Los Angeles is the Second ‘Rattiest City’; Chicago Stays in No. 1 Spot

This is the second consecutive time that Los Angeles has been named the second-most “rattiest city” in the country.

On Wednesday, exterminator company Orkin dropped its annual list, showing the top five cities with the largest population of rats. Chicago was No. 1 in 2020 and this year, leading Los Angeles as second, with New York behind it in third place. Washington D.C. and San Francisco come fourth and fifth place, ABC 7 reports.

The increased number of rats is due to the large number of business closures that happened in the midst of the pandemic. Orkin says this has left rats taking up unusual spaces and becoming more aggressive than they once were.

The number of rats has gotten so out of hand that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a Rodent Control guidance, instructing people how to keep rats away.

“As people resume normal activities, food availability will rise,” says Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist, ABC 7 reports. “Rodents are experts at sniffing out food and shelter, and they’re resilient in their ways to obtain both. After a year of depleted resources, residential properties offer the ideal habitat for rodents, and once they’ve settled in, they’re capable of reproducing rapidly and in large quantities.”

Baller Alert previously reported how rats’ fleas are beginning to spread typhus amongst the homeless community of skid row.