Forty-one-and-a-half years after the U.S. Census Bureau found that Los Angeles had displaced Chicago as the nation’s second largest city, Los Angeles has displaced Chicago in another distinction \u2014 though it may be one that Chicagoans would be more than happy not to have. <\/p>\n
For 10 years<\/a>, going back to the inception of the rankings, the pest control company Orkin rated Chicago the rattiest city in America. Orkin cited the city’s abundance of alleys that provide rats with “hidden havens,” and opportunities for rats to burrow under subway tracks and around underground pipes. <\/p>\n But Los Angeles has now dethroned Chicago in the rodent battle. <\/p>\n “With year-round warm weather, a booming culinary scene and dense neighborhoods that offer ample access to food and shelter, the City of Angels checks every box for rodent survival,” Orkin said in a news release. “From bustling commercial corridors to hidden alleyways, Los Angeles’ signature blend of glam and grit creates a perfect storm for rodent activity.” <\/p>\n Chicago still ranks second in the rat race. New York City comes in third, and San Francisco fourth. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, rankings notwithstanding, rats remain a major problem in Chicago. In the 4500 block of North Mobile Avenue<\/a> in Chicago’s Jefferson Park neighborhood, families said they are plagued by an infestation involving rats that are coming from inside a home on the block. <\/p>\n “In two months, I have killed 19 rats,” neighbor Bill Dillon told CBS News Chicago on Monday. “We have pictures. These are big rats.” <\/p>\n Dillon said he has been reaching out to Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th) and various city offices for help for months, but the problem keeps getting worse. <\/p>\n On the lighter side of the rat issue in Chicago, many will remember with either fondness or annoyance a “rat hole” on a square of sidewalk in Roscoe Village that became a viral sensation in early 2024. But this month, scientists concluded that the rat hole was likely actually made by a squirrel<\/a> \u2014 which many had believed to be the case from the beginning. <\/p>\n The rodent impression had been in the concrete along the sidewalk on Roscoe Street for around 20 years, but went viral in January 2024<\/a> after X user Winslow Dumaine showed the sidewalk imprint in a post with the quip, “Had to make a pilgrimage to the Chicago Rat Hole.” <\/p>\n The “rat hole” became a viral sensation that winter and spring. People flocked to the site and left coins, stickers, and other offerings. But neighbors started complaining<\/a> that people who visited the site were partying with alcohol; filming videos to promote their businesses, improv shows, or other personal interests; leaving garbage behind; and otherwise disturbing the peace. <\/p>\n