I usually see a couple over the summer, outdoors more often than indoors.
When we lived in NYC we had troubles with roaches. At its worst, when we turned on the lights it felt like the whole floor moved.
We are less clean now than we were then. (Less crowded, less motive to keep everything clean) but we don’t have roaches in the house.
I find that surprising too, had I thought of that possibility I would have included it in the poll.
I see rats and roaches (inc. flying ones) all the fucking time. Whoever here lives in a city and knows a way of not seeing them, other than closing one’s eyes, please let me know.
When I lived in Taiwan, they were frequent. It didn’t matter how clean you kept your place, there were so many running around outside waiting to come in.
Honestly, it’s been decades. I remember seeing them in the 80s/early 90s, but it’s been a long, long time since. We’ve had ants, spiders (which I just leave be), house centipedes, and probably some other insects I’m forgetting within the last year, but I have not seen a cockroach in a long, long time.
Looking through Google pix, though, what my family called “cockroaches” seem to have actually been boxelder bugs. So I’m not entirely sure I’ve actually seen a real cockroach, though I live in the city (Chicago). I must have at some point, but I can’t remember.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cockroach in the “wild” other than on TV. I’ve seen the giant ones they have at the zoo.
don’t live in the city
God that transcript is obnoxious to read and I can’t imagine listening is any better.
I saw cockroaches last week. I was in New Orleans. I saw some in the Insectarium and then I did see one flying around because it was so warm. Little bastards.
They used to be everywhere here. I remember sleeping in my uncle’s apartment in Flushing when I was 8 (so about 1983) and woke up to a big mofo eyeballing me from inches away (I was on the floor). 8 was way too old to sleep with my mother but I got up and shared the bed with her.
I saw one last night. It was in an empty, washed dill pickle jar that I had sitting next to the kitchen garbage can waiting to be taken out to the glass recycling bin.
Here in Albuquerque, the big dark ones are common, and they’re getting more so because our winters haven’t been getting cold enough. If they overwinter, they get huge and develop wings, but I’m hoping this winter will discourage that. They usually stick to the outdoors and the garage, but since the first freeze, I’ve been seeing one in the house every few days. Ugh!
It doesn’t matter a whole lot how clean your house is here, except that a clean floor makes them easier to spot. They take refuge in buildings when it gets cold out, and they can live on practically nothing.
The last ones I saw were at a hotel in Fuerteventura on a holiday about seven years ago. There were some in the pool region, and some of my travel mates reported to have them at their hotel room, I fortunately hadn’t any in my room. Other than on that occasion, I can’t remember having seen any roach in my life, at least never in my home country of Germany.
I had never seen a cockroach till I joined the Navy and was sent to San Diego. Saw a couple within a few minutes of getting off the airplane at the airport. Rented an apartment a few years later while stationed down there, if was infested with them. I bought a Shop-Vac and used it almost daily to suck them up. After vacuuming, I would spray some Raid roach killer in the hose while it was running. I got bored one Saturday afternoon and made some parachutes out of toilet paper and thread. Then I super glued that the the back of roaches then let them go from my 4th floor balcony. I found it entertaining to watch them drift down till they were hit by passing cars. About an hour after I started the San Diego police showed up and put an end to my fun. Haven’s seen one since I left San Diego in 1979.
Good to know there is no serious crime in San Diego and the police can concentrate on the really important things in life! 
ETA: As a former motorcyclist, on the other hand…
The last time I know for sure that I saw one was Oct 2016 in a beachfront resort in Maui where my wife and I were vacationing. Actually, two – one in the bathroom and one in the kitchenette. My wife absolutely freaked and checked us out of the resort and into a “real” hotel (after, I kid you not, sleeping in the rental car that night because she was so squicked out). So yeah it was kind of memorable. I was like “You’re at a resort on a beach on a tropical island. What do you expect?”
It would’ve been back when I still lived in Texas in the 90s, I don’t think I’ve seen a single one in New England. Now, if you want to know about mice…
Depends a whole lot on where you live.
The last time I saw a cockroach was the last time I was in Florida; where the place was full of them, despite being also so full of insecticides that I couldn’t breathe in the grocery store.
In an old farmhouse in rural upstate New York we get cluster flies, twice a year; other flies, if the compost isn’t taken out often enough; lately, ladybug house invasions, also twice a year; a brief springtime ant invasion; wasps, IME not agressive unless you start squashing them; spiders, useful for catching the flies; squirrels; and mice, often first seen being crunched by a cat if one’s got four cats in the house. One of the current feline crew is also good at squirrels. Oh, and I think currently there may be a garter snake hiding under the large bookcases in the library, though it may have gotten out – a cat brought it in alive and I couldn’t catch it in time. But not cockroaches. I believe they do show up in cities in NYState; but I don’t remember them being a problem during the short stretch years ago when I lived in Rochester. I never saw them as a child in the 50’s and 60’s, various places, mostly rural, in NY, Massachusetts, and Maine.
Didn’t vote, because I don’t think whether I see them is time related, I think it’s location related.
Fascinating article (transcript), thanks! I haven’t seen a roach in years, knock on wood, and never really thought about why.
For anyone who didn’t click the link, the transcript says that basically Combat (brand) which came out in the mid-80s was a miracle cure, the kind that had never been seen before. It actually worked, but the thing is, EVERY new roach poison had worked for a time, not too surprising, but stopped working after a time because the roaches evolved resistance. Combat was different; it was the stuff. The roaches almost* didn’t grow resistant, but it took years and decades for most people to even notice. It just worked, and kept working, and after a while roaches were mostly gone, but because the change was gradual, we still don’t have an annual ticker-tape parade celebrating the inventors.
*almost:
they say they’re coming back at last.
Yeah, I figured I didn’t see them as much because I didn’t live in a mobile home anymore.
The last time I saw one was in Canada. I stayed at an Airbnb apartment in Montreal in August 2018 and spotted 2 of them crawling around on the counter. The place looked quite clean, but the building was from the early 1900s and a lot of renovation work was going on, which maybe stirred them up.
I lived in NYC for 10 years and when I moved into an apartment sublet in 1991, found a side table crawling with them where food had been left out.
A few years ago my son lived in a series of rental apartments while at college in NYC, and all of them had a clause in the lease requiring tenants to put down roach traps and replace them every 2 months. He said that they didn’t see roaches, though.
Anaamika is right, the transcript is stylistically very badly done, but the content is very interesting. Glad you enjoyed it! And you made a perfect synopsis of it. Top marks for comprehension! 
We live on the ground floor and there are forest cockroaches in summer (link). The last one I saw was in October/November, but outside.
The last time I saw a vermin cockroach was my senior year of college. It was about 2-3 inches long. We captured it in a Tupperware container to show to the maintenance people. We were living on the third floor.
Supposedly they were getting disturbed due to all the construction.