The City of Toronto counted 2,523 rodent-related complaints and service requests in 2024, up from 1,165 in 2015 and just below the 2023 peak of 2,579. The City says these counts include some reports of mice and likely understate the problem, because many residents do not report rats. This page brings together Toronto rat and pest statistics, some published by the City and some we counted from its open data: City complaint counts, Toronto Public Health's DineSafe food premises inspections, RentSafeTO apartment building evaluations, disease cases and the City's Rat Response Plan. Every number has its publisher, date and a link right under it.
Key Takeaways
- Rodent-related complaints and service requests to the City of Toronto rose from 1,165 in 2015 to 2,523 in 2024, an increase of 117% (our calculation), after a peak of 2,579 in 2023.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City says it has no easily accessible rat-specific data and cannot consistently tell mouse complaints from rat complaints; its Rat Response Plan schedules rat-specific intake fields for Phase 2, starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- In 2025, 2,406 of 27,658 DineSafe food premises inspections (8.7%) recorded at least one pest-protection infraction, the highest share of any year from 2019 to 2026 so far.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- At their most recent RentSafeTO evaluation, 25 of 3,589 scored Toronto apartment buildings (0.7%) got the lowest common area pests score, which means evidence or observation of infestation.Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- Toronto recorded no cases of plague, hantavirus or tularemia in any year from 2015 to March 2025, and 0 to 4 cases of leptospirosis a year. The leptospirosis counts come from Public Health Ontario and do not separate cases acquired outside Toronto; Toronto Public Health notes these cases are not known to come from rodents.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto's Property Standards Bylaw requires every property to be kept free of pests, and its definition of pests names rats and mice.Source: City of Toronto, Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629, Property Standards (consolidated April 2025)
- In a 2025 study of public complaint and inspection data from 16 cities, Toronto had one of the five strongest increasing rat trends.Source: Science Advances (Richardson JL et al.), Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population (January 2025)
How many rat complaints does the City of Toronto get?
The City of Toronto counted 2,523 rodent-related complaints and service requests in 2024, up 117% from 1,165 in 2015 (our calculation) and down 2% from the peak of 2,579 in 2023. Most of the 2024 total, 2,108 requests or 83.6% (our calculation), concerned residential or commercial properties. The City says its roughly 2,500 requests in 2024 equal 0.2% of Toronto's 1.16 million households, though one household can make several requests.
Rodent-related complaints and service requests to the City of Toronto, by year
| Year | Residential or commercial properties | Food establishments | City indoor property | Sewers | Total | Change on the year before (as published) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 956 | 209 | 0 | 0 | 1,165 | First year |
| 2016 | 1,156 | 277 | 0 | 0 | 1,433 | 23% |
| 2017 | 1,220 | 313 | 0 | 5 | 1,538 | 7% |
| 2018 | 1,318 | 347 | 16 | 7 | 1,688 | 10% |
| 2019 | 1,412 | 407 | 18 | 1 | 1,838 | 9% |
| 2020 | 1,317 | 171 | 9 | 1 | 1,498 | -18% |
| 2021 | 1,624 | 157 | 22 | 9 | 1,812 | 21% |
| 2022 | 2,050 | 289 | 35 | 0 | 2,374 | 31% |
| 2023 | 2,167 | 357 | 48 | 7 | 2,579 | 9% |
| 2024 | 2,108 | 346 | 58 | 11 | 2,523 | -2% |
- Rodent-related complaints and service requests to the City rose from 1,165 in 2015 to 2,523 in 2024, up 117% (our calculation), after peaking at 2,579 in 2023, 121% above 2015 (our calculation).Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City's count rose 9% in 2023 to 2,579, the highest year in its 2015 to 2024 series, then fell 2% to 2,523 in 2024 (changes as published).Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The count fell 18% in 2020, to 1,498, then rose 21% in 2021 and 31% in 2022, the largest yearly rise in the series (changes as published).Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- In 2024, 2,108 requests concerned residential or commercial properties (83.6%), 346 food establishments (13.7%), 58 City indoor property (2.3%) and 11 sewers (0.4%); the shares are our calculation.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City says it received about 2,500 rodent-related service requests in 2024, equal to 0.2% of Toronto's 1.16 million households.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City notes that rat populations are rising in many North American cities, with warmer temperatures, less vegetation, urbanization and population growth among the factors.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- A study of public complaint and inspection data from 16 cities found that Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Toronto, New York City and Amsterdam had the five strongest increasing rat trends. The study's measure shows change over time, not the number of rats.Source: Science Advances (Richardson JL et al.), Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population (January 2025)
- Rat numbers rose significantly in 11 of the 16 cities in the study (69%), and three cities saw declines.Source: Science Advances (Richardson JL et al.), Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population (January 2025)
- In the same study, cities with larger temperature increases, denser populations and more urbanization saw larger increases in rats, an association rather than proof of cause.Source: Science Advances (Richardson JL et al.), Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population (January 2025)
The City's yearly counts measure reports, not rats, and its series ends at 2024. Requests about food establishments are complaints to the City about food premises, not DineSafe inspection results.
What do Toronto's rat numbers count, and what do they miss?
There is no reliable way to count the rats in a city, so Toronto, like other municipalities, relies on complaints and service requests as a proxy. The City says the keyword searches it uses to find rat-related issues across its datasets can be inaccurate or inconsistent, and that the counts include some reports of mice and reports made on concern alone, cover indoor City properties but not parks, and leave out rat problems nobody reported. It also says the true scale is likely larger, because property owners deal with pests on private property and many residents do not report rats to the City.
- The City says there is no reliable method to estimate the number of rats in cities, so municipalities typically rely on service requests or complaints as a proxy.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City does not have easily accessible rat-specific data, uses keyword searches across datasets to find rat-related issues, and says it is not possible to consistently tell mouse complaints from rat complaints.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City's 2015 to 2024 counts include confirmed rat sightings and requests based on concern or assumption, such as fear that garbage will attract rats.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Mouse requests were removed from some of the City's datasets but not all, so the counts include some reports of mice. They cover indoor City properties but not parks, and leave out rat issues no one reported to the City.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City says these numbers likely underrepresent the true scale of the issue, because property owners handle pests on private property and many residents do not report rat activity.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City shows where the 2024 requests came from only as a dot map, with no ward or neighbourhood counts.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
Because the City publishes no ward or neighbourhood counts of rat complaints, this page does not rank parts of Toronto by them.
How often do Toronto food premises inspections cite pest infractions?
In 2025, 2,406 of 27,658 DineSafe inspections (8.7%) recorded at least one pest-protection infraction, the highest share of any year from 2019 to 2026 so far. These infractions are for failing to protect a food premises against the entry, harbouring or breeding of pests, or for a rodent health hazard; most cite entry of pests, and an infraction does not by itself mean a pest was seen. A separate group, failing to keep pest control records, appeared in 154 inspections in 2025 (0.56%).
DineSafe inspections with pest infractions, by year
| Year | Inspections | With a pest-protection infraction | Share | Harbouring or breeding share | With a pest record-keeping infraction | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 22,626 | 1,311 | 5.79% | 2.08% | 97 | 0.43% |
| 2020 | 8,021 | 378 | 4.71% | 1.40% | 23 | 0.29% |
| 2021 | 6,469 | 243 | 3.76% | 1.68% | 23 | 0.36% |
| 2022 | 20,190 | 1,370 | 6.79% | 2.17% | 127 | 0.63% |
| 2023 | 24,901 | 1,990 | 7.99% | 1.89% | 148 | 0.59% |
| 2024 | 25,278 | 1,895 | 7.50% | 1.81% | 136 | 0.54% |
| 2025 | 27,658 | 2,406 | 8.70% | 2.37% | 154 | 0.56% |
| 2026 (to October 19) | 26,333 | 2,033 | 7.72% | 2.53% | 170 | 0.65% |
DineSafe inspections with a pest-protection infraction, by ward, January 1, 2024 to October 19, 2026 (in ward order, not ranked)
| Ward | With a pest-protection infraction | All inspections | Rate | Harbouring or breeding rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Etobicoke North | 130 | 2,788 | 4.7% | 1.6% |
| 2. Etobicoke Centre | 35 | 1,322 | 2.6% | 0.8% |
| 3. Etobicoke-Lakeshore | 90 | 3,655 | 2.5% | 1.0% |
| 4. Parkdale-High Park | 270 | 3,005 | 9.0% | 2.0% |
| 5. York South-Weston | 257 | 2,445 | 10.5% | 3.8% |
| 6. York Centre | 269 | 3,126 | 8.6% | 2.4% |
| 7. Humber River-Black Creek | 125 | 2,238 | 5.6% | 2.1% |
| 8. Eglinton-Lawrence | 231 | 3,265 | 7.1% | 2.1% |
| 9. Davenport | 234 | 3,236 | 7.2% | 2.1% |
| 10. Spadina-Fort York | 793 | 10,041 | 7.9% | 3.0% |
| 11. University-Rosedale | 573 | 8,674 | 6.6% | 2.5% |
| 12. Toronto-St. Paul's | 180 | 2,304 | 7.8% | 1.4% |
| 13. Toronto Centre | 464 | 6,315 | 7.3% | 2.0% |
| 14. Toronto-Danforth | 360 | 3,511 | 10.3% | 2.8% |
| 15. Don Valley West | 193 | 2,253 | 8.6% | 2.2% |
| 16. Don Valley East | 103 | 1,973 | 5.2% | 1.8% |
| 17. Don Valley North | 76 | 1,998 | 3.8% | 1.7% |
| 18. Willowdale | 105 | 2,715 | 3.9% | 0.7% |
| 19. Beaches-East York | 163 | 2,164 | 7.5% | 1.8% |
| 20. Scarborough Southwest | 194 | 1,961 | 9.9% | 2.1% |
| 21. Scarborough Centre | 260 | 2,670 | 9.7% | 2.8% |
| 22. Scarborough-Agincourt | 652 | 2,385 | 27.3% | 3.3% |
| 23. Scarborough North | 443 | 2,487 | 17.8% | 3.4% |
| 24. Scarborough-Guildwood | 94 | 1,609 | 5.8% | 2.1% |
| 25. Scarborough-Rouge Park | 40 | 1,128 | 3.5% | 1.1% |
- Ontario's food premises regulation requires every food premises to be protected against the entry of pests and kept free of conditions that lead to harbouring or breeding, and requires operators to keep pest control records for at least a year.Source: Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises (accessed October 2026)
- In 2025, 2,406 of 27,658 DineSafe inspections (8.7%) recorded at least one pest-protection infraction: failing to protect against the entry, harbouring or breeding of pests, or a rodent health hazard.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- 2025 had the highest share of inspections with a pest-protection infraction from 2019 to 2026, at 8.70%, compared with 5.79% in 2019 and 7.72% in 2026 to October 19.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- Of the 2025 inspections with a pest-protection infraction, 1,869 cited entry of pests and 656 cited harbouring or breeding (2.37% of all inspections), and 9 cited a rodent health hazard. One inspection can cite more than one.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- In the DineSafe records for 2024 to October 19, 2026, all 4,884 entry-of-pests infractions are listed under maintenance categories, while all 1,810 harbouring or breeding infractions are listed under pest control.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- In 2025, 154 DineSafe inspections (0.56%) recorded a failure to keep or retain pest control records, and 71 of them had no pest-protection infraction.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- From January 1 to October 19, 2026, 2,033 of 26,333 DineSafe inspections (7.72%) recorded at least one pest-protection infraction.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- Counting each food premises once, 2,022 of the 15,641 premises inspected in 2025 (12.93%) had at least one pest-protection infraction during the year.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- Premises shares are not like-for-like between years, because a premises inspected more often has more chances to be cited: inspections per premises rose from 1.28 in 2022 to 1.97 in 2023 (our calculation), when the premises share went from 8.03% to 12.91%.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- In 2025, 27 of the 29 DineSafe inspections that ended in a closed notice also recorded a pest-protection infraction; the data does not record why a premises was closed.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- Each DineSafe inspection ends in a pass, a conditional pass or a closed notice.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- Toronto Public Health inspects food premises one to three times a year, plus inspections in response to complaints.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- From January 1, 2024 to October 19, 2026, the share of DineSafe inspections with a pest-protection infraction ranged from 2.5% to 27.3% across Toronto's 25 wards, while the harbouring or breeding rate ranged from 0.7% to 3.8%.Source: Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
DineSafe counts are inspections, not premises or pests, and re-inspections count as new inspections. 2020 and 2021 had far fewer inspections because of COVID-19. Figures to 2023 come from the historical DineSafe files and later years from the live file; the two do not join seamlessly, so later years may be revised.
How often are pests found in Toronto apartment building common areas?
RentSafeTO evaluators check the common areas of Toronto apartment buildings with three or more storeys and 10 or more units for evidence or observation of pests. At their most recent evaluation, 25 of 3,589 scored buildings (0.7%) got the lowest common area pests score, which the City defines as evidence or observation of infestation, and across all 6,888 scored evaluations from June 2023 to October 2026 the share was 0.96%. These scores cover common areas only, not the inside of units, and the yearly counts are too small to show a trend.
RentSafeTO evaluations scoring 1 for common area pests, by year completed
| Year completed | Evaluations scored for common area pests | Scored 1 (evidence or observation of infestation) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 (from June 5) | 1,742 | 17 | 0.98% |
| 2024 | 1,802 | 24 | 1.33% |
| 2025 | 1,745 | 10 | 0.57% |
| 2026 (to October 6) | 1,599 | 15 | 0.94% |
RentSafeTO evaluations scoring 1 for common area pests, by ward, 2023 to 2026 (in ward order, not ranked)
| Ward | Scored 1 | Evaluations scored |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Etobicoke North | 5 | 156 |
| 2. Etobicoke Centre | 0 | 251 |
| 3. Etobicoke-Lakeshore | 0 | 488 |
| 4. Parkdale-High Park | 7 | 398 |
| 5. York South-Weston | 4 | 467 |
| 6. York Centre | 6 | 450 |
| 7. Humber River-Black Creek | 2 | 194 |
| 8. Eglinton-Lawrence | 0 | 468 |
| 9. Davenport | 1 | 181 |
| 10. Spadina-Fort York | 5 | 117 |
| 11. University-Rosedale | 2 | 283 |
| 12. Toronto-St. Paul's | 2 | 661 |
| 13. Toronto Centre | 9 | 400 |
| 14. Toronto-Danforth | 3 | 276 |
| 15. Don Valley West | 5 | 327 |
| 16. Don Valley East | 3 | 308 |
| 17. Don Valley North | 1 | 132 |
| 18. Willowdale | 0 | 81 |
| 19. Beaches-East York | 2 | 397 |
| 20. Scarborough Southwest | 2 | 311 |
| 21. Scarborough Centre | 1 | 250 |
| 22. Scarborough-Agincourt | 2 | 80 |
| 23. Scarborough North | 0 | 17 |
| 24. Scarborough-Guildwood | 2 | 140 |
| 25. Scarborough-Rouge Park | 2 | 55 |
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Toronto.
- The City's RentSafeTO open data holds 6,902 evaluations of 3,593 apartment buildings, completed between June 5, 2023 and October 6, 2026.Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- Common Area Pests is a High Risk category in the RentSafeTO building evaluation. Items are scored from 1 (lowest) to 3 (highest), and a score of 1 means evidence or observation of infestation.Source: City of Toronto, RentSafeTO: Evaluations & Audits (September 2026)
- Of the 6,888 evaluations from 2023 to 2026 that were scored for common area pests, 66 (0.96%) got a score of 1.Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- At their most recent evaluation, 25 of the 3,589 buildings scored for common area pests (0.7%) got a score of 1. Those latest evaluations date from 2023 to 2026.Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- By the year the evaluation was completed, scores of 1 for common area pests numbered 17 of 1,742 scored evaluations in 2023 (0.98%), 24 of 1,802 in 2024 (1.33%), 10 of 1,745 in 2025 (0.57%) and 15 of 1,599 in 2026 (0.94%).Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- RentSafeTO buildings are evaluated every two years. Since a 2023 update the evaluation has 50 weighted categories, and an item that cannot be evaluated because of an obstruction or a refusal is scored 0.Source: City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- RentSafeTO covers apartment buildings with three or more storeys and 10 or more units; condo buildings, townhomes and units in private homes are not part of it.Source: City of Toronto, RentSafeTO for Tenants (July 2026)
The City's rubric lists a score of 2 as N/A, so we do not interpret it. Because buildings are evaluated every two years, the 2023 to 2026 totals count most buildings twice.
Do rats spread disease in Toronto?
The City of Toronto says rats in Toronto are not a public health issue: there is no evidence of disease transmission linked to rats in Toronto, and provincial direction is to treat rats as a nuisance. The City adds that rats can still pose health risks in food establishments and may affect the mental health of people living with an infestation. From 2015 to March 2025, Toronto had no cases of plague, hantavirus or tularemia and 0 to 4 leptospirosis cases a year, and Toronto Public Health notes these cases are not known to come from rodents.
Cases of diseases potentially related to rodent exposures in Toronto, 2015 to March 2025
| Disease | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 (January to March) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q fever | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Trichinosis | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Leptospirosis | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Plague, hantavirus or tularemia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- The City's Rat Response Plan says rats in Toronto are not a public health issue, with no evidence of disease transmission linked to rats in Toronto, but that they can still pose health risks in food establishments and may affect the mental health of people living with an infestation.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City describes rats as common pests in Toronto with a low risk of illness to the general public, while noting they can contaminate food, damage property and contribute to unsanitary conditions.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Control (September 2026)
- Toronto Public Health recorded no cases of plague, hantavirus or tularemia in Toronto in any year from 2015 to March 2025.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto recorded between 0 and 4 leptospirosis cases a year from 2015 to 2024, and 2 from January to March 2025. These counts come from Public Health Ontario and do not separate cases acquired outside Toronto.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto recorded 5 cases of Q fever in 2024, and between 0 and 2 in each year from 2015 to 2023.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto recorded between 0 and 2 cases of trichinosis a year from 2015 to 2024.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto Public Health notes that the source of these cases is not known to be rodents, though the diseases can be acquired from rats.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto Public Health reports low rates of these diseases in Toronto, with no overall trend in confirmed cases.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
Case counts for 2025 cover January to March only.
Who is responsible for rats in Toronto?
The City of Toronto calls managing rats a shared responsibility: the City looks after City property and enforces bylaws on issues such as waste and property standards, while property owners, landlords, tenants and businesses deal with rats on their own properties. The City's advice for rats on private property is to first reduce the conditions that attract them, such as food sources, unsecured garbage and places where rats can nest, and then consider hiring a licensed pest control company. Tenants in apartment buildings should go to the landlord or property manager first and call 311 if nothing is done, and concerns about restaurants go to Toronto Public Health's DineSafe program. Toronto's Property Standards Bylaw requires every property to be kept free of pests, and its definition of pests names rats and mice. Our Toronto page covers how mice and rats get into Toronto homes and what to do as a renter.
- Section 629-9 of the Toronto Municipal Code requires all properties to be kept free of pests at all times, and of conditions that may encourage infestation.Source: City of Toronto, Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629, Property Standards (consolidated April 2025)
- Chapter 629 defines pests to include rats and mice, along with bats, ants, cockroaches, silverfish, fleas and bedbugs, but not any species designated under the federal Species at Risk Act or Ontario's Endangered Species Act, 2007; the definition was added by By-law 577-2022 in June 2022.Source: City of Toronto, Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629, Property Standards (consolidated April 2025)
- Under Chapter 629, owners must repair, maintain and keep their property clean, and occupants must keep it clean and sanitary and co-operate with the landlord.Source: City of Toronto, Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629, Property Standards (consolidated April 2025)
- The City advises residents with rats on their property to first reduce the conditions that attract them, such as food sources, unsecured garbage and places where rats can nest, and says they may then wish to hire a licensed pest control company. It directs restaurant and food premises concerns to Toronto Public Health's DineSafe program.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Control (September 2026)
- The City investigates complaints when property owners or landlords do not deal with rodent issues.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Control (September 2026)
- Where pest issues are found, the City uses progressive enforcement, including notices to comply and fines, and if a property owner still fails to comply, the City can fix the pest problem at the owner's expense.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- In RentSafeTO buildings, landlords must keep units free of pests including mice and rats, inspect common areas at least once every 30 days and any area within 72 hours of learning about pests, hire a licensed pest control company if required, keep and post pest records, and stop renting units with pests to new tenants.Source: City of Toronto, RentSafeTO: What Building Owners are Required To Do (September 2026)
- RentSafeTO tenants should raise pests with the landlord or property manager first and can call 311 for the RentSafeTO team if nothing is done; tenants must let the landlord treat their unit.Source: City of Toronto, RentSafeTO: What Building Owners are Required To Do (September 2026)
- Tenants in rentals outside the apartment building and multi-tenant house rules, such as apartments in private homes, are still covered by the Property Standards Bylaw and can call 311.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The City does not charge a fee for a property standards complaint or inspection request. Rooming house and condo tenants should go to the landlord first and then 311, and the City does not investigate complaints about owner-occupied condo units.Source: City of Toronto, Property Standards (July 2026)
What is changing under Toronto's Rat Response Plan?
Toronto City Council adopted the Rat Response Plan without amendments on July 23 and 24, 2025. Its new actions start in two phases: Phase 1 between the second and third quarters of 2026, including enforcement blitzes in neighbourhoods with a high prevalence of rats and education for tenants, and Phase 2 between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, including rat-specific fields in City intake channels and a review of faster ticketing for pests on private property. These dates are when work is set to begin, and we found no City progress report on Phase 1 on toronto.ca as of October 21, 2026.
- Toronto City Council adopted the Rat Response Plan without amendments on July 23 and 24, 2025, after the Economic and Community Development Committee adopted it on July 9, 2025.Source: City of Toronto, Agenda Item History 2025.EC22.5: Rat Response Plan (July 2025)
- The plan schedules its new actions in Phase 1 (Q2 to Q3 2026) and Phase 2 (Q4 2026 to Q1 2027); the timelines show when implementation begins.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- A Rat Response Enforcement Table is to run targeted inspection and enforcement blitzes in neighbourhoods with a high prevalence of rats from Phase 1, Q2 2026, with hot spots chosen from rising service requests and complaints.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- From Phase 1, Q2 2026, the City plans targeted education so tenants know their landlord's pest responsibilities and how to report unresolved rat issues.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Rat-specific data collection fields for City divisions' intake channels are a Phase 2 action timed for Q4 2026.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- In Phase 2, Q4 2026, the Property Standards Bylaw review is to look at ways to speed up when officers can issue a ticket or summons for failing to manage pests on private property.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Pest control is one of the provisions flagged in the City's review of the Property Standards Bylaw.Source: City of Toronto, Property Standards (July 2026)
- From Phase 2, Q1 2027, the City plans to collect rat data from its divisions every quarter and evaluate how well its rat response is working.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- The report estimated staffing for the plan at up to $351,000 a year from 2026, plus up to $150,000 a year for public communication and staff training.Source: City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- On February 10, 2026, as part of the 2026 budget, Council added $0.355 million and three permanent staff positions to Municipal Licensing and Standards to start the Rat Response Plan and the Coyote Coexistence and Response Strategy, so the amount is not for rats alone.Source: City of Toronto, Agenda Item History 2026.MPB38.1: 2026 Operating and Capital Budget (February 2026)
How We Collected These Numbers
We only use primary sources: City of Toronto reports and web pages, Toronto Public Health and City open data, the Toronto Municipal Code, Ontario's food premises regulation and peer-reviewed research. Pest company rankings, surveys, news stories and other statistics pages are never cited in place of the original source.
The City's complaint figures are copied from Figure 2 in Attachment 2 of the Rat Response Plan, and the yearly percentage changes are the City's own. Figures marked as our calculation, such as each category's share of 2024, are worked out from that table. The City's map of 2024 locations has no counts, so we do not estimate any for wards or neighbourhoods. Toronto's open 311 service request data has no rat or rodent request type, so we do not use it as a rat count.
For food premises, we counted inspections in Toronto Public Health's DineSafe open data, downloaded October 21, 2026, with inspections up to October 19, 2026. 2019 is the first year we use, because the 2018 file mixes old and new regulation wording. We split pest infractions into two groups under Ontario Regulation 493/17: pest-protection infractions (section 13(1), failing to protect against the entry of pests or to keep the premises free of conditions that lead to harbouring or breeding, plus a rodent health hazard under section 7(1)(a)(i)) and pest record-keeping infractions (section 13(2)). Neither group is a count of pest sightings. Wards come from each inspection's location on the City's 25-ward boundaries. The Open Data Portal lists no licence for DineSafe, so we publish totals only, with no restaurant names or individual records.
RentSafeTO figures come from the City's Apartment Building Evaluation open data, with evaluations up to October 6, 2026. We take the year from the date each evaluation was completed, leave out evaluations scored 0 (could not be evaluated), and do not interpret a score of 2, which the City's rubric lists as N/A. The most recent evaluation figure counts each building once. We make no comparison with evaluations before 2023, which used a different evaluation tool.
The Science Advances study is open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Its Toronto result is a trend measure, not a count of rats or a percentage change.
The date at the top is when this page was last updated. Each source shows its own publication date.
Sources
- City of Toronto, Rat Response Plan (June 2025)
- Toronto Public Health, City of Toronto Open Data, DineSafe (data to October 19, 2026)
- City of Toronto Open Data (Municipal Licensing and Standards), Apartment Building Evaluation (data to October 6, 2026)
- City of Toronto, Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629, Property Standards (consolidated April 2025)
- Science Advances (Richardson JL et al.), Increasing rat numbers in cities are linked to climate warming, urbanization, and human population (January 2025)
- Government of Ontario, O. Reg. 493/17: Food Premises (accessed October 2026)
- City of Toronto, RentSafeTO: Evaluations & Audits (September 2026)
- City of Toronto, RentSafeTO for Tenants (July 2026)
- City of Toronto, Rat Control (September 2026)
- City of Toronto, RentSafeTO: What Building Owners are Required To Do (September 2026)
- City of Toronto, Property Standards (July 2026)
- City of Toronto, Agenda Item History 2025.EC22.5: Rat Response Plan (July 2025)
- City of Toronto, Agenda Item History 2026.MPB38.1: 2026 Operating and Capital Budget (February 2026)
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Toronto.
How to Cite This Page
You are welcome to quote these numbers. Please credit the original source shown under each one, and link to this page:
Sting Out Pest Control. (2026, October 21). Toronto Rat and Mouse Statistics 2026. https://www.stingoutpestcontrol.com/toronto-rat-statistics
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<a href="https://www.stingoutpestcontrol.com/toronto-rat-statistics">Toronto Rat and Mouse Statistics 2026</a> (Sting Out Pest Control, updated October 21, 2026)Charts and tables on this page can be reused too, with credit to Sting Out Pest Control, a link to this page and the original source named with each one.
This page summarizes public data and is not medical or legal advice.
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