Surely you’ve heard of Pizza Rat, the infamous rodent seen dragging a slice of pizza in an NYC subway station. NYC is known for its rats and rat culture, but surprisingly, it’s not the rattiest city in the U.S. How do we know this? The pest control experts at Orkin have released their annual ranking of Rattiest Cities. Stop reading now if you want to remain blissfully unaware of the “winners.”
For the ninth year in a row, Chicago tops the list of rattiest cities. The unseemly status may not be something to celebrate, but Orkin produced a t-shirt for Chicagoans to commemorate the title, which quickly sold out.
Los Angeles moved up in the rankings, coming in at number two, while NYC moved down the list to number three. Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Denver, Detroit and Cleveland round out the top 10. Cities that moved up the list the most include Greensboro, N.C. and Albuquerque, N.M.—both moving up 17 spots—Charlotte, N.C. (up 16 spots), Orlando-Daytona beach (up 12 spots) and Houston (up 10 spots).
The rankings are determined by the number of new rodent services, indicating demand and efforts taken by residents and businesses to treat rodent issues. So, while it’s an unfortunate designation, at least something is being done about the problem. According to Orkin, rats tend to enter homes between October and February as they look for shelter, so get your home prepped now if you’re in one of these infested cities.
Find out more info about the study and rat-related info and tips here.