Name: Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings
Creator: RatCity

Loading map…

What am I looking at?

Each circle is a Chicago neighborhood. The number is its report count — click one to zoom in and see individual sightings there.

32080fewer → more

Colors are relative to what’s currently on screen, so they adjust as you switch time ranges.

Zoomed into a neighborhood or zip? Same colors group nearby reports, and a bright dot means that exact spot’s been reported more than once.

Why Chicago keeps score on its rats

Chicago has topped national rankings of the rattiest U.S. cities for over a decade running — a reputation the city itself takes seriously enough to run one of the country’s most active 311 rodent-complaint programs. Every baiting request, burrow report, and complaint filed with the city becomes a public record. RatCity turns that record, plus reports from people who live here, into a map you can actually use: is this block bad? Is it getting worse? Which neighborhood is winning (or losing) the fight this month?

What’s actually on the map

Most of the data is Chicago’s own — every “Rodent Baiting/Rat Complaint” filed through 311, pulled in automatically once a day so the map never goes stale. Layered on top are sightings reported directly by visitors, matched to the same neighborhood and zip-code boundaries the city uses, so a resident’s report and an official 311 complaint carry equal weight on the map.

Reading the map

Circles are sized and colored by how many reports a neighborhood has racked up — blue is quiet, red means trouble. The Day / Week / 30 Days / Year toggle up top changes the window, so you can see whether a neighborhood’s rat problem is a one-week blip or a year-long trend. Whoever’s in the lead gets crowned the neighborhood Rat King in the sidebar, a title that changes hands as new reports come in.

Noticed a rat that isn’t on the map yet? Use “Report a sighting” above — it takes under a minute and goes live as soon as it’s reviewed. Curious about where the data actually comes from or how reports are moderated? See the About page for the full breakdown.

Want more? The blog has weekly trend recaps and guides on Chicago’s rat problem and how to keep it out of your home.

Browse every sighting

52,482 reports match your filters.

Date	Address	Neighborhood	Ward	Status	Response time	Reported via	Source
1/13/2020	6556 S KENWOOD AVE	Woodlawn	20	Completed	2 days	Internet	City 311
3/4/2020	1650 N MONITOR AVE	Austin	29	Completed	1 day	Phone Call	City 311
8/5/2020	4824 S LAVERGNE AVE	Garfield Ridge	22	Completed	7 days	Alderman's Office	City 311
7/8/2021	3622 N LINDER AVE	Portage Park	36	Completed	19 days	Mobile Device	City 311
10/10/2021	8516 S ADA ST	Auburn Gresham	21	Completed	19 days	Mobile Device	City 311
1/31/2022	3306 W PIERCE AVE	Humboldt Park	26	Completed	2 days	Phone Call	City 311
2/23/2022	8516 S ADA ST	Auburn Gresham	21	Completed	1 day	Internet	City 311
5/11/2022	1713 N CENTRAL AVE	Austin	37	Completed	2 days	Internet	City 311
8/12/2022	4531 N KOSTNER AVE	Irving Park	39	Completed	12 days	Mobile Device	City 311
1/11/2023	6920 S CRANDON AVE	South Shore	5	Completed	1 day	Phone Call	City 311
5/15/2023	1015 W 20TH PL	Lower West Side	25	Completed	0 days	Phone Call	City 311
7/3/2023	1029 E 46TH ST	Kenwood	4	Completed	3 days	Mobile Device	City 311
7/10/2023	4248 S DREXEL AVE	Oakland	4	Completed	7 days	Mobile Device	City 311
7/14/2023	4714 S EVANS AVE	Grand Boulevard	4	Completed	12 days	Mobile Device	City 311
7/16/2023	636 E 44TH ST	Grand Boulevard	4	Completed	10 days	Mobile Device	City 311
7/25/2023	3430 S CALUMET AVE	Douglas	4	Completed	13 days	Mobile Device	City 311
8/8/2023	1518 E 53RD ST	Hyde Park	4	Completed	14 days	Mobile Device	City 311
8/22/2023	4338 S LANGLEY AVE	Grand Boulevard	4	Completed	16 days	Mobile Device	City 311
9/5/2023	4925 S BLACKSTONE AVE	Kenwood	4	Completed	15 days	Mobile Device	City 311
9/5/2023	6556 S KENWOOD AVE	Woodlawn	20	Completed	23 days	Internet	City 311
9/21/2023	4310 S GREENWOOD AVE	Kenwood	4	Completed	21 days	Mobile Device	City 311
9/22/2023	4344 S ELLIS AVE	Kenwood	4	Completed	20 days	Mobile Device	City 311
9/27/2023	740 S FEDERAL ST	Loop	4	Completed	15 days	Mobile Device	City 311
10/11/2023	4740 W 51ST ST	Garfield Ridge	14	Completed	13 days	Phone Call	City 311
10/11/2023	1141 E 50TH ST	Kenwood	4	Completed	19 days	Mobile Device	City 311