These Texas cities among most likely to be rat infested places in the United States

Rats and urban areas seem to go hand in hand, but New York City isn’t the only United States city with a problem.

In a new report, one Texas city is listed among the top five most rat infested places in the U.S. with several cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area making the list including Fort Worth.

Home service website Pest Gnome compiled a list of “2023’s Most Vulnerable Cities for Rat Infestation,” ranking the 500 biggest U.S. cities based on crowdedness, dirtiness, rat infestation, rat bait and rat control.

Pest Gnome gave an overall rating to 152 cities — higher scores meant the city was most vulnerable to rat infestation.

Cities offer rats everything they need to survive — food, water, shelter and safe ways to get around like buildings and fences, according to NYC Health.

However, rats reproduce quickly and can carry diseases spread through their poop, urine and saliva, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pest Gnome found the top three cities most vulnerable to rat infestations in the U.S. are:

3. Jersey City, New Jersey, overall score: 56.04

2. Los Angeles, overall score: 59.49

1. New York City, overall score: 85.10

Here are the Texas cities most vulnerable to rat infestation, according to Pest Gnome.

147. McKinney, overall score: 15.99

105. Frisco, overall score: 23.85

95. Waco, overall score: 25.71

84. Plano, overall score: 27.83

77. Arlington, overall score: 28.57

71. Amarillo, overall score: 29.54

47. Austin, overall score: 34.30

45. El Paso, overall score: 35.25

41. Fort Worth, overall score: 36.10

13. San Antonio, overall score: 41.57

12. Dallas, overall score: 42.36

5. Houston, overall score: 50.29