RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4143 locations in the last 30 days (4325 reports) · Last sighting 22 hours ago

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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.

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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

59,989 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
5/10/20265104 W MELROSE STPortage Park31Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
9/9/20255104 W MELROSE STPortage Park31Completed13 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
7/31/20255104 W MELROSE STPortage Park31Completed12 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
9/17/20255104 W SCHOOL STPortage Park31Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/18/20265104 W SCHOOL STPortage Park31Completed13 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/21/20265104 W SCHOOL STPortage Park31Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/21/20255104 W WAVELAND AVEPortage Park30Completed11 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
10/29/20255105 N KEATING AVEAlbany Park39Completed5 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
7/7/20265105 N LOTUS AVEJefferson Park45Completed10 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
8/25/20255105 N NEW ENGLAND AVENorwood Park41Completed11 daysInternetCity 311
6/28/20265105 N NEW ENGLAND AVENorwood Park41Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
11/13/20255105 S LAMON AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed4 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
11/12/20255105 S LAMON AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
11/27/20255105 S MEADE AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/15/20265105 S MELVINA AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed13 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/26/20265105 S MOBILE AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
5/29/20265105 S MONITOR AVEGarfield Ridge23Completed4 daysInternetCity 311
8/15/20265105 W ALTGELD STBelmont Cragin31Completed11 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
8/13/20255105 W ALTGELD STBelmont Cragin31Completed8 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
5/18/20265105 W CRYSTAL STAustin37Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
3/19/20265105 W CRYSTAL STAustin37Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
9/13/20255105 W HENDERSON STPortage Park31Completed9 daysPhone CallCity 311
11/3/20255105 W HENDERSON STPortage Park31Completed4 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/17/20255105 W HENDERSON STPortage Park31Completed6 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/2/20255105 W HENDERSON STPortage Park31Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
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