CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago keeps a crown it would rather not have. For the tenth year in a row, Chicago was ranked the rattiest city in America by pest control company Orkin.
The Windy City has held the title of America’s rattiest city since Orkin first made the list.
Orkin said the city’s years-long battle with rats is largely caused by its infrastructure and environment:
“Chicago’s abundance of alleys provide rodents with hidden havens and plenty of room to hide while they feast on trash. Rodents also like to dig and find shelter under subway tracks or around underground pipes. In these hidden places The rodent population can grow if they are left unchecked.”
Orkin ranked metropolitan regions based on the number of new residential rodent treatments conducted between September 1, 2023 and August 31, 2024.
Los Angeles was ranked as the second rattiest city in the country, with New York in third place. The two cities have been among the top three most ratted cities in the US since 2017.
The top 50 rattiest cities according to Orkin are:
1. Chicago, Illinois.
2. Los Angeles, California.
3. New York, NY
4. San Francisco, California.
5. Washington, DC
6. Denver, CO.
7. Philadelphia, PA.
8. Detroit, Michigan.
9. Baltimore, Maryland
10. Cleveland, Ohio
11.Minneapolis, Minnesota.
12. Boston, Mass.
13. Hartford, Conn.
14. Seattle, Washington.
15. Indianapolis, Ind.
16. Atlanta, Georgia.
17. Columbus, Ohio
18. San Diego, California.
19. Milwaukee, Wis.
20. Sacramento, California.
21. Pittsburgh, PA.
22. Dallas, Texas
23. Miami, Florida.
24. Norfolk, Va.
25. Houston, Texas
26. Charlotte, NC
27. Grand Rapids, Mich.
28. Raleigh, NC
29. Honolulu, Hawaii
30. Albuquerque, NM
31.Albany, NY
32. Phoenix, Az.
33. Greenville, SC
34. Cincinnati, Ohio
35.Tampa, FL.
36. Nashville, Tenn.
37. Richmond, Va.
38. Portland, OR.
39. Orlando, FL.
40. New Orleans, La.
41. Buffalo, NY
42. Flint, Mich.
43. Rochester, NY
44. Champaign, Ill.
45. Kansas City, Mo.
46. ​​Burlington, Vt.
47. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
48. Syracuse, NY
49. Charleston, W.Va.
50. Greensboro, SC
Chicago’s relationship with rats goes back decades. Famously, in 1994, after the city closed several restaurants for health code violations, Mayor Richard M. Daley famously said:
“I thought people’s health was very important. If there is a rat on your sandwich, you hope to know about it sooner. If there is a mouse on your salad, that is common sense.”
In 2021, CBS 2 searched public records and discovered a record 53,000 rat complaints through October. That meant a record for rat complaints, with two months left in the year.
