Chicago Is Most Rat-Infested US City Until Further Notice

CHICAGO — There's an old journalism adage that states: Dog bites man isn't news. But man bites dog? Now you've got a story.

Or in the case of Chicago, man bites rat.

For the fourth year, Chicago has been named the most rat-infested U.S. city by Orkin, which released its list of the top 50 rodent havens in the nation this week. The Atlanta-based pest control company determined its ranking by the amount of residential and commercial rat and mice treatments it performed between Sept. 15, 2017, and Sept. 15, 2018.

Orkin started its most rat-infested list in 2014, and Chicago has held the top spot in every year except 2015, the only year no list was compiled. Not even the Michael Jordan-era Bulls can claim that kind of dominance.

And Orkin isn't the only company that holds Chicago's rat population in such high regard. Over the summer, apartment guide RentHop named the city the U.S. "rat capital" thanks to the sheer number of rodent complaints from 2014 to 2017.

RELATED: Chicago Is Rats' Most Beloved City In US, Yet Another Study Shows

With that volume of rat research, let's declare Chicago the No. 1, all-time, most rat-infested U.S. city. Ever. The only real drama is which cities are Nos. 2 through 10 on Orkin's list for 2018:

1. CHICAGO
2. Los Angeles
3. New York
4. Washington, D.C.
5. San Francisco
6. Detroit
7. Philadelphia
8. Cleveland
9. Baltimore
10. Denver

Go to Orkin's website for the pest control company's complete top 50 most rat-infested cities.

Photo via Shutterstock