4 New York State Cities Among Top Places With Biggest Rat Problems In U.S.

Unfortunately, New York City has a reputation for being overrun by rats. If you've ever lived in the city or visited, I'm sure you've seen a rat, or two, or three. But, you might be surprised to find out that NYC isn't the only city in New York with a rat problem. There are three other cities in upstate and other parts of New York that have rat problems too.

Orkin pest control released its 2022 list of the 50 cities in America with the biggest rat problems. Four New York cities, including New York City, landed on the list.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, rats can directly transmit a number of diseases to human beings, including,

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
Lassa Fever
Leptospirosis
Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis (LCM)
Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
Plague
Rat-Bite Fever
Salmonellosis
South American Arenaviruses (Argentine hemorrhagic fever, Bolivian hemorrhagic fever, Sabiá-associated hemorrhagic fever, Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever)
Tularemia

Rats can also indirectly transmit disease, so it's important that you get rid of any rats in your living or working space.

Orkin, which provides pest control, used data from areas it served the most to formulate the list,

Orkin ranked metro regions by the number of new rodent treatments performed from September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022. This ranking includes both residential and commercial treatments.

The really bad news is that the rat problems in three of the four cities have actually gotten worse from last year.

Here Are The Four 'Rattiest' New York Cities For 2022:

Ranked #42 (#46 last year) - Syracuse

Ranked #39 (#41 last year) - Buffalo

Ranked #34 (#31 last year) - Albany

Ranked #2 (#3 last year) - New York City

The number one ranked 'rattiest' city in America for 2022 wasn't in New York; it was Chicago (for the eighth year in a row), so at least there's that.

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