Most worker wasps only live a few weeks, while queens can survive for close to a year, especially if they hibernate over winter.

Quick Scoop

  • Worker wasps (the ones you usually see buzzing around) typically live about 12–22 days as adults, so their active life is measured in weeks, not months.
  • Drone (male) wasps usually live a few weeks, often around 15–25 days, and many die shortly after mating.
  • Queen wasps are the longest-lived; they can survive around 10–12 months, because they are born late in the season, mate, then hibernate through winter before starting a new nest in spring.
  • If you count every stage (egg → larva → pupa → adult), the total lifespan of a typical social wasp from egg to death is roughly 35–70 days for workers, while queens can stretch close to a year.

Life stages as a rough timeline

  • Egg stage: about 5–8 days.
  • Larva stage: about 10–20 days.
  • Pupa stage: about 8–20 days.
  • Adult stage (worker): usually a few weeks (around 12–22 days).

Why some “seem” to last longer

  • People often feel wasps are “around all summer,” but this is because new generations keep emerging, not because a single wasp lives that long.
  • Queens are rarely seen but are the ones that actually bridge one year to the next through winter hibernation.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.