The vertical distribution of pear thrips,Taeniothrips inconsequens(Uzel), in forest soils of three drainage classes was investigated. Thrips were extracted from soil cores collected in October 1989 and 1990 from well-drained, moderately well-drained, and poorly drained soils in Pennsylvania sugar maple stands. In both years, the majority of pear thrips occurred in the upper 10 cm of all soils regardless of drainage class. The number of thrips decreased with increasing soil depth in all soils. Thrips were present in the upper 30 cm of well-drained and moderately well-drained soils but did not occur below 20 cm in poorly drained soils. Poorly drained soils contained higher percentages of thrips in the upper 10 cm of the soil than did well-drained and moderately well-drained soils. These results suggest that estimates of thrips populations in the soil based on the number of thrips in samples collected from selected portions of the soil profile may need to be adjusted for soils of different drainage classes.