It's official: NYC is winning the war against rats!

Here's some very good news to kick off the new year: rat sightings are down all over New York!

Given the city's intense battle against rodents all throughout last year—a fight that included a new rat map, an official "rat czar" and novel trash laws to be followed by all businesses—the new data infuses 2024 with the sort of hopefulness that New Yorkers certainly need on a cold winter day like today.

Let’s dive into the numbers a bit more. According to the Department of Sanitation, rat sightings are currently down 68% in the 10-block area in Hamilton Heights where officials had set up special containers as part of a pilot program to deal with the issue, which was exacerbated during the pandemic. 

Back in April of 2023, several neighborhoods that had been deemed “rat mitigation zones” received extra help to eliminate the animal population. According to the data, numbers are down 16% in those areas as well and 6% throughout the city. That’s huge!

The war, though, has just begun: a new rule will go into effect on March 1, requiring all commercial trash (apparently, 20 million pounds a day) to be placed in a secure, lidded container moving forward. Hopefully, rat sightings will decrease even more when the new guidelines become official.

Humans: 1, rats (also known as public enemy number one): 0.