck Company Put This Checklist to Work?
An eight-truck company can work through this checklist in about a month, one week at a time, without a full redesign. Marketing pest control to retirees doesn't need a separate brand. It needs the same site, made easier to use, with the office manager and owner splitting the work.
Picture one in a county full of brick ranches with the same owners since the 1980s. Week one, the phone number gets bigger and the gray text turns dark. Week two, the owner shoots photos of each tech beside a truck. Week three, the contact page gets its "booking for a parent?" line. Week four, the Google Ads landing page gets the same fixes, using this lead generation guide for home service businesses.
That company won't double its termite renewals in a month. It will have a site a 78-year-old can read on the first try and her daughter can book from another state.
Get a Free Older-Customer Review of Your Website and Ads
The Fed's numbers point to a customer you may be underserving: families 75 and older, plus the grown kids who help them hire. Make your phone number big, your text readable, your techs visible, and your pricing plain. Those fixes help every caller, and they count most with homeowners who've stayed put for decades.
If you want to see your site and ads the way a 75-year-old homeowner sees them, send me a message. I'll run your homepage, contact page, and main ad landing page through this checklist for free and send back a short list of fixes. No contract and no pitch.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Market Pest Control to Older Homeowners?
Make your website easy to read, easy to call from, and easy to trust. Put a big tap-to-call number at the top of every page, use large dark text, show real tech photos with names, and post plain pricing. Skip pressure tactics and fear selling, because older homeowners have hired contractors for decades and spot both right away.
None of this takes a separate brand or a full redesign. An eight-truck company can work through the checklist in about a month, one week at a time.
Are Older Homeowners Good Pest Control Leads?
Yes, for many companies. The Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances found that families headed by someone 75 or older have the highest median net worth of any age group, at $504,900. The National Association of Realtors found that adults 70 to 78 had stayed in their homes a median of 16 years, which fits quarterly plans and termite warranties.
Keep one limit in mind. Much of that wealth is home equity, not cash, and many people in this group live on fixed incomes.
What Font Size Should a Pest Control Website Use for Older Customers?
Use body text of at least 16 pixels as a starting point, and go larger if your design allows. Size alone isn't enough. WCAG 2.2 Level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text, so use dark text on a light background and avoid light text over photos.
How Do You Reach the Adult Children Who Book for Their Parents?
Answer their questions on one screen. Show your license and insurance near the top, explain who will come to the house, and send written estimates by email so they can read them too. A "booking for a parent?" line on your contact page, with a field for a second phone number, tells them they're in the right place.
