These Are America's 50 Most Rat-Infested Cities

New York City, home to the subway pizza rat, is surprisingly not America’s most rodent-infested city. That dubious honor goes to Chicago, according to a new analysis.

A breakdown of the “50 Rattiest Cities” 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 country’s 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 Orkin’s list).

Check out the full list of the 50 most rat-ridden cities below—and 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.

1. Chicago, Illinois
2. Los Angeles, California
3. New York, New York
4. Washington, D.C.
5. San Francisco, California
6. Detroit, Michigan
7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
8. Baltimore, Maryland
9. Denver, Colorado
10. Minneapolis, Minnesota
11. Cleveland, Ohio
12. Seattle, Washington
13. Boston, Massachusetts
14. Atlanta, Georgia
15. Indianapolis, Indiana
16. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
17. Houston, Texas
18. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
19. San Diego, California
20. Miami, Florida
21. New Orleans, Louisiana
22. Cincinnati, Ohio
23. Portland, Oregon
24. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
25. Norfolk, Virginia
26. Raleigh, North Carolina
27. Hartford, Connecticut
28. Columbus, Ohio
29. Grand Rapids, Michigan
30. Kansas City, Missouri
31. Charlotte, North Carolina
32. Phoenix, Arizona
33. Richmond, Virginia
34. Nashville, Tennessee
35. Greenville, South Carolina
36. Sacramento, California
37. St. Louis, Missouri
38. Albany, New York
39. Champaign, Illinois
40. Green Bay, Wisconsin
41. Tampa, Florida
42. Flint, Michigan
43. Buffalo, New York
44. Syracuse, New York
45. Knoxville, Tennessee
46. Orlando, Florida
47. Burlington, Vermont
48. Albuquerque, New York
49. Dayton, Ohio
50. West Palm Beach, Florida

This story originally ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2021.