Rats are common in any city. In Chicago, they often fall into the Norway rats category– ground-dwelling rodents that can take to living inside structures.
A recent report from RentHop, released a 2022 Rodent Complaint Study examining rat complaints in Chicago, along with NYC, Boston, and Washington D.C. Keep reading to see how Chicago fares.
Surprise! We’re actually doing well this year after taking the top spot as the rat capital last year. But, we’ve seemed to clean up our act as this year’s rodent reports are down overall at 23.20% compared to the total number of complaints received by the end of October 2021. Does that still make us the rat capital? Well… yes. Apparently it does as the title hasn’t been awarded to any other U.S. city (yet!).
According to Orkin, a pest control company, Chicago is still number one for the eighth year in a row– a title awarded based on ‘the number of new residential and commercial rodent treatments’ conducted between September 2021, and August 2022.
Chicago still receives the most complaints though, with the highest number of complaints out of the 4 metropolitan cities at a total of 42,613 as of this October 18th.
Well, we win some and lose a lot. What can I say? When you spot a rat, what do you do? Personally, I freeze, engage in a staring contest, and see who breaks first.