After years of fighting the good fight, DC has finally claimed the title of the Rat Capital of the United States, according to a recent study. Using the number of rat complaints per 10,000 residents, the report determined that the District of Columbia beats out New York City, Chicago, and Boston for the highest concentration of the furry four-legged vermin. According to the RentHop Rat Report—yes, that’s the real name of the study—DC complained more than the three other cities when adjusted for population, around 200 complaints per 10,000 residents. We placed third in total number of complaints, amounting to nearly 14,000 this year, and have seen a 4 percent increase from last September. The North Cleveland Park, Van Ness, and Forest Hill neighborhoods are most to thank for this, having complained almost 200 percent more in 2024. The Eckington and Edgewood neighborhoods have seen the most 311 calls so far this year, totaling 510 complaints per 10,000 residents. The Brightwood, Petworth, Howard University, and Columbia Heights/Mount Pleasant neighborhoods trail behind with between 381 and 328 complaints. However, an astounding contributor to the data is somewhere at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, better known as the John A. Wilson Building, home to the Executive Office of the Mayor and the DC Council. People inside complained 40 times in 2024. Impressive? Definitely. But we at Washingtonian are curious about the metrics of this study. Is there a way to definitively show that we have the largest per-capita rat-infestation in the country? We’ve said before that DC’s predicament isn’t a rat problem, but rather an us problem, so perhaps that applies here, too. Maybe we don’t have the most rats out of every major American city—we might just be the nation’s biggest crybabies.The post Is DC Really the Most Rat-Infested City in America? first appeared on Washingtonian.