The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) maintains a database of rat inspections at public and private buildings. We downloaded the inspection data for the first half of 2016, and used FactLook’s Latitude/Longitude pin tool to plot two variables: “Active Rat Signs” and “Bait Applied.”  The department definitions for the two are:

• Active Rat Signs (ARS) – ARS include any of six different signs: 1) fresh tracks, 2) fresh droppings, 3) active burrows, 4) active runways and rub marks, 5) fresh gnawing marks, and 6) live rats.
• Baiting – Application of rodenticide bait, or other monitoring visits by a Health Department pest professional.

By the end of July 2016, DOHMH pest professionals had recorded 9,516 instances of ARS and had set bait at 9,017 sites.

The DOHMH Rat Inspection Program web site contains the following disclaimer. “Please note that if a property/taxlot does not appear in the file, that does not indicate an absence of rats – rather just that it has not been inspected. Similarly, neighborhoods with higher rates of active rat signs may not actually have higher rat populations but simply have more inspections.”

In a separate note, the DOHMH states: “A ‘Rat Indexing’ program is being conducted in the Bronx and Manhattan that involves inspecting most properties even if no complaint has been received. For this reason, the inspection findings in the Bronx and Manhattan should not be compared to the other boroughs.”

Here, with those caveats in mind, is a look at the result of plotting for Active Rat Signs and Bait Applied:

 

Fo kicks, we then plotted a second dataset, “Restaurants with 1 to 4 employees,” pulling the data from the US Census Bureau and sorting it by ZIP code.

We then zoomed in on one of the areas with the heaviest concentrations of restaurants with 1 – 4 employees and DOHMH rat reports: The Bowery.