RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4194 locations in the last 30 days (4374 reports) · Last sighting 24 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

59,882 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
5/16/20263553 S DEARBORN STDouglas3Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
10/8/2025849 E 40TH STOakland4Completed2 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
6/4/20264007 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed6 daysPhone CallCity 311
6/2/20264226 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/23/20264226 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed7 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/8/20254208 S LAKE PARK AVEOakland4Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
5/13/20264204 S DREXEL BLVDOakland4Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/14/20254200 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed7 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/20/20254209 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
6/15/20263515 S COTTAGE GROVE AVEOakland4Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/13/20264200 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
1/10/20264224 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
5/12/20264224 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
5/28/20264003 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed7 daysInternetCity 311
10/21/20253555 S COTTAGE GROVE AVEOakland4Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
5/29/20263747 S LAKE PARK AVEOakland4Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
6/27/20264044 S LAKE PARK AVEOakland4Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/8/20254000 S DREXEL AVEOakland4Completed2 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
10/13/20254000 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
5/12/20264200 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
2/17/20264000 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
5/11/20264125 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/14/20254215 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed7 daysPhone CallCity 311
5/19/2026824 E 42ND STOakland4Completed7 daysPhone CallCity 311
6/15/20264226 S MICHIGAN AVEOakland4Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
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