The Big Apple is not America’s No. 1 ratropolis.
Despite being rife with more rodents than “Ratatouille,” New York City is not the most rat-infested city in the US. That title actually belongs to Chicago, according to a survey by extermination firm Orkin on the rattiest cities in America in 2022.
The study is released every fall, when “rice and other rodents invade an estimated 21 million homes in the United States.” To gauge the most rodentified regions this year, the pest control company ranked 50 cities “by the number of both residential and commercial rodent treatments performed from Sept. 1, 2021, to Aug. 31, 2022.”
Orkin found that Chicago topped the list for the eighth year in a row, perhaps evidence enough that the Windy City might want to change its name to the “Ratty City.” Meanwhile, NYC — home of Pizza Rat and other rodent celebs — weighed in as America’s second rattiest city in 2022, swapping spots with Los Angeles, which fell to the third spot in the rat-plague pantheon.
Following close behind was Washington, DC — the site of the notorious Popeye’s rat infestation of November 2021 — along with San Francisco and Philadelphia, respectively.
The most “improved” player in the realm of rat infestation was South Bend, Indiana, which scurried up a whopping 21 spots since last year.
We’ve included the full list below:
- Chicago
- New York (+1)
- Los Angeles (-1)
- Washington, DC
- San Francisco
- Philadelphia (+1)
- Baltimore (-1)
- Cleveland (+2)
- Detroit (-1)
- Denver (-1)
- Seattle
- Minneapolis
- Boston
- Atlanta (+1)
- Indianapolis (-1)
- Pittsburgh
- Cincinnati (+2)
- San Diego (-1)
- Hartford, Connecticut (+2)
- Miami
- Milwaukee (+1)
- Houston (-4)
- Dallas (-3)
- Portland, Oregon
- Columbus, Ohio (+1)
- Richmond, Virginia (+2)
- Kansas City, Missouri (-2)
- Norfolk, Virginia (-1)
- Nashville, Tennessee (+7)
- St. Louis
- Grand Rapids, Michigan (+1)
- Raleigh, North Carolina (+3)
- Champaign, Illinois (+4)
- Albany, New York (-3)
- Louisville, Kentucky (+5)
- Sacramento, California (-7)
- New Orleans (-4)
- Charlotte, North Carolina (+4)
- Buffalo, New York (+2)
- Flint, Michigan (-6)
- Greenville, South Carolina (+3)
- Syracuse, New York (+4)
- Tampa, Florida (+7)
- South Bend, Indiana (+21)
- Portland, Oregon (-7)
- Phoenix (-3)
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Fort Wayne, Indiana (+12)
- Orlando, Florida (+3)
- Burlington, Vermont (-11)
The reason for the rise in rattiness is unclear. However, Orkin said that the “influx of outdoor dining structures brought on by the pandemic” have provided rodents with “the perfect place to dine, live and multiply.”
Of course, Orkin’s study was not without its caveats, namely that they neglected to rank each city by the number of rats — a stat that would likely be logistically impossible to calculate.
However, if they were to conduct a rodent census, NYC would undoubtedly come out on top. A 2014 survey found that the Big Apple harbors twice as many rats as people, which, considering its nation-topping human population of 8.4 million, means Gotham’s rat numbers likely blow away all the other cities as well.
Meanwhile, data from earlier this month revealed that NYC rodent sightings are up 70% from the same time two years ago. More than 21,500 sightings were reported to the Big Apple’s 311 service request line between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, marking 18,601 more rat calls than last year.
To combat the scourge, the city has proposed a vermination campaign, which the City Council will vote on this month. The multipronged plan includes $22 million for basket service and nearly $5 million for rat mitigation, including implementing rat mitigation zones and pre-construction rat plans.
In August, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new plan to padlock outside garbage cans and also demolish abandoned pandemic-era dining sheds.
“These deserted dining sheds have become eyesores for neighbors and havens for rats, and we are going to tear them down,” he said. “And, with this initiative, we are also taking the essential step toward a permanent Open Restaurants program that all New Yorkers can be proud of every day. I want to say it loud and clear: Outdoor dining is here to stay.”