Albany’s Big Rat Problem Now up 7 Spots as Most Rats in US

There is a big rat problem in Albany and it's even bigger than it was last year. A new survey is out from Orkin Pest Services that list the rattiest cities in the United States. This is one accolade that the city of Albany is not proud of. But Albany has been on the list before, in 2020 it was a ten-spot jump and now for 2021, Albany is up another seven spots. That's seventeen spots higher in just two years.

Orkin put out a list of the 50 most rat-infested cities in the country and Albany is now ranked #31. This is seven spots up from last year where Albany came in at #38. Before that, in 2019, the rat problem wasn't as bad where Albany landed at #48 out of fifty.

There are many factors that are in play when determining the rat count in a city. The main one is how many treatments for rodents have been done in each of these major cities on the list. It's not necessarily that there are more rats in Albany, it has to do with restaurants being closed and no excess food for the rats to feed on. This made them go into residential areas such as homes and apartment complexes.

Albany isn't the only New York city on this prestigious list. New York City came in at the top 5 at #3. Albany landed at #31. Buffalo remained in the same spot over the last year at #41. Syracuse actually improved and dropped two spots to #46.

This list isn't the one that puts Albany in a great light, but just last week, Albany was named one of the Top 25 cities to raise a family in the country.