How to Keep Mosquitoes Away: Repellents, Clothing, Fans and What to Skip

What is the best way to keep mosquitoes away from you?

Put an EPA-registered repellent on exposed skin, wear long loose clothing, and place a barrier between you and the mosquitoes, whether that is a screen, an air-conditioned room or a fan. That layered approach follows CDC's guidance on preventing mosquito bites, which sorts its advice into using repellent, wearing protective clothing and controlling mosquitoes indoors and outdoors. No single layer stops every bite, so each one covers gaps left by the others.

This page covers the personal and patio side: what goes on your skin and clothes, when to be outside, and what helps the spot where you sit. Mosquitoes breeding on your own property are a separate job, and how to get rid of mosquitoes in a yard walks through it. The complete backyard mosquito control guide puts the whole-property plan in one place.

Which mosquito repellent should you choose?

Choose a product that carries an EPA registration number and one of six active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol (PMD) or 2-undecanone. That is the list in CDC's guidance, which adds that choosing an EPA-registered repellent means EPA has evaluated the product for effectiveness. EPA's explanation of how skin-applied repellents are regulated says registration indicates a product has been evaluated and approved for human safety and effectiveness when applied as the label directs. The table below also draws on EPA's DEET page and on the CDC Yellow Book chapter on mosquitoes, ticks and other arthropods, CDC's guidance on protecting travelers from bites.

Neither CDC page ranks the six ingredients against one another, and the only ingredient-specific protection time in the sources reviewed here is EPA's figure for DEET. That leaves three practical choices: the concentration, how long you will be outside, and who will be wearing it. CDC tells shoppers to look for the EPA registration number (EPA Reg. No.) on the label.

How long does mosquito repellent last?

It depends mostly on the concentration of the active ingredient. The Yellow Book's general rule is that higher concentrations protect for longer, whichever active ingredient is in the product. EPA's DEET page says studies in its database indicate that DEET repels mosquitoes for about two to twelve hours, depending on the percentage of DEET in the product. The Yellow Book puts figures on both ends: products with less than 10 percent active ingredient might offer only limited protection, often 1 to 2 hours, while DEET protection tends to peak at about 50 percent, with higher concentrations giving no marked increase in protection time against mosquitoes.

Concentration is not the whole story. The Yellow Book says sustained-release or controlled-release (microencapsulated) formulations might protect for longer even at lower concentrations, and that how long any product lasts is also markedly affected by air temperature, how active you are, how much you sweat, exposure to water and the product being rubbed off.

The label sets the reapplication schedule, and CDC says to reapply as directed. If you start getting bitten, the Yellow Book says to reapply, but not more often than the label allows. In practice, a low-percentage product suits a short time outside, and a longer evening calls for a higher percentage or a plan to reapply on the label's schedule.

How do you apply repellent correctly?

Follow the label, apply after sunscreen, and keep repellent on exposed skin and clothing only. These steps combine EPA's guidance on using insect repellents safely and effectively with the CDC advice above:

1. Read the label first, including how much to use and how often to reapply.
2. Put sunscreen on first and repellent second. The Yellow Book advises against products that combine the two, because sunscreen might need to be reapplied more often and in larger amounts than repellent.
3. Apply repellent only to exposed skin or clothing, never under clothing.
4. For your face, spray the product onto your hands first and then rub it on. Keep it away from your eyes and mouth, and use only a little around your ears.
5. Do not apply repellent over cuts, wounds or irritated skin, and do not use it near food.
6. After you come indoors, wash treated skin and clothes with soap and water.

Is mosquito repellent safe for children and during pregnancy?

CDC says EPA-registered repellents are safe and effective for pregnant and breastfeeding women when used as directed, and EPA says it continues to believe that normal use of DEET does not present a health concern to the general population, including children. In these sources, the age limits attach to particular ingredients, not to repellent as a whole.

CDC says not to use products containing oil of lemon eucalyptus or PMD on children under 3 years old, and the Yellow Book gives the reason as avoiding potential allergic skin reactions. EPA adds a nuance: some oil of lemon eucalyptus products carry that age restriction, while certain products with it as the only active ingredient at 30 percent or less do not. The label on the product in your hand has the final word. Products with DEET, picaridin, IR3535 or 2-undecanone can be used on children without an age restriction, according to the Yellow Book.

When applying repellent to a child, put it on your own hands first and then onto the child, and keep it off the child's hands, eyes, mouth, cuts and irritated skin. CDC also advises covering strollers and baby carriers with mosquito netting. For a young infant, ask the child's pediatrician before using any repellent.

What should you wear to keep mosquitoes from biting?

Wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants. That is CDC's advice, and for children it recommends clothing that covers arms and legs. Fit and fabric both matter, and a separate guide goes through which fabrics mosquitoes can bite through. Repellent can also go on clothing, which EPA lists alongside exposed skin as a place to apply it.

Does permethrin-treated clothing keep mosquitoes away?

Yes, it adds protection where the fabric covers you, though skin the fabric leaves exposed still needs repellent. CDC recommends clothing and gear treated with permethrin, an insecticide that kills or repels mosquitoes, and says treated clothing keeps providing protection after multiple washings.

The Yellow Book says clothing, hats, shoes, mosquito nets, outerwear and camping gear can all be treated. Permethrin-treated materials keep their repellent or insecticidal activity through repeated launderings but should be retreated as the product label describes, and clothing sold already treated is labeled for efficacy through many launderings. Items you treat yourself should be treated 24 to 48 hours before they are packed for travel, so they have time to dry. Clothing treated with other repellents such as DEET provides protection but will not last through washing, so it needs more frequent application.

When are mosquitoes most active, and when should you stay in?

Mosquitoes bite throughout the day and night, but each species tends to have peak hours, the CDC Yellow Book says, and for the disease carriers it tabulates those fall at dawn and dusk or in the evening and night. Its table of peak biting times lists dawn and dusk for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, late evening (10 to 11 p.m.) for Culex quinquefasciatus, and night and evening for Anopheles. The table covers vectors of diseases such as dengue, West Nile and malaria, so it describes disease carriers and not every nuisance species.

The species you meet depends on where you live, and CDC's own summary is that mosquitoes bite day and night, so there is no single safe hour. The Yellow Book says avoiding peak biting periods reduces the chance of exposure to the diseases mosquitoes carry. If you can choose when to sit outside, avoid the dawn, dusk and evening peaks, and put repellent on before you step out at those times. For timing by region and the end of the season, see when mosquitoes are most active and when they stop.

Do fans keep mosquitoes away?

Moving air helps, and the evidence behind that is a field study in which wind from electric fans strongly reduced mosquito catches in traps. In a 2003 study in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers worked in a central Michigan wetland where three species were abundant: Aedes vexans, Anopheles walkeri and Coquillettidia perturbans. They set fan-generated wind against CDC light traps that released carbon dioxide, the gas people breathe out.

Catches fell as wind speed rose across the range tested, from 0 to 8.3 mph (0 to 3.7 meters per second), closely matching the dilution expected when wind blows over a steady source of a volatile chemical. Tripling the carbon dioxide release rate consistently doubled the catch across those wind speeds. The authors concluded that wind works mainly by diluting the attractant, not by exceeding what mosquitoes can fly through. Adding DEET vapor cut the catch further compared with equally fast air alone. They recommended that fan-generated wind be pursued as a practical means of protecting people or pets from mosquitoes in a backyard.

Two limits apply. The study counted mosquitoes in traps, not bites on people, and its published summary gives no fan size, distance or patio layout, so there is none to quote here. The dilution finding suggests the moving air has to cross the seating area itself, and a fan stays where you put it while you move around the yard, which is where repellent comes in.

How do you keep mosquitoes out of the house and off a patio?

Screens in good repair keep mosquitoes out of the house, and clearing standing water near where you sit takes away places for them to lay eggs. CDC says to use screens on windows and doors, repair holes in them to keep mosquitoes outdoors, and use air conditioning if you have it.

Outside, CDC's advice is to stop mosquitoes from laying eggs in or near water. Once a week, empty and scrub, turn over, cover or throw out items that hold water, such as buckets, toys, birdbaths and flowerpot saucers, and check for water-holding containers indoors as well as outdoors. The whole-property version of that job, including larvicides and treatments for adult mosquitoes, is in the backyard guides linked above.

Do spatial repellents, coils and patio devices work?

They can repel mosquitoes from a small area, but CDC treats them as an addition to repellent on your skin, not a replacement for it. The Yellow Book describes spatial repellents as products such as aerosol insecticide sprays, vaporizing mats and mosquito coils, with active ingredients such as metofluthrin and allethrin. It says spray aerosols can help clear mosquitoes from larger spaces, while coils and similar products repel mosquitoes from more circumscribed areas.

It then adds a caution. Many of these products show repellent or insecticidal activity under certain conditions, but they have not yet been adequately evaluated in peer-reviewed studies for efficacy in preventing vector-borne diseases. Its advice is to supplement them with an EPA-registered repellent on skin or clothing, to use them with caution, and to avoid directly breathing in the spray or smoke. The chapter is written with travelers in mind, so it does not rate individual patio devices.

What does not keep mosquitoes away?

Repellent wristbands, sound-emitting devices and eating vitamin B or garlic do not work, according to the CDC Yellow Book, which calls all three ineffective. The chapter does not name phone apps, but an app that plays a tone meant to repel mosquitoes relies on the same idea as a sound-emitting device, and none of the sources behind this page supports it.

The same chapter says the effectiveness of non-EPA-registered repellents, including some natural ones, is unknown. EPA explains part of the reason: products made from certain ingredients are exempt from registration and were assessed for safety but have not been evaluated for effectiveness. Its examples include citronella oil, cedar oil, geranium oil, peppermint oil and soybean oil. Unknown is not the same as failed, but it means EPA has not checked the claim, so look for an EPA registration number on the label.

Lights and zappers are their own question. What researchers have found about mosquitoes and light covers bug zappers, light traps, and whether yellow or LED bulbs make a difference.

What about pets and places with very heavy mosquito numbers?

EPA's repellent guidance says not to use any product on pets or other animals unless the label clearly states it is for animals, so ask a veterinarian before putting a repellent on a dog. The guide to mosquito bites on dogs explains why heartworm makes those bites matter and which repellents are made for dogs. In places where mosquito numbers are extreme, how Alaska's mosquito season and numbers work shows what that looks like and how visitors protect themselves.

What should you read next?

If you are choosing gear, the mosquito gear guide sorts the product categories. If you wonder why mosquitoes seem to find you first, what attracts mosquitoes to a person goes through the cues they follow, and the yard-focused guide to getting rid of mosquitoes covers the part of the problem that repellent cannot.

This guide is general educational information, not medical advice. If you have symptoms or concerns after a bite or exposure, contact a healthcare provider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

1. Preventing Mosquito Bites — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2. Mosquitoes, Ticks, and Other Arthropods — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Yellow Book 2026)
3. Using Insect Repellents Safely and Effectively — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
4. DEET — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
5. Regulation of Skin-Applied Repellents — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
6. Reassessment of the Role and Utility of Wind in Suppression of Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Host Finding: Stimulus Dilution Supported Over Flight Limitation — Journal of Medical Entomology (Oxford Academic)

How this guide was made: it was researched and drafted with AI assistance from the sources listed above. A second, independent AI pass then checked each factual claim against those sources. Found an error? Email support@buzzskito.ca.