Why black bear sightings are increasing across the U.S. this year

NEW YORK —

Black bear sightings and incidents have increased this year in a few states due to several factors, including drought, pushing bears closer to human spaces in search of food.

The Get the Facts Data Team gathered bear reports from nine states. These include bear sightings, incidents, conflicts with humans and killings from depredation or road kills through August 2026.

State wildlife agency websites track human-bear encounters reported by residents through bear incident or wildlife sighting report forms on their websites. A few states, such as Washington, Connecticut and Mississippi, host incident maps with the exact location of bear sightings or conflicts. Other states like New Mexico and Massachusetts post preliminary reports of the number of incidents responded to by the environmental police or biologists.

There is no national database of bear reports, so the Get the Facts Data Team reviewed each state wildlife page to compile this dataset.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the number of bear sightings and incidents in the state nearly doubled to 6,129 this year from 3,115 reports in 2025.

In Utah, biologists with the Division of Wildlife Resources and law enforcement agencies responded 168 times to bear issues across the state, double last year’s total.

In New Mexico, a total of 297 bears were killed, 255 for depredation and 42 from road or other kills, according to the New Mexico Department of Wildlife. This is an increase in the number of bears involved in human-bear conflict in 2026.

How many black bears are in the U.S.?

Black bears are common throughout the Pacific Northwest’s forests and mountains and can also be found in forests throughout Canada, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, the upper Midwest and parts of the southern United States.

An estimated 480,000 American black bears live in the United States, according to the World Population Review’s 2026 data.

Alaska has the largest black bear population in the U.S., where an estimated 100,000 bears can be found.

Wilson Sherman, a doctoral student at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, said bear sightings are common around this time as bears prepare for hyperphagia. This is the period when bears eat a lot to store fat for winter.

Sherman also said the increase in bear sightings might also be a result of people having more surveillance equipment, like Ring cameras, at their homes.

Wildlife reports also say the increase in bear sightings is due to several factors, including ongoing severe drought conditions, which may be pushing bears to look for food in human spaces. Over 60% of the continental U.S. was in drought last May, making it one of the more extensive drought periods on record, according to NOAA.

“Black bears are really creative, adaptable, intelligent omnivores, and when their natural food availability is disrupted by things related to climate change, including extreme droughts and wildfires, they adapt and respond by increasing their utilization of human resources like garbage,” said Sherman.

While the increase may indicate a temporary response to a combination of environmental and habitat conditions, current observations indicate that bears are likely moving farther and in closer proximity to humans to find food and to avoid competition for limited resources.

Sherman said the people who live in areas where black bears are present can make sure their property is as unattractive to bears as possible. This includes:

• Making sure to store your trash in a secure or bear-proof container
• Keeping barbecue grills clean
• Keeping pet food and water bowls inside

Other things in your yard that could attract a bear are bird feeders, fruit trees, compost piles and beehives, according to wildlife resources.

“You know that saying, ‘a fed bear is a dead bear’? That’s really real in the sense that when we provision bears with a lot of food and other things that attract them to our areas, we also put them at risk of putting themselves in danger.”

Sherman said as the human footprint expands into natural areas, it is important to invest in social support for people who share the space with bears.

“We have to empower community leaders to provide that kind of wildlife education in their communities so that everyone who lives in these areas knows about bears, knows how to live safely alongside them and knows how to reduce attractants,” said Sherman.