Astoria, LIC Rat Sightings Surge To Record High In 2022, Records Show

ASTORIA, QUEENS — It's a great year to be a rodent in Western Queens: more rats have been spotted in the area this year than ever before, according to 311 complaint data.

Across Astoria and Long Island City, residents have reported 594 rat sightings so far in 2022 — the highest total on record dating back to 2010. That marks the third straight year that Western Queens has broken its own rat-sighting record, surpassing last year's high of 591.

Mapping this year's rat sightings shows that they have been distributed across the two neighborhoods, with particular concentrations near Ditmars Boulevard, Steinway Street, and some other thoroughfares.

A citywide rise in rat sightings has been well-documented since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — though one expert told Patch this year that New Yorkers may simply have gotten better at noticing them.

Another rat expert told PBS that rodent behavior may have changed in response to human behavior: as people retreated to residential neighborhoods and restaurants shut down, rats followed them, then returned to restaurants once they reopened — creating a newly split and expanded rat population.

Unfortunately for Western Queens residents, rats have been spotted most frequently this year in and around residential buildings, which make up about 63 percent of the neighborhood's sightings in 2022.

Other common locations include commercial buildings (66 sightings), construction sites (12 sightings), vacant lots and buildings (12 sightings), and catch basins or sewers (eight sightings).

One sighting has been reported at a hospital (Mount Sinai Queens) and two at neighborhood schools (P.S. 166 and the Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria). Another 102 locations were labeled "other."

Some lawmakers have put forward proposals to stem the apparent rat race: Manhattan Councilmember Shaun Abreu introduced legislation in June that he said could help discourage rodent activity. One would require the owners of buildings that have had a high number of rodent infestations to install rat-proof garbage receptacles, while the second would allow the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to designate certain neighborhoods as "rat mitigation zones" if inspections reveal major rodent activity.

Yet another proposed bill would require real estate developers to submit rat-mitigation plans before getting construction permits.

Related coverage: 'Prisoner In My Own Home': Rat Complaints Surge In New York City