Philadelphia

Philadelphia Tops Nation in Rodent Infestations

Philadelphia is No. 1 when it comes to rats and mice inside homes.

The rat race is real in Philadelphia, which has the dubious honor of containing the most U.S. households infested with rodents.

Almost 20 percent of homes in the City of Brotherly love contain the unwanted critters, topping Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., according to a recent American Housing Survey of 25 metropolitan areas. 

While the Northeast corridor is hit hard by rodents - no thanks to crowded urban centers - the East Coast fares better than the South when it comes to cockroaches. Those pests are partial to warm climates and prefer living in New Orleans, Houston, Miami and Atlanta, according to the survey.

Philadelphia, Boston, New York and Seattle showed declining numbers of infestations from 2015, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Houston saw an 11 percent increase in roaches and a 12 percent increase in rodents.

The online survey is conducted every two years and asks respondents an array of residential information, including how people finance their homes, whether their houses are musty and if they think their neighborhoods are safe.

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