Chicago named country’s ‘rattiest city’ for 10th straight year

Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, is taking the findings of a new Orkin Pest Control survey that brands Chicago as the “rattiest city” in the country with a grain of salt.

For the 10th consecutive year, researchers from the Atlanta-based company tabbed Chicago with the dubious distinction, pointing to the city’s many alleyways as safe hideaways and constant sources of sustenance for the city’s growing rodent population.

“This decade-long dominance highlights the city’s ongoing battle with rodents, as well as the efforts taken to treat their presence, which has been driven largely by the Windy City’s infrastructure and environment,” the report said.

Ford argues seeing is believing.

“I've been places on the east coast where rats are sitting on people's front porches and walking,” he told The Center Square. “I am more comfortable in Chicago as it relates to the rat problem than I am in other cities.”

With the number of infestations sharply on the rise since the pandemic, part of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget recently allocated almost $15 million to the Bureau of Rodent Control to combat the problem. The plan includes conducting more inspections and baiting more alleys and sewers.

As recently as 2022, data shows residents across the city filed more than 50,000 rat complaints with most of them coming on the South and West Sides. Axios has reported with city resources now stretched to the limit, the city’s Inspector General’s office is now auditing the Bureau of Rodent Control.

Ford said it will take a united effort on the part of everyone to have any chance of fully alleviating the problem.

“I think that we as residents need to do our part to cut down on littering that attracts rodents,” he said. “I mean, we got to starve them and kill them. So renters, restaurant owners all have a role to play in making sure that we reduce the rodent problem.”

When it comes to enforcement, data shows the city has issued 117,000 rat-related tickets over the last five years totaling $153 million in fines of which just roughly one-fifth have been paid.

With researchers collecting data for its rankings by tracking new residential rodent treatments over a yearlong period beginning Sept. 1, 2023, Los Angeles and New York round out the top three positions in the survey.

“I hate rats so much and I'm afraid of them,” Ford said. “I tell you that I am more comfortable in Chicago as it relates to the rat problem than I am in other cities where rats are.”