“Rats!” Philadelphia Just Made Top 10 in List of 50 Rattiest Cities in U.S.

Here's a truth you might not want to hear, but you probably already knew was true if you've ever stepped a toe in Philly.

Philadelphia is a pretty rat-infested city. In fact, it's been identified as one of the most rat-infested cities in the United States, according to a study.

Orkin, one of the foremost authorities in pest control with over 120 years in business, produced a list of The Top 50 Rattiest Cities in the U.S., and Philadelphia made the Top 10.... yay.

They ranked metro areas by the number of new rodent treatments performed from Sep 15, 2020 to Sep 15, 2021 - both residential and commmercial treatments. There was a notable increase in the number of rats seen in new places due to COVID-19. Restaurants were closing and people stayed home, so rats were forced to find new sources of food and became more brazen in behavior.

So just how ratty is Philly? In the list of 50 cities, The City of Brotherly Love came in at #7

As for number one? Take a guess. It's not New York City.

#1 - Chicago. For the 7th consecutive year, The Windy City topped the list of the rattiest cities in America.

New York isn't even #2! That title goes to Los Angeles. New York came in as the 3rd rattiest city in America.

This doesn't shock me. When I used to live in East Falls, Philadelphia, we had a pretty bad mice problem in the apartment. Not as bad as rats, but you can draw the correlations for yourself. There's a pattern there. (They left as soon as we got a cat, by the way.)

If you live in Philly, let us know if you ever had a rat/rodent problem in your house/apartment, and how bad it got. You're definitely not alone!