RatCity — Chicago Rat and Rodent Sightings Map

RatCity

4152 locations in the last 30 days (4334 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

59,712 reports match your filters.

DateAddressNeighborhoodWardStatusResponse timeReported viaSource
9/11/20261513 S HARDING AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/11/20261512 S HARDING AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/1/20263248 W 19TH STNorth Lawndale24Completed14 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/1/20261825 S CHRISTIANA AVENorth Lawndale24Completed14 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/1/20261824 S SAWYER AVENorth Lawndale24Completed14 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/1/20263319 W OGDEN AVENorth Lawndale24Completed14 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
9/15/20261224 S SPRINGFIELD AVENorth Lawndale24Completed14 daysInternetCity 311
9/11/20261229 S AVERS AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/4/20263539 W 12TH PLNorth Lawndale24Completed11 daysInternetCity 311
9/2/20264701 W HARRISON STAustin24Completed13 daysPhone CallCity 311
7/30/20261615 S CALIFORNIA BLVDNorth Lawndale24Completed20 daysInternetCity 311
8/5/20263444 W GRENSHAW STNorth Lawndale24Completed1 dayMobile DeviceCity 311
7/25/20253050 W CERMAK RDSouth Lawndale24Completed11 daysPhone CallCity 311
8/6/20264111 W HARRISON STWest Garfield Park24Completed4 daysInternetCity 311
10/6/20264700 W CONGRESS PKWYAustin24Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/6/20264707 W CONGRESS PKWYAustin24Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/11/20261822 S SPAULDING AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
7/25/20251908 S TROY STNorth Lawndale24Completed11 daysMobile DeviceCity 311
10/6/20264711 W CONGRESS PKWYAustin24Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/6/20264715 W CONGRESS PKWYAustin24Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
10/6/20264730 W CONGRESS PKWYAustin24Completed10 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/11/20261219 S ST LOUIS AVENorth Lawndale24Completed12 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/2/20262861 W CERMAK RDSouth Lawndale24Completed13 daysAlderman's OfficeCity 311
9/25/20264725 W POLK STAustin24Completed3 daysPhone CallCity 311
9/2/20264151 W HARRISON STWest Garfield Park24Completed13 daysPhone CallCity 311
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