Washington Heights Has A Rat Problem: Study

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Dealing with rats, mice and other vermin is a fact of life for many New Yorkers, but it's much worse if you live in Washington Heights.

A new a newly-released study by RentHop found that Washington Heights was in the top 10 neighborhoods for the most rodent-related complaints in New York City for 2017. Washington Heights residents contacted 311 to complain about rats 420 times, making it the ninth worst neighborhood for rats in the city.

By borough, Brooklyn topped the list of rat complaints with 7,253 in 2017, according to the RentHop study. The county of kings easily took the top spot with more than 2,000 more complaints than Manhattan, which had 4,507 total complaints. Rounding out the rankings were The Bronx (3,746), Queens (2,862) and Staten Island (784).

While Brooklyn took the top spot in total complaints, the honor for most complaints per square mile went to the densely-packed borough of Manhattan. There were about 197 rat complaints for every square mile of Manhattan real estate.

New York City had a total of 19,152 rodent complaints in the city last year, which represents an increase of 10 percent compared to 2016.

Check out how your neighborhood compares with others by using the interactive map below:

Check out the full study here.

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