Health & Environment Data retrieved 2026-08-22
Rat complaints
311 complaints filed under the Rodent category each year since 2010: 41,748 at the 2023 peak, 31,312 in 2025.
31,312
rat complaints filed with 311 in 2025
Down from the record of 41,748 in 2023. The joined series opens in 2010 at 22,186.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | 311 complaints filed under the Rodent category |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 22,186 |
| 2011 | 21,494 |
| 2012 | 21,327 |
| 2013 | 22,345 |
| 2014 | 24,515 |
| 2015 | 29,329 |
| 2016 | 31,439 |
| 2017 | 35,075 |
| 2018 | 32,530 |
| 2019 | 31,644 |
| 2020 | 27,583 |
| 2021 | 38,809 |
| 2022 | 41,121 |
| 2023 | 41,748 |
| 2024 | 39,726 |
| 2025 | 31,312 |
The key years
What this counts
311 service requests filed under the Rodent complaint type each calendar year, summed from the city's request-level 311 datasets, which split at 2020; this page joins the two exactly like the 311-requests series. A complaint covers a rat sighting, a condition that attracts rodents, or a related rodent issue at one location.
What it does not say
- It counts complaints, not rats. An easier app, a viral neighborhood thread, or one landlord's building generating repeat calls moves the line without the rat population itself changing that much.
- One address can generate many complaints in a year if several neighbors report the same condition, so this is not a count of distinct rat sightings or locations.
- It is a 311 count, not a health inspection count: DOHMH's own rodent inspection and violation data, tracked separately, is what determines whether a complaint results in enforcement.
The questions New Yorkers actually ask
How many rat complaints does NYC get a year?
31,312 in 2025, per 311's Rodent category. The record is 41,748, set in 2023.
Is NYC's rat problem getting worse?
By this measure, complaints climbed from 22,186 in 2010 to a peak of 41,748 in 2023, then eased to 31,312 by 2025.
The numbers move. We watch them.
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