NYC is winning the ‘War on Rats,’ as Adams-era measures push sightings to new lows, data shows

The Big Apple is winning the War on Rats. Reported sightings of the scrappy scavengers are on track to hit their lowest numbers since the pandemic for the first half of 2026 — as major anti-rodent measures first taken under the Adams administration are seeing positive results, city data shows. There were around 9,900 calls for rats in the first seven months of the year — marking the first time reports have fallen below the 10,000 threshold during that timeframe since 2020, according to 311 data. Rat sightings in the Big Apple are on track to hit pre-pandemic lows. Leonardo Munoz That’s also a 22% plummet from how many rat sightings were reported to the city in the first half of last year, an incredible drop former Mayor Eric Adams celebrated as a major win in the battle in the ongoing war