Rats and mice in Columbus, Ohio
This page maps every rat and mouse report filed with the City of Columbus, Ohio: from a single sighting in an alley to an infestation inside an apartment. It also links out to our other rat and mouse pages and guides, from how to word a report to what to do about mice in a rental.
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Want to see all 3,863 rat and mouse reports on a map?
3,863 rat and mouse reports across Columbus, plus about 81,000 complaints of every kind, plotted block by block.
- How many About 3,900 reports since January 2025 mention rats, mice, or rodents. About 2,400 describe an animal someone saw. The rest are mostly tall grass and trash complaints that name rodents as the risk.
- Two animals Complaints that say "rat" describe the outside: trash, the yard and tall grass or weeds. Complaints that say "mice" describe the inside: the walls or ceiling, the kitchen and the bathroom. Mouse complaints name a landlord twice as often.
- Season Rat complaints peak in July and fall off in winter. Mouse complaints do not follow that calendar. As a share of what the city hears, they run highest from October through January, when mice come inside and other complaints drop off.
- Trend Reports are up about 25% so far this year against the same months last year. Rat and mouse reports also take a growing share of everything the city hears: 45 of every 1,000 complaints in the first 10 months of the data, 51 in the latest 10.
- How they arrive About six in ten also carry a tall grass or trash complaint. The rat is often the reason a neighbor finally called about the yard.
- Where Rates run highest in Wake Robin, Hayden Run / Scioto Darby and North Linden. The most-reported stretches are the 900 to 1699 blocks of S Champion Ave in South Side (core) and the 900 to 1199 blocks of E 17th Ave in Milo-Grogan.
- Rising Reports rose fastest this year in Northland (core), Hayden Run / Scioto Darby and Clintonville. They held flat in Olde Towne East, South Hilltop / Wheatland and South Side (core).
- Cars About one in 12 complaints mentions a car, an engine, or chewed wires.
What should I do?
I have rats or mice right now. What do I do?
Inside a rental: treating an infestation inside the unit is the landlord’s job. Tell them in writing, with the date. Then report it to 311 and say "inside", so it is filed as an infestation and not as a yard complaint.
Outside: the city enforces the condition that draws rats, not the rat. Describe the pile, the grass, and the open trash, and say where. How to word it.
Mice, and a landlord who hands out traps: ask in writing for the holes to be sealed. What the records show.
Report unsafe living conditions →I am about to rent or buy. What should I check?
Ask a different question for a different building. For a house or a double with a yard and an alley, ask about the alley and the neighbors. For a complex, ask about mice, and what maintenance does about holes.
Then check the address, not the neighborhood. Rat reports come from every part of the city and almost never from the same address twice.
Check an address on the live map →I own or manage a property. What should I know?
The complaints that repeat are yard and alley conditions at small multi-family buildings, and unsealed holes at complexes. Traps do not close a case. Sealed entry points and a clean lot do.
A rodent complaint that reaches 311 stays on the public record, and the next tenant can read it here.
Rats vs Mice in Columbus, Ohio
1,751 complaints since January 2025 say "rat" and 840 say "mice". 208 say both. The two groups differ on where the animal is, what building it is in, who gets blamed, and what month it is.
| Says "rat"1,543 complaints | Says "mice"632 complaints | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the animal is | Mostly outside. 46% mention trash, 40% mention the yard, 24% mention tall grass or weeds. | Mostly inside. 18% mention the walls or ceiling, 14% mention the kitchen, 13% mention the bathroom. |
| Inside or outside | 70% describe only the outside. 8% only the inside. | 38% describe only the inside. 30% only the outside. |
| Who gets blamed | A landlord or manager in 15%. A neighbor in 13%. | A landlord or manager in 36%. A neighbor in 11%. |
| What kind of building | 37% come from a complex of six or more addresses. | 46% come from a complex of six or more addresses. |
| Busiest month | July, per 1,000 complaints of any kind. | October, per 1,000 complaints of any kind. |
| Filed as a yard complaint | 67% also carry a tall grass or trash complaint. | 29% also carry a tall grass or trash complaint. |
| What else is mentioned | Raccoons, possums, snakes, or skunks in 9%. Roaches in 8%. | Roaches in 22%. Raccoons, possums, snakes, or skunks in 9%. |
| What to say when you report | Describe the condition, not the animal: the pile, the tall grass, the open trash, the burrow under the fence. Say where. Outside a home, the city cites the harborage. | Say "inside", give the unit, and name the holes. Say when you told the landlord and what they did. Traps are not a fix. Sealed entry points are. |
The label is the complainant's word, not a zoologist's. Some "rats" are mice and the other way round. The groups still differ so consistently that the words are tracking something real. Another 1,480 complaints say only "rodent", and seven in ten of those are tall grass or trash complaints that name rodents as a risk. How to tell which one you have →
The numbers behind this page
Where are rats and mice reported most?
No neighborhood is spared, but rates run highest in Wake Robin and Hayden Run / Scioto Darby. Neighborhoods are ranked by rate, meaning each category's share of the neighborhood's reports against its citywide share, so big neighborhoods don't win just for being big.
The stretches with the most rat and mouse reports. Each is a run of blocks, roughly a hundred addresses per block, so check the exact address before drawing a conclusion. Tap one to see it on the map.
When are rats and mice reported?
Rat complaints peak in July and drop by about 34% from October through January. Mouse complaints have no summer peak. The rest of the city's complaints fall off in the cold months and mouse complaints do not, so as a share of what the city hears they run highest from October through January, with October the top month.
Each line is that group's share of its own year, so the two compare on one axis even though there are 2.4 times as many "rat" complaints as "mice". The dotted line is where a level year would sit. Each year is scaled to its own level before months are averaged, so a year with more reports does not tilt the shape.
Are rat and mouse reports going up, and where?
Up. Reports are up about 25% so far this year against the same months last year. Rat and mouse reports also take a growing share of everything the city hears: 45 of every 1,000 complaints in the first 10 months of the data, 51 in the latest 10.
Same months, 2025 against 2026, by neighborhood. Only neighborhoods with real volume in both years qualify.
What else gets reported at the same addresses?
What else shows up at the same addresses. Address-level comparison, so this reads as a building-quality signal, not a coincidence of one phone call.
Common questions
How do I report rats and mice in Columbus?
Call 311, use the Columbus 311 app, or file at columbus.gov. Give the address. If the animal is inside your home, say "inside" and give the unit. If it is outside, describe what draws it: the pile, the tall grass, the open trash. The city cites the condition, not the rat. How to word the complaint →
Who pays for pest control in a Columbus rental?
In most Columbus rentals the landlord pays to treat an infestation inside the unit. Code enforcement treats infestations as habitability problems. Owners of houses handle their own treatment, but trash and overgrowth that draw rats are enforceable at any property, including a neighbor’s. Landlord will not fix it? Your options →
Are rat and mouse reports in Columbus going up?
Yes. Reports are up about 25% so far this year against the same months last year. Rat and mouse reports also take a growing share of everything the city hears: 45 of every 1,000 complaints in the first 10 months of the data, 51 in the latest 10.
Are rats or mice more common in Columbus?
Rats. 1,751 complaints since January 2025 say "rat" and 840 say "mice". They are different complaints. The rat complaint is about a yard, an alley, or a car. The mouse complaint is about walls, a kitchen, and a landlord. Rats or mice? How to tell, and why it matters →
When is rat season in Columbus?
Rat complaints peak in July and drop by about 34% from October through January. Mouse complaints have no summer peak. The rest of the city's complaints fall off in the cold months and mouse complaints do not, so as a share of what the city hears they run highest from October through January, with October the top month.
Why was my rat complaint filed as a tall grass or trash complaint?
Because outside a home the city enforces the condition that draws rats, not the rat. About six in ten rat and mouse reports also carry a tall grass or trash complaint. Describe the pile, the grass, and the open trash, and the inspector has something to cite. What to say so an inspector comes →
Do vacant houses and homeless camps cause rats?
The complaints say so. The map does not. About 6% of rat and mouse complaints mention a vacant or abandoned property and 2% mention a camp, but in the September 2026 Columbus Rat Report a rat complaint was no more likely than any other complaint to sit within 300 feet of either one. The only things rat complaints sat closer to than chance were hoarding and backyard chickens. The Columbus Rat Report →
Do big apartment complexes have more rats?
No. In the September 2026 Columbus Rat Report, complexes of twenty or more addresses had the lowest rodent-complaint rate of any building type. What they have is mice. 46% of mouse complaints come from a complex of six or more addresses, against 37% of rat complaints, and the mouse complaint is the one that names the landlord. Mice in a Columbus apartment: who has to fix it →
Can rats damage my car?
Yes. 311 complaints since January 2025 mention a car, an engine, or chewed wires. Most describe rats nesting under the hood of a car parked in an alley or a driveway and chewing the wiring. Rats and car wiring in Columbus →
How long do people live with rats before they report them?
A long time. 351 complaints say how long the problem has lasted. The middle answer is about 4 months, and 42% say a year or more. Report it the first month. The record starts when you do.
Which Columbus neighborhoods have the most rats?
By rate, Wake Robin, Hayden Run / Scioto Darby and North Linden, comparing each neighborhood's share of reports with the citywide share. By raw count, the old prewar neighborhoods lead. No neighborhood is without them. Every neighborhood, ranked, in the Rat Report →
Know Your Block is a free public tool that shows what Columbus residents report to the city's code enforcement office: rats, mold, no heat, sewage backups, drug activity, noise, vacant buildings, and the other property and quality-of-life problems that a listing or a tour will not tell you about. The live map plots every report in the city, and a Block Report checks one address, the building it sits in, and the block around it. This page and the other issue pages are computed from the same records, so the numbers here match what you would find on the map. There is no account and no fee. More about the project.
What counts here. Reports that describe rats, mice, or rodent activity, from a sighting to an active infestation, plus tall grass and trash complaints that name rodents as the risk. A sightings-only count is smaller than the headline number. The page says both.
Data comes from official City of Columbus code enforcement records (Accela portal + ArcGIS REST API). Reports are categorized by keyword matching on complaint narratives and city record types, so counts are reports filed, not verified conditions, and automated matching can misfile individual records. The word groups are the complainant's own words. Street stretches are runs of blocks, never single addresses. The data window covers JAN 2025 – SEP 2026, so month-of-year patterns will sharpen as full years accrue.