RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4388 locations in the last 30 days (4582 reports) · Last sighting 13 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

59,088 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
1/16/20265937 W PATTERSON AVEPortage Park38Completed4 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/16/20261439 N LAWLER AVEAustin37Completed4 daysInternetCity 311
1/16/20263079 S BONFIELD STBridgeport11Completed4 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/17/20261348 N CLEAVER STWest Town1Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20262646 W SUMMERDALE AVELincoln Square40Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20261939 N KILBOURN AVEHermosa26Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20262447 N NEWLAND AVEMontclare36Completed4 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/17/20261030 N WOOD STWest Town1Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20263442 N ELAINE PLLake View44Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20264913 N TALMAN AVELincoln Square40Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/17/20264024 N LINCOLN AVENorth Center47Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20261450 N CAMPBELL AVEWest Town1Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20261520 N CAMPBELL AVEWest Town1Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20264150 N KILPATRICK AVEPortage Park45Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20261934 W BELLE PLAINE AVENorth Center47Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20264631 S KOMENSKY AVEArcher Heights14Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20266357 S GREENWOOD AVEWoodlawn20Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/17/20263504 N SOUTHPORT AVELake View44Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20262401 W BALMORAL AVELincoln Square40Completed3 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/17/20267212 S ST LAWRENCE AVEGreater Grand Crossing6Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/17/20263700 N NEW ENGLAND AVEDunning38Completed3 daysInternetCity 311
1/18/20263089 S BONFIELD STBridgeport11Completed2 daysPhone CallCity 311
1/18/20265433 N NEENAH AVENorwood Park41Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
1/18/20264039 N SACRAMENTO AVEIrving Park33Completed2 daysInternetCity 311
1/18/20263673 N ELSTON AVEIrving Park33Completed2 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
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