Aw, rats.
The Big Apple is the most rodent-riddled city in America, according to new data that will hardly surprise New Yorkers, who notice the pests proliferating in parks, playgrounds and subway stations.
Pest-control company Terminix ranked the 50 most rodent-infested cities based on what locales use their services most often, with New York coming out on top.
Despite Mayor Eric Adams last year employing a “rat czar” in a bid to help ease the infestation, residents of the five boroughs were frequently calling Terminix for their services.
Scurrying in as the second-most rodent-infested city in the US was San Francisco.
Los Angeles ranked third, while Philadelphia and Washington, DC, rounded out the Top 5.
However, when looking at states as a whole, New York did not come out on top, according to Yelp.
California, it turns out, led the nation in searches for rodent-related pest-control searches, followed by Wyoming, Washington, DC, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
And it seems a pest problem is plaguing the entire nation.
National interest in pest-proofing surged 165% in June 2024 compared to June 2023, Yelp reported.
The sharp rise was found when examining the number of times each query was entered per million searches.
Meanwhile, New York City saw a 107% increase for “rodent exterminator” in June 2024 compared to June 2023, Yelp exclusively told The Post.
But when contacted by The Post, the Department of Sanitation pointed to a statement from May that declared rat sightings were fewer in 12 of the previous 13 months compared to the year prior.
“Our efforts to get this trash off the street and into secure, rodent-resistant containers are working,” Joshua Goodman, DSNY’s deputy commissioner of public affairs and customer experience, previously claimed.
Indeed, honchos in NYC have introduced an array of ambitious plans to better manage all garbage, requiring residents to separate their food and yard scraps from other trash, introducing new trash and recycling bins and limiting hours trash can stay on the street — but many still complain of overflowing waste.
Other city efforts include using dry ice to eradicate the rodents and a proposed rat birth control program, in addition to hiring Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever rat czar on a $155,000 annual salary.
Signs of a rat infestation
- Small droppings in the home, including the back of drawers and cabinets, and on the floor along walls
- Holes or gnaw marks in food packaging
- Chewed wires or floor molding
- Urine stains in the corner of shelves, the back of drawers or cabinets
- Footprints and tail-drags in dust
- Nesting debris (chewed paper, cardboard, insulation, other fibrous materials)
- Scratching or thumping in walls
