RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4336 locations in the last 30 days (4495 reports) · Last sighting 2 days 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

52,482 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
10/11/20234125 S DREXEL AVEOakland4Completed19 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/18/2023740 S FEDERAL STLoop4Completed16 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
11/6/20233306 W PIERCE AVEHumboldt Park26Completed21 daysPhone CallCity 311
11/30/20234119 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed6 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
12/18/20231352 E HYDE PARK BLVDKenwood4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20246920 S CRANDON AVESouth Shore5Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/29/20244800 S DREXEL BLVDKenwood4Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/30/20243147 S INDIANA AVEDouglas4Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
2/26/20243100 S GILES AVEDouglas4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
3/15/20244119 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed0 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
3/26/20241130 S MICHIGAN AVELoop4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
4/8/20244445 S DREXEL AVEKenwood4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
4/8/2024900 E 44TH STKenwood4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
4/16/20244705 S CHAMPLAIN AVEGrand Boulevard4Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
4/24/20241455 S KARLOV AVENorth Lawndale24Completed1 dayPhone CallCity 311
5/6/2024331 S PLYMOUTH CTLoop4Completed2 daysInternetCity 311
5/15/2024619 E GROVELAND PARKDouglas4Completed2 daysInternetCity 311
5/21/20241339 S KEELER AVENorth Lawndale24Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
6/2/20244431 S GREENWOOD AVEKenwood4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
6/10/20241141 E 50TH STKenwood4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
6/13/20244106 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed5 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
6/14/2024921 E 40TH STOakland4Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
6/18/20244102 S ELLIS AVEOakland4Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
7/1/2024812 E 47TH PLKenwood4Completed7 daysInternetCity 311
7/8/20241220 E 46TH STKenwood4Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
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