New York City, home to the subway pizza rat , is surprisingly not Americaâs most rodent-infested city. That dubious honor goes to Chicago, according to a new analysis.
A breakdown of the â50 Rattiest Citiesâ in the U.S. has been compiled by Orkin, a pest control service with locations across the country. The company tallied up the number of commercial and residential rodent treatments it carried out in each city over a period of 12 months (September 1, 2019, to August 31, 2020) and then ranked them. While the evidence is anecdotal, as it comes from just one company, it does reveal the areas where rat exterminators are in high demand.
This is the sixth year in a row that Chicago has been named the countryâs rattiest city, according to Orkin. New York came in third place, just after Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. was fourth. In a pretty worrisome development, San Diego moved up a whole 13 spots to come in at No. 19.
As Orkin detailed on its site, the pandemic forced countless restaurant closures in 2020, which cut off the food sources of many rodents. This led to them scouring new areas and becoming more visible around cities and in homes as a result. And there's a reason why these pests can spread so quickly: One pregnant rat can birth up to 12 babies in a single litter, and those pups can begin reproducing at just 2 months old, according to KATU in Portland, Oregon (No. 23 on Orkinâs list).
Check out the full list of the 50 most rat-ridden cities belowâand if you have musophobia (a fear of rats or mice), you may want to plot your move to one of the cities toward the bottom of the list.
This story originally ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2021.
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