Workers: about 1–6 months in fire ants (by size), about 12 months in Argentine ants, 1–2 years in black garden ants (UF/IFAS; Texas A&M; Kramer et al. 2016). Queens: 4–12 months (pharaoh ant) to 20–30 years (red harvester ant) (UF/IFAS; Gordon 2018). Males: usually a few weeks; most die soon after mating (UF/IFAS; UGA). Record: a black garden ant queen lived 28 years — the longest lifespan reported in social insects (Kramer et al. 2016; AnAge).
How long does an ant live?
It depends on which ant you mean, because ants in the same nest live wildly different lives. A worker — the ant you see on the kitchen counter — usually lives weeks to a year or two. A male lives only weeks and usually dies soon after mating. A queen can live for years, and in the black garden ant up to 28 years, "the longest lifespan reported in eusocial insects" (Kramer et al. 2016). So how long do ants live? Anywhere from a few weeks to nearly three decades.
That range is the reason the calculator asks for both the species and the caste. Biologists have studied the gap for decades: Keller and Genoud (1997) linked the evolution of social life in insects to a roughly 100-fold increase in lifespan, and most researchers agree the queen–worker difference evolved because queens, sheltered in the nest, face a much lower risk of being killed than the workers outside (Kramer et al. 2016). In a large colony, Kramer and colleagues describe later workers as "a redundant workforce with easily replaceable individuals".
- Queens: months (pharaoh ant, 4–12 months) to decades (black garden ant, up to 28 years; red harvester ant, 20–30 years).
- Workers: about a month or two (fire ants) to a year or more (Argentine ants, about 12 months; garden ants, 1–2 years; carpenter ants, up to 7 years or more).
- Males: usually a few weeks; most die soon after their mating flight.
Asked as how long do ants live for or as ant life expectancy, the honest answer is a pair of numbers: a short one for the workers you see and a long one for the queen you don't.
Queen ant lifespan
How long do queen ants live? Longer than almost any other insect. The record belongs to the black garden ant, Lasius niger: Kramer and colleagues (2016) give "a maximum lifespan of 28 years" for queens in the laboratory, and the AnAge database of animal ageing lists the same 28-year maximum. That makes it the answer to longest living ant and oldest ant queen: a garden ant queen kept in captivity for 28 years.
Other species' queens are shorter-lived but still impressive:
- Red harvester ant: a colony lives 20–30 years, "the lifetime of the single queen who produces all the ants" (Gordon 2018, from a long-term study of colonies begun in 1988).
- Carpenter ant: queens "can live for over 10 years" (Animal Diversity Web).
- Red imported fire ant: queens may live 2 to 6 years (UF/IFAS); Texas A&M says 7 years or more.
- Pharaoh ant: queens live only 4 to 12 months (UF/IFAS) — but colonies have many queens and raise new ones, so the colony carries on.
The queen ant lifespan is long partly because of how she lives: after her mating flight a Lasius niger queen seals herself in, raises her first small workers from her own body reserves and then never forages again (Kramer et al. 2016). In the calculator, a garden ant queen can live about 14 times longer than the 2-year upper figure for her workers.
Worker ant lifespan
How long do worker ants live? Workers are sterile females (Animal Diversity Web), and their lives are shorter and much more variable than the queen's. The worker ant lifespan depends on species, size, job and even the age of the colony they were born into:
- Black garden ant: on average one to two years (Kutter & Stumper 1969, via Kramer et al. 2016). In a 2016 lab study at 22 °C, workers from young colonies lived 434 days on average and workers from older, bigger colonies 309 days; the longest-lived worker reached 1,129 days, about three years (Kramer et al. 2016).
- Fire ant: size matters — "minor workers may live 30 to 60 days, median workers 60 to 90 days, major workers 90 to 180 days" (UF/IFAS); Texas A&M says workers generally live about 5 weeks.
- Argentine ant: about 12 months (Texas A&M).
- Pharaoh ant: about 9–10 weeks — a figure from a pest-control company (Orkin), because the extension sources we read don't give one.
- Carpenter ant: "a few months to several years, even 7 years or more" (Animal Diversity Web).
- Red harvester ant: "at most a year" (Gordon 2018).
The Kramer study found an interesting twist: as a Lasius niger colony grew, it produced larger workers with higher death rates in their first 400 days — the colony seems to make its workforce more expendable once it can afford to.
Male ant lifespan
How long do male ants live? Not long. Males are produced only to mate, and in most species they die soon afterwards: fire ant males "die soon after mating" (UF/IFAS); carpenter ant males don't return to the colony and live "a few weeks to a few months" (Animal Diversity Web); pharaoh ant males "die within three to five weeks after mating" (UF/IFAS). Unmated Argentine ant males survive on average 8.5 days if they stay in the nest and 14.1 days if they fly (Passera & Keller 1994, via UF/IFAS). As a general rule the University of Georgia says a male "usually dies within two weeks of mating and does not participate in colony activities".
For the black garden ant and the harvester ant we found no species-specific figure, so the calculator uses that general rule and labels it. The male ant lifespan is the shortest of the three castes in every species with data.
Ant lifespan by species
Here are the six species in the calculator, with every figure's source. "—" means we didn't find a measured value.
| Species | Queen | Worker | Male | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black garden ant (Lasius niger) | up to 28 years (the longest-lived ant queen on record) | 1–2 years on average; up to 1,129 days (about 3 years) in the lab | usually dies within two weeks of mating | Kramer et al. 2016; AnAge; Kutter & Stumper 1969 via Kramer et al. 2016; UGA CAES (general ant biology) |
| Carpenter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) | over 10 years | a few months to 7 years or more | a few weeks to a few months; dies soon after mating | Animal Diversity Web |
| Red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) | 2–6 years (UF/IFAS); 7 years or more (Texas A&M) | minor workers 30–60 days, median 60–90, major 90–180; about 5 weeks typical | dies soon after mating | UF/IFAS EENY-195; Texas A&M AgriLife |
| Pharaoh ant (Monomorium pharaonis) | 4–12 months | 9–10 weeks (a pest-control company's figure) | dies within 3–5 weeks after mating | UF/IFAS EENY-290; Orkin (pest-control company) |
| Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) | not measured in the sources we found | about 12 months | dies after mating; unmated males average 8.5 days in the nest, 14.1 days if they fly | Texas A&M Urban Entomology; UF/IFAS EENY-767 (Passera & Keller 1994) |
| Red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) | 20–30 years — the life of the colony | at most a year | usually dies within two weeks of mating | Gordon 2018 (Stanford long-term study); Gordon 2018; UGA CAES (general ant biology) |
Carpenter ant lifespan
The carpenter ant lifespan is long for both castes: queens over 10 years and workers up to 7 or more (Animal Diversity Web). Development is slow too — Penn State says egg to worker takes "a minimum of about sixty days", and a colony doesn't produce winged queens and males until it is several years old with 2,000–3,000 workers.
Fire ant lifespan
The fire ant lifespan is 2–6 years for a queen (UF/IFAS; 7 or more according to Texas A&M) and one to six months for workers, depending on their size. Large workers live longest (UF/IFAS).
Black ant and garden ant lifespan
"Black ant" covers many species. The best-studied is the black garden ant, Lasius niger — Kramer and colleagues worked with queens collected after a mating flight in Rostock, Germany. The black ant lifespan and garden ant lifespan for this species are 1–2 years for workers and up to 28 years for queens (Kramer et al. 2016). Large black ants nesting in wood are more likely carpenter ants, covered above.
Pharaoh ant lifespan
The pharaoh ant lifespan is short for an ant queen — 4 to 12 months (UF/IFAS) — and males die 3–5 weeks after mating. The species makes up for it by having many queens per colony and budding into new colonies; UF/IFAS warns that repellent baits "can worsen the situation by causing the colony to fracture and bud".
Sugar ant lifespan
"Sugar ant" isn't one species. In the US it's a nickname for several small ants that go for sweets — the University of Nevada Extension notes the odorous house ant is "also known as a sugar ant", and pharaoh and Argentine ants get the name too. So the sugar ant lifespan depends on which ant it is: an Argentine ant worker lives about 12 months (Texas A&M), a pharaoh ant queen 4–12 months (UF/IFAS). We found no lifespan figures for the odorous house ant. Choose "Not sure / common house ant" in the calculator to see the range across the house ants on this page.
How long does an ant colony live?
How long does an ant colony live? In species with a single queen, about as long as she does. Deborah Gordon's long-term study of red harvester ants found that colonies "live for 20-30 years, the lifetime of the single queen who produces all the ants, but individual ants live at most a year" (Gordon 2018). The colony is effectively the queen plus a constantly replaced workforce.
Species with many queens are different. Pharaoh ant colonies bud — "a queen and a few workers break off from the mother colony" — and "even in the absence of a queen, workers can develop a queen from the brood" (UF/IFAS). Argentine ant nests link up into large colonies with hundreds of queens that split in spring and summer (Texas A&M; UC IPM). Such colonies have no fixed lifespan.
Colonies also have a life history. A carpenter ant colony only starts producing winged queens and males when it is several years old (Penn State), and a fire ant colony when it reaches about a year (UF/IFAS). UC IPM describes the general pattern: after weeks or months sealed underground, the founding queen lays her first eggs, the first workers appear several weeks later, and after a few years the colony begins producing winged ants.
Ant life cycle: egg to adult
Ants go through complete metamorphosis: four ant life cycle stages — egg, larva, pupa and adult. The University of Georgia gives a general picture: the egg takes about 25 days to hatch, the larva moults about three times and forms a cocoon at around 10 days, the pupa takes about two weeks, and "the total life cycle of an ant, from egg to adult, can take six to 10 weeks". Species differ a lot:
| Species | Egg | Larva | Pupa | Egg to adult | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black garden ant (general ant figures) | 25 days | 10 days | 14 days | 42–70 days | UGA CAES (general ant biology: 6–10 weeks egg to adult) |
| Carpenter ant | 18–25 days | 14–25 days | 25 days | 57–75 days | Animal Diversity Web; Penn State (at least about 60 days egg to worker) |
| Red imported fire ant | 8–10 days | 6–12 days | 9–16 days | 22–38 days | UF/IFAS EENY-195 (Hedges 1997) |
| Pharaoh ant | — | — | — | 38 days | UF/IFAS EENY-290 |
| Argentine ant | — | — | — | 74 days | Texas A&M (74 days); UF/IFAS EENY-767 (pupa 25 days at 21 °C, 8 at 30 °C) |
| Red harvester ant (general ant figures) | 25 days | 10 days | 14 days | 42–70 days | UGA CAES (general ant biology: 6–10 weeks egg to adult) |
Temperature speeds development up, but we found a measured figure for only one stage of one species: Argentine ant pupae take about 25 days at 21 °C and 8 days at 30 °C (Abril et al. 2010, via UF/IFAS). The calculator's life cycle mode uses it when you enter a nest temperature for Argentine ants and shows the other species' sourced ranges without adjusting them. The pharaoh ant has a fixed total — about 38 days for workers and 42 for queens and males (UF/IFAS) — but no published stage split, so only the total is shown.
How long can ants live without food or their colony?
How long do ants live without food? We didn't find a study or extension source that timed it for any of the species here, so the calculator gives no number. The closest evidence is the isolation study below, in which food — or the lack of it — changed how long single ants lived.
How long can ants live without the colony? Not long, compared with ants in a group. In a 2015 study of carpenter ants (Camponotus fellah), workers kept alone had "a greatly reduced life span" compared with workers kept in groups of ten (Koto et al. 2015). The isolated ants walked about far more, and although they ate as much as grouped ants, they kept the food in their crop instead of using it for energy; when the ants weren't fed at all, the difference in lifespan vanished. The paper's abstract doesn't give day counts, so neither do we — but the message is clear: an ant on its own is out of its element.
That's also why a single worker on your counter isn't a sign it will live there: workers live their whole lives in service of a nest, and the nest is where to look if ants keep coming.
How this ant lifespan calculator works
Ant lifespan mode looks up the sourced figure for the species and caste you choose and shows it in days, months or years, with a bar comparing the queen, worker and male of that species. Where a source gives only a lower bound ("over 10 years") the bar marks it with a +; where it gives only a description ("dies soon after mating"), the bar shows no length. The ratio compares the queen's upper figure with the workers' upper figure. "Not sure / common house ant" spans the five species on this page that turn up around homes, so its ranges are wide on purpose. The colony note appears where a source describes colony life.
Ant life cycle mode shows egg, larva and pupa durations where a source gives them (carpenter ants, fire ants), the total where only that is known (pharaoh and Argentine ants), and the general University of Georgia ranges, clearly labelled, for species without their own data. The species is required in both modes, and the caste in lifespan mode. To add a species, add one entry to the ANTS data with its sources.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an ant live?
Workers usually live weeks to a year or two, males a few weeks, and queens years — up to 28 years in the black garden ant (Kramer et al. 2016).
How long do queen ants live?
From 4–12 months (pharaoh ant) to over 10 years (carpenter ant), 20–30 years (red harvester ant) and up to 28 years (black garden ant).
How long do worker ants live?
About 1–6 months for fire ants (by size), about 12 months for Argentine ants, 1–2 years for black garden ants and up to 7 years or more for carpenter ants.
How long do male ants live?
Usually only weeks. Most die soon after mating; pharaoh ant males within 3–5 weeks, and many species within about two weeks (UF/IFAS; UGA).
What is the longest living ant?
The black garden ant, Lasius niger: queens have lived up to 28 years in the lab, the longest lifespan reported in social insects (Kramer et al. 2016; AnAge).
How old is the oldest ant queen?
About 28 years — a black garden ant queen kept in captivity (Kramer et al. 2016, citing Kutter & Stumper 1969).
How long do carpenter ants live?
Queens over 10 years and workers a few months to 7 years or more; males a few weeks to a few months (Animal Diversity Web).
How long do fire ants live?
Queens 2–6 years (UF/IFAS) or 7 or more (Texas A&M); minor workers 30–60 days, median 60–90 and major 90–180 days (UF/IFAS).
How long does an ant colony live?
In single-queen species, about as long as the queen: red harvester ant colonies live 20–30 years (Gordon 2018). Multi-queen colonies such as pharaoh ants can keep going by raising new queens.
What are the stages of the ant life cycle?
Egg, larva, pupa and adult. In general it takes six to 10 weeks from egg to adult (UGA); fire ants take 22–38 days (UF/IFAS).
How long do ants live without food?
We found no study that measured it for these species, so we don't give a number. Ants share food through the colony, so survival depends on the nest.
Can an ant survive without its colony?
Not for long compared with ants in a group: isolated carpenter ant workers had a greatly reduced lifespan in a 2015 study (Koto et al.).
How long do sugar ants live?
"Sugar ant" is a nickname for several species. Argentine ant workers live about 12 months; pharaoh ant queens 4–12 months. Choose "Not sure" in the calculator for the range.
Why do queen ants live so much longer than workers?
Queens live sheltered inside the nest while workers face predators and accidents outside; researchers link the gap to that difference in outside risk (Kramer et al. 2016; Keller & Genoud 1997).
Figures are published values for each species and caste; individual ants and colonies vary with food, temperature and colony size. We give no pesticide advice — for an ant problem in your home, your local cooperative extension service can identify the species.