“Encounters with the metropolis’s most unloved rodent are a familiar story for New Yorkers, who live in a city some estimate has one rat for every three people. But the rats, by at least one measure, are losing ground.

New York City is on track to record the fewest reported rat sightings since the pandemic. Rat sightings have dropped 22% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, according to data from 311, the non-emergency service portal used to report rodents and request inspections. Sightings typically peak in the summer months, before declining through fall and winter.

The reports have fallen year-over-year every month since November 2024. The city’s Sanitation Department credits the decline to a push started by former Mayor Eric Adams, who declared a 'war on rats' in 2022 and began efforts to starve the city’s rodent population of food.

The city installed around 1,100 Empire Bins – large on-street trash bins – in Manhattan Community Board 9, which includes West Harlem, as a pilot program in 2025. The Sanitation Department’s First Deputy Commissioner Javier Lojan said the pilot’s budget was $2.1 million during a City Council committee hearing in March.

The area’s trash has been fully containerized since June 2025, and reported sightings fell 34% in the first seven months of 2026 compared with last year. Residents say the bins have had a major impact.”

From Bloomberg.