United States

Rats! DC Is Nation's 5th Rattiest City, Company Says

Hide your cheese! Washington, D.C., is among the top five cities for rats in the United States, a pest control company says.

Orkin ranked the cities and regions where it performed the highest number of rodent treatments in the past year.

Chicago topped the list, followed by New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland and Washington, D.C.

Orkin says fall is the start of "rodent season," when the critters look for food, water and shelter to survive the winter.

See the complete list below. The cities' rise or fall in the rankings is noted in parenthesis:

1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Los Angeles (+1)                              
4. San Francisco – Oakland (+1)           
5. Washington, DC (-2)                           
6. Philadelphia (+1)                                  
7. Detroit (+2)                                            
8. Baltimore (-2)                                         
9. Seattle – Tacoma (+2)                            
10. Dallas – Ft. Worth (+4)                           
11. Denver (-1)                                              
12. Minneapolis – St. Paul (-4)                       
13. Cleveland – Akron (+2)             
14. Atlanta (+2)                                
15. Boston (-3)                        
16. Hartford – New Haven (+1)        
17. Portland, OR (+3)                        
18. Miami – Ft. Lauderdale (-5)          
19. Indianapolis                                   
20. Houston (+1)                         
21. Milwaukee (+2)                       
22. Pittsburgh (-4)                         
23. New Orleans (+15)                          
24. Cincinnati (+10)                                
25. Richmond – Petersburg
26. Sacramento – Stockton (+6)
27. Kansas City (+3)
28. Charlotte (-1)
29. Norfolk – Portsmouth – Newport News (-5)
30. Buffalo (-1)
31. Columbus, OH (+6)
32. St. Louis (-4)
33. Raleigh – Durham (-11)
34. Grand Rapids – Kalamazoo (-1)
35. San Diego (+12)
36. Albany – Schenectady (-10)
37. San Antonio
38. Tampa – St. Petersburg (-7)                     
39. Rochester, NY (-4)
40. Nashville (-1)
41. Champaign – Springfield – Decatur
42. Greenville – Spartanburg (-2)
43. Memphis
44. Phoenix (+1)
45. Syracuse
46. West Palm Beach (-10)                          
47. Orlando – Daytona Beach (-1)                             
48. Madison (+1)         
49. Flint – Saginaw (-8)      
50. Green Bay – Appleton (-6)

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