Pittsburgh Still One Of Country's Most Rat-Infested Cities: Orkin

PITTSBURGH, PA — The Pittsburgh metro region hasn't made inroads toward reducing its rat
population in the past year, a new study by Orkin revealed.

The extermination company released its annual Top 50 Rattiest Cities list, and Pittsburgh finished 16th for the third year in a row. The rankings were determined by the number of new residential and commercial treatments performed from Sept. 1, 2022 through Aug. 31, 2023.

The 20 cities with the largest rodent problems in the past year:

1. Chicago
2. Los Angeles
3. New York
4. Washington, D.C.
5. San Francisco
6. Philadelphia
7. Baltimore
8. Denver
9. Detroit (+1)
10. Cleveland-Akron
11. Minneapolis-St. Paul
12. Seattle
13. Boston
14. Atlanta
15. Indianapolis
16. Pittsburgh
17. Hartford
18. Columbus
19. Miami-Fort Lauderdale
20. Houston

Every fall, rats, mice and other rodents and other rodents invade an estimated 21 million homes across the country. They typically enter homes between October and February looking for food, water and shelter from the cold.

“Rodents multiply swiftly and when an infestation is left unattended, they can cause extensive damage to homes and yards,” said Ben Hottel, an Orkin entomologist. "Rats are capable of squeezing into spaces through holes as small as a quarter, which makes it especially important to seal cracks from the outside.”