You’re standing on the platform at Union Square, checking your phone, and then you see it. A flicker of movement by the third rail. It’s a brown rat—Rattus norvegicus for the scientists—hauling a slice of pepperoni pizza twice its size across the tracks. New Yorkers barely look up anymore. We’ve seen it all. But honestly, subway rats New York has become more than just a pest problem; it’s a cultural touchstone, a meme, and a massive public health puzzle that the city has been trying to solve for over a century without much luck.
Rats aren't just "there." They are part of the infrastructure.
People think the subways are infested because the tunnels are gross, but that’s only half the story. The truth is much more complex, involving ancient brick sewers, the sheer volume of trash we produce, and the biological brilliance of the rats themselves. They are incredibly smart. They learn train schedules. They know exactly when the crowds thin out and when the trash cans at the 42nd Street shuttle are going to be full of half-eaten bagels.
The Reality of the "Rat Tsar" and the War on Rodents
In 2023, Mayor Eric Adams made headlines by appointing Kathleen Corradi as the city’s first-ever "Rat Tsar." It sounded like a movie plot. The goal was simple: kill the rats. But if you talk to urban ecologists like Jason Munshi-South from Fordham University, you’ll learn that killing rats is the easy part. The hard part is keeping them from coming back.
New York’s rat population isn't just one giant blob. It’s a collection of neighborhoods. Research has shown that rats in the Upper West Side are genetically distinct from those in the West Village. They don't travel much. They stay where the food is. This "hyper-locality" makes them hard to get rid of because if you clear out one station, a family from two blocks away just moves into the vacant real estate within days.
The city has tried everything. Dry ice. Poison. Snap traps. Even birth control.
Dry ice was a big trend for a while. You drop it into a burrow, it sublimates into carbon dioxide, and the rats fall asleep and don't wake up. It’s more "humane" than poison, maybe, but it doesn't solve the underlying issue of why they were there in the first place.
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Why the Subway is the Perfect Rat Hotel
Think about it from a rat's perspective. The subway is climate-controlled. It’s warm in the winter because of the third rail and the machinery. It’s protected from predators like hawks or coyotes (mostly). And the food? It’s a literal buffet.
Most subway rats New York sightings happen because of "track trash." Passengers drop food. It falls between the rails where cleaners can’t easily reach it. The rats don't even have to leave the station to have a five-course meal.
But it’s not just the trash on the tracks. It’s the bags on the sidewalk.
For decades, New York has been one of the only major cities in the world that leaves its trash in loose plastic bags on the curb. It’s a feast. Rats have teeth that can chew through lead pipes and cinder blocks—a plastic bag is nothing to them. The city is finally moving toward containerization (putting trash in actual bins), but the rollout is slow. Until every single bag is off the street, the subway tunnels will act as a highway system for rats to move between feedings.
The Pizza Rat Phenomenon and Human Psychology
Remember Pizza Rat? 2015. Viral video. A rat dragging a slice down the stairs of a First Avenue L train station.
We loved it. Why?
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Maybe because the rat represents the ultimate New Yorker: scrappy, determined, and just trying to get dinner home in a city that’s too expensive and crowded. But experts like Bobby Corrigan, arguably the world’s most famous "rodentologist," will tell you that Pizza Rat is a symptom of a failing system. When rats are that bold in the daylight, it means the population below the surface is at a breaking point.
Rats are neophobic. They hate new things. If a rat is willing to drag a piece of pizza past a guy with a smartphone, it’s either starving or the competition for food in the tunnels is so fierce that it has to take risks.
Health Risks: What's Actually in the Fur?
Let’s get real for a second. Rats are gross, but are they dangerous?
The short answer is yes, but not in the way you might think. People worry about the plague—which isn't really a thing in NYC—but they should be worrying about Leptospirosis. In 2023 and 2024, New York saw a record number of "Lepto" cases. It’s a bacterial infection spread through rat urine. If you have an open cut and you touch a subway pole that a rat scurried over, or if you’re a dog walker and your pet splashes in a puddle near a burrow, there’s a risk.
Then there’s the mental health aspect.
Living with a high density of rodents causes genuine "rat stress." It’s the sound of scratching in the walls or the jump-scare of a rat running over your foot while you wait for the R train. It degrades the quality of life. It makes the city feel untamed in a way that’s exhausting.
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Technology vs. Teeth: Can We Win?
The city is getting high-tech. There are sensors now that track rat movement in real-time. There are "Smart Bins" that crush trash and notify the sanitation department when they’re full.
Some people suggest using CRISPR gene-drive technology to make the rats infertile. It sounds like sci-fi, and the ethical implications are huge. If we wipe out the rats in NYC, what happens to the ecosystem? What do the red-tailed hawks in Central Park eat?
It’s a balance.
The MTA has been trying out new track vacuuming trains—the "Vaccum Trains" or "V-Vacs"—to suck up the debris that feeds the rats. They help. But the subway is hundreds of miles long. You can't vacuum the whole thing every night.
How to Handle the Subway Rat Situation
You can't control the MTA, but you can control your own interaction with the rodent population. It’s basically about being "rat smart."
- Don't feed the "wildlife." This sounds obvious, but even a dropped crumb is a meal. If you eat on the platform, take your trash with you. Don't put it in the overflowing bin; take it up to the street.
- Report the hotspots. Use the 311 app. The city actually uses this data to map where the Rat Tsar should send the extermination teams. If a specific station is crawling, let them know.
- Watch your feet. Seriously. Don't stand right at the edge of the platform near the dark corners. That’s rat territory.
- Pet safety. If you’re traveling with a dog in a carrier, keep it off the floor in stations known for high rat activity.
The battle against subway rats New York isn't going to end with a total victory. We aren't going to wake up one day and find zero rats in the city. They’ve been here since the 1700s, arriving on ships from Europe, and they’ve adapted to every change we’ve thrown at them.
The goal isn't eradication; it's management. It's making the city less of a buffet and more of a fortress.
Actionable Next Steps for New Yorkers
- Get a "Rat-Proof" Trash Can: If you live near a subway vent, ensure your household trash is in a heavy-duty plastic or metal bin with a locking lid.
- Support Containerization: Follow the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) updates on new trash bin mandates for your neighborhood. The more businesses that use bins instead of bags, the fewer rats will migrate into the subway tunnels nearby.
- Seal the Gaps: If you live in an apartment, check where your pipes enter the walls. Rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter. Use steel wool and caulk to seal these entry points.
- Stay Informed: Check the NYC Rat Information Portal for a map of inspections in your area. Knowledge is power, or at least it helps you know which subway entrance to avoid at 2:00 AM.
The rats are part of the landscape. They are the shadow city. We just have to make sure they stay in the shadows.