RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4335 locations in the last 30 days (4494 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.

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.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
7/8/20241220 E 46TH STKenwood4Completed8 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/10/20243426 S CALUMET AVEDouglas4Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
7/12/20244344 S ELLIS AVEKenwood4Completed10 daysInternetCity 311
7/16/20244500 S DREXEL AVEKenwood4Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
7/23/20243939 S CALUMET AVEGrand Boulevard3Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/23/20243939 S CALUMET AVEGrand Boulevard3Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/1/20243939 S CALUMET AVEGrand Boulevard3Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
8/4/20244240 W ADAMS STWest Garfield Park28Completed4 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/6/2024410 S WABASH AVELoop4Completed9 daysInternetCity 311
8/14/2024921 E 40TH STOakland4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
8/30/2024824 E PERSHING RDOakland4Completed5 daysInternetCity 311
9/16/20245117 S DORCHESTER AVEHyde Park4Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
10/7/20241455 S KARLOV AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/11/20241015 W 20TH PLLower West Side25Completed11 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
10/16/20243102 S GILES AVEDouglas4Completed12 daysInternetCity 311
10/30/20241015 W 20TH PLLower West Side25Completed6 daysInternetCity 311
10/30/20241015 W 20TH PLLower West Side25Completed6 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/30/20241015 W 20TH PLLower West Side25Completed6 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
10/31/20241015 W 20TH PLLower West Side25Completed6 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
11/4/2024600 S WABASH AVELoop4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
11/4/2024600 S WABASH AVELoop4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
11/12/2024608 E BOWEN AVEGrand Boulevard4Completed2 daysInternetCity 311
12/18/2024850 E 88TH PLChatham8Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/2/20254400 S DREXEL AVEKenwood4Completed1 dayInternetCity 311
1/6/20254408 S DREXEL AVEKenwood4Completed2 daysInternetCity 311
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