Magicicada broods and distributions

Although nearly all of the periodical cicadas in a given region emerge in the same year, the cicadas in different regions are not synchronized and may emerge in different years. All periodical cicadas of the same life cycle type that emerge in a given year are known collectively as a single "brood" (or "year-class"). The resulting broods are designated by Roman numerals -- there are 12 broods of 17-year cicadas (with the remaining five year-classes apparently containing no cicadas), and 3 broods of 13-year cicadas (with ten empty year-classes). As a result, it is possible to find adult periodical cicadas in almost any year by traveling to the appropriate location. The table below is a guide to the approximate locations of periodical cicada broods. On a local scale, periodical cicadas can be very patchily distributed.

Click here for a small-scale composite map of all brood ranges.

Click on a brood number in the table below to see a larger-scale map of that brood's range.

17-year Broods	Year				General region
I	1961	1978	1995	2012	VA, WV
II	1962	1979	1996	2013	CT, MD, NC, NJ, NY, PA, VA
III	1963	1980	1997	2014	IA, IL, MO
IV	1964	1981	1998	2015	IA, KS, MO, NB, OK, TX
V	1965	1982	1999	2016	MD, OH, PA, VA, WV
VI	1966	1983	2000	2017	GA, NC, SC
VII	1967	1984	2001	2018	NY
VIII	1968	1985	2002	2019	OH, PA, WV
IX	1952	1969	1986	2003	NC, VA, WV
X	1953	1970	1987	2004	DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV
XI	1937	1954			Extinct
XIII	1956	1973	1990	2007	IA, IL, IN, MI, WI
XIV	1957	1974	1991	2008	KY, GA, IN, MA, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV
13-year Broods
XIX	1972	1985	1998	2011	AL, AR, GA, IN, IL, KY, LA, MD, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, VA
XXI					Extinct
XXII	1975	1988	2001	2014	LA, MS
XXIII	1976	1989	2002	2015	AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, TN

Note: Maps are intended to give only approximate brood ranges.

Sometimes periodical cicadas emerge "off-schedule" by one or more years. This phenomenon is often referred to by the general term "straggling," although straggling cicadas can emerge either later or earlier than expected. Straggling makes it difficult to construct accurate maps of periodical cicada brood distributions, and historical reports of emergences often contain little or no information about how many cicadas were seen. Straggling emergences in which one or two cicadas are present are common; larger unexpected emergences of thousands of individuals have been reported (e.g. Dybas 1969).