Only snake owners and the weird kids in high school like rats. Well, they and lobbyists.
But pet and money-grubbing rats are one thing, wild rodents roaming the streets and eating your garbage are another. Rats have a long history of spreading disease and sullying the food supply with their feces. Carriers of the plague (which has returned out west) and closers of restaurants, alley rats are a sign of a city’s cleanliness.
Rats in dirty cities eat better and, therefore, grow bigger. But what America cities have the most rats?
Orkin, the pest control company, released a list of what they call “the rattiest cities” in America. Topping the list was Chicago, followed by Los Angeles, with Washington D.C., – Hagerstown taking the bronze.
Surprisingly, New York City, which is often in the news for large rat sightings, did not make the podium, coming in fourth. Rounding out the top five was San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, which is surprising considering the hygiene news coming out of San Francisco this week.
The top 20 most rat infested cities in America, according to Orkin, are:
1. Chicago
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington, D.C.-Hagerstown
4. New York
5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose
6. Seattle-Tacoma
7. Detroit
8. Cleveland-Akron-Canton
9. Baltimore
10. Miami-Fort Lauderdale
11. Dallas-Fort Worth
12. Denver
13. Houston
14. Atlanta
15. Boston-Manchester
16. Minneapolis-St. Paul
17. Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto
18. Syracuse
19. Indianapolis
20. Charlotte