San Francisco ranks as second ‘rattiest’ city in nation behind New York

Rich Neumann, who is the founder and CEO of a video tech company, knows all about the proliferation of rats in the California city and how they can wreck the engine of a car, according to a report in the Daily Mail. Rats have burrowed into more than 40,000 homes in San Fran, and on Neuman’s street alone, they have damaged cars to the tune of $15,000. “When I moved into this house, the garage which faces the [alley] and the crawl space under the house was infested with rats,” Neumann told the Mail, noting that “it's not uncommon to see rats scurrying down the alley – especially at night.”

Terminix, the well-known exterminator company, released its annual listing of the “rattiest” American cities. New York City was still number one but San Francisco had jumped from fifth place to second. “San Francisco is pushing for higher human density, like having people convert garages into rental units. More people equals more rats,” Neumann told the Mail.

He also said lax sanitation laws in a city where people are allowed to shoot up drugs on the streets as well as performing vital bodily functions doesn’t ease the rat problem. “Humans defecating on the street attracts more rats,” he said.

The problem has spilled over to neighboring Oakland, where workers at a McDonald’s there actually went on strike to protest the rats in the restaurant. Several other McDonald's locations in Oakland have also been shut down.

Neumann hasn’t received any official response from the city of San Francisco about the rats in his enclave, which he depicted as a “very nice rural area.”

But, the problems started for him in the spring of 2017, when he discovered an issue with his Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab that he regularly parked in a nearby alley. The 'check engine' light was on. When he brought the vehicle to a mechanic, he received the bad news. Rats had chewed right into his gas tank – something they are apt to do because they chew on anything, whether they want to eat it or not.

Newmann had the same experience three times between 2017 and 2021 and has spent more than $6,400 on repairs and devices to try to prevent it from happening again.