Interactive Map Reveals NYC's Hottest Neighborhoods (For Rats)
June 12, 2018, 2:33 p.m.
Have you ever stopped to consider how our city's thriving rat population disperses themselves through New York's myriad neighborhoods?
"I moved to Bushwick for the culture"
If you think about it, the average city rat has a lot in common with the typical non-rodent New Yorker. We both appreciate a good party. We enjoy the local cuisine. We are unwitting cogs in the relentless march toward consumer capitalism. We ride the subway.
But once they are done with the responsibilities of the day—office jobs, recreation, working out, etc.—have you ever considered which neighborhoods our rat neighbors are most likely to call home? One apartment searching web platform has!
According to a RentHop analysis of 311 complaints of rodent sightings, the city's most desirable location (for rats) is uptown Manhattan, specifically Harlem and the Upper West Side, where there were 865 and 731 sightings last year, respectively.
But while Manhattan averaged the most complaints per square mile (197.50), Brooklyn tops all boroughs with a total of 7,253 rat complaints in 2017. The greatest number of those complaints came from Bed-Stuy, though the surrounding neighborhoods of Bushwick, Williamsburg, and Crown Heights all saw high rates of rodent grievances as well.
Here is a map of where New York's rats like to live (or where New York's humans complain about them most):
The study also found that rat complaints have steadily increased in recent years (possibly because climate change), and rose a whole 10 percent between 2016 and 2017. With 4,831 complaints made to the city in the first quarter of 2018 alone, we're on track to beat last year's rat-shattering record. Perhaps it's time we admit defeat in the War on Rats, or at least re-enlist the help of David Lynch?
