Though Chicago topped the list of America’s most rat-infested cities for over a decade, Los Angeles has now claimed the mantle, according to new data from pest control company Orkin.
The Atlanta-based company released its annual “rattiest cities list” on Tuesday, crowning Los Angeles as the American city most infiltrated with rodents. Los Angeles is notorious for its pervasive homelessness problem, which Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed to fix despite his efforts across the Golden State.
The governor also signed a bill in September 2024 cracking down on some strong rodenticides to protect wildlife.
“As Orkin’s annual Top 50 Rattiest Cities List enters its second decade, a new city is claiming the top spot for the first time in the list’s history,” Orkin’s website states. “Historically, Chicago has occupied the No.1 spot every year that Orkin has released its annual rankings, which it has been reporting for over a decade. But this year, there is a new city being crowned the ‘rattiest’ — Los Angeles.”
Orkin tracked new rodent services in “owner-occupied residences” from August 2024 to August 2025. The company’s website states “the shake-up in rankings signals a shift in rodent activity, likely influenced by weather patterns, urban infrastructure and human behavior.”
The company notes that Los Angeles’ temperate climate and urban alleyways are ideal for rodents to thrive, and that Chicago, New York and San Francisco trail behind the City of Angels in reported rat activity. Notably, California cities including Los Angeles have also recently ranked among America’s “dirtiest,” according to an analysis from LawnStarter.
Though University of Southern California researchers found that homelessness in Los Angeles slightly diminished in recent years, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) still tallied over 70,000 homeless people as of July 2025. Residents of Skid Row, an impoverished area of Los Angeles rife with homelessness, told the New York Post in October 2023 that rats were rotting in the walls of low-cost housing units.
Newsom signed a bill into law in September 2024 “prohibiting the use of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides which are known to poison mountain lions and other wildlife,” though the bill included an allowance for exemptions in certain instances, including some agricultural uses and “to control an actual or potential rodent infestation associated with a public health need.”
“Rodenticides are deadly for California’s mountain lions and other precious wildlife across the state,” Newsom said in September 2024. “My father was a naturalist and a strong advocate for the preservation of mountain lions, and I grew up loving these cats and caring about their well-being. He would be proud to know that California is taking action to protect mountain lion populations and other wildlife from the toxic effects of rodenticides.”
Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom’s offices did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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