Kissing bugs mostly live in warm climates in the Americas, especially the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and much of South America, where they stay close to animals they can feed on and sheltered cracks or crevices around homes and natural habitats. They usually hide during the day and come out at night to feed on blood from mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles.

Main regions they live in

  • Southern U.S. states (seen in at least 29 states, including Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and as far north as states like Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, though they are rarer in cooler areas).
  • Mexico, all of Central America, and much of South America down to southern Argentina.

Around homes and people

  • In or near places where pets sleep, like dog beds, doghouses, and kennels.
  • Near areas where mice, rats, or other rodents live, since the bugs feed on them and use their nests as shelter.
  • In or around beds and bedroom furniture if they manage to get indoors, especially in older or poorly sealed structures.

Outdoor hiding spots

  • Under porches or decks, under cement slabs, and between rocks.
  • In piles of wood, brush, or rocks, or tucked under loose tree bark.
  • Inside animal burrows or rodent nests, and in chicken coops or other poultry housing.

Rural vs. urban settings

  • More common in rural or semi-rural areas where there are many wild animals, livestock, chickens, and outdoor dogs, because this means many available blood meals and nesting sites.
  • In the U.S., modern homes with plastered walls and sealed entry points are less likely to harbor them indoors, so most encounters happen outdoors or in structures like barns, sheds, and kennels.

If you live in a southern U.S. state and keep outdoor pets, chickens, or have wood/brush piles and rodent activity, your property is more likely to be in kissing bug territory, so reducing those hiding spots and keeping pet sleeping areas clean and well-sealed can lower the chance of encountering them.

TL;DR: Kissing bugs live mainly in warm parts of the Americas, especially the southern U.S. and Latin America, and they like sheltered cracks and nests near animals—under porches, in wood/rock piles, rodent burrows, doghouses, and chicken coops, and sometimes in or near beds if they get indoors.

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