{"id":764,"date":"2022-11-07T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-07T09:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/?post_type=studies&p=16527"},"modified":"2022-11-07T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T15:51:08","slug":"rats-roam-free-in-four-major-u-s-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/research\/rats-roam-free-in-four-major-u-s-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"Rats Roam Free in Four Major U.S. Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Often a symbol of city living, rats scamper along the streets, appear in restaurants and businesses, and sometimes make their way into residential areas. While many city residents accept rat sightings as a way of life, increasing levels of rat activity can raise concerns about an area\u2019s safety and cleanliness. Rats carry a plethora of diseases that range in severity, and public health officials spend ample time and energy attempting to decrease the amount of rodent foot traffic in their respective cities.<\/p>\n

RentHop Rat Study<\/h2>\n

Every year, RentHop<\/a> collects data from four major U.S. cities to help renters and homeowners understand the levels of rodent activity in their area, helping them decide where to live. This year, we analyzed 311 rodent complaints in Boston<\/a>, Chicago<\/a>, New York City<\/a>, and Washington D.C.<\/a> We discovered that three cities had received more rodent complaints compared to the same time frame in 2021. At this rate, those cities will end 2022 with an overall higher amount of rodent activity than last year.<\/strong> Only one city\u2019s rodent activity decreased at a significant enough rate to suggest it will remain lower than 2021\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n

Rodent Complaints by City<\/h3>\n

Figure 1<\/a> below highlights the number of rodent complaints between January 1 and October 18, from 2015 to 2022. While rodent activity appears to decrease from 2021 to 2022, this chart does not consider that there are still two months worth of data for the remainder of 2022. New York City, Washington D.C., and Boston will likely end 2022 with more rodent complaints than in 2021.
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<\/a>Figure 1<\/div>\n

Rodent complaints in NYC<\/h4>\n

New York<\/a> is on track to outpace last year\u2019s total number of rodent complaints. This year, rodent complaints in 2022 are higher than they were at the same time in 2021, where last year\u2019s complaints reached a total of 37,008 compared to their year\u2019s 35,127. However, as RentHop collected this data in October of 2022, that still means there is time for more rodent complaints to stack up and ultimately pass 2021\u2019s statistics. By the end of October 2021, NYC\u2019s 311 system received 33,567 complaints, meaning NYC currently has 4.64% more complaints than last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rodent complaints in Chicago<\/h4>\n

After the number of rodent complaints reached 65,897 in Chicago <\/a>in 2021, the number has slightly cooled throughout 2022. From January 1st 2022 to October 18, 2022, Chicago has received 42,613 rodent complaints via the 311 system, a 35.33% decrease from last year\u2019s complaints. In October of last year<\/a>, Chicago had received 60,138 complaints about rodents, meaning that this year\u2019s complaints are down 32.72%<\/strong> compared to October 2021.<\/p>\n

At RentHop, we took a deeper dive to understand how rodent complaints changed year over year in four cities across the country, along with the five neighborhoods in NYC. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Select one of the cities below to learn more:<\/p>\n

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Boston<\/a> | Chicago<\/a> | New York City<\/a> | Washington D.C.<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Rats are on the rise in Boston \u2013 rodent activity is up 12.6% this year<\/h2>\n

While rat activity decreased in Boston from 2020 to 2021, residents now report more rodent activity throughout the city. As of October 18th, rodent complaints were 12.6% higher than they were at the same time last year. Rodent activity is the highest it has ever been since RentHop began collecting data on Boston\u2019s rodent activity in 2015. Throughout 2022, Boston\u2019s 311 system received 3,508 complaints, which translates to 5.19 complaints for every 1,000 residents.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Figure 2<\/div>\n

Which Boston neighborhoods are run by rats this year?<\/h3>\n

With the closure of many Boston restaurants and businesses throughout the pandemic, rats in Boston are forced to adapt and find new food sources, forcing them to explore more residential areas. Bostonians now run into rats in neighborhoods at a higher frequency than years prior.<\/span><\/p>\n

The city recently introduced carbon monoxide systems in an attempt to remove large rat populations throughout the city. Despite the city\u2019s effort to contain a growing population, their new devices cannot keep up with the rodent reproduction rate, further infesting the city. Continue reading to find which neighborhoods are the most rat-prone.<\/p>\n

The interactive map below indicates the concentration of rodent complaints in Boston. Neighborhoods in darker shades have a higher concentration of rodent complaints in 2022. It is highly possible that larger neighborhoods receive more complaints than smaller neighborhoods, so we normalized the number of rodent complaints by land size. You can click on the polygons to learn more about each neighborhood.
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