RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4214 locations in the last 30 days (4399 reports) · Last sighting 16 hours ago

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

59,989 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
8/6/20258447 S BUFFALO AVESouth Chicago10Completed6 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/28/20258261 S BURLEY AVESouth Chicago7Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/4/20257920 S RIDGELAND AVESouth Chicago8Completed7 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/31/20268202 S ESCANABA AVESouth Chicago7Completed10 daysInternetCity 311
9/15/20268433 S BRANDON AVESouth Chicago10Completed8 daysWalk-inCity 311
9/27/20268510 S MANISTEE AVESouth Chicago7Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/3/20267952 S CLYDE AVESouth Chicago8Completed14 daysPhone CallCity 311
11/3/20268553 S ESCANABA AVESouth Chicago10Completed7 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
8/21/20268139 S MERRILL AVESouth Chicago8Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/18/20267925 S YATES BLVDSouth Chicago7Completed14 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/29/20268152 S JEFFERY AVESouth Chicago8Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
7/29/20258824 S BURLEY AVESouth Chicago10Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
7/26/20257952 S MERRILL AVESouth Chicago8Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/23/20268719 S KINGSTON AVESouth Chicago7Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
7/29/20268413 S SOUTH CHICAGO AVESouth Chicago7Completed12 daysInternetCity 311
6/20/20268347 S BOND AVESouth Chicago10Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
9/8/20268407 S OGLESBY AVESouth Chicago8Completed9 daysPhone CallCity 311
6/28/20268639 S MANISTEE AVESouth Chicago7Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
6/27/20268612 S YATES BLVDSouth Chicago8Completed4 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/17/20268408 S BURNHAM AVESouth Chicago7Completed15 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/15/20268331 S SOUTH SHORE DRSouth Chicago10Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/20/20268831 S COLFAX AVESouth Chicago7Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
8/6/20258854 S BUFFALO AVESouth Chicago10Completed5 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
9/17/20267950 S CRANDON AVESouth Chicago7Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
9/18/20268132 S BRANDON AVESouth Chicago7Completed13 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
Page 1703 of 2,400