After hitting all-time high, reports of rats in Skokie are falling — the Village wants them gone entirely

Reports of rats reached an all time-high in Skokie in 2024. Now, administrative staff have set a goal for the village to become as close to rat-free as possible by the spring of 2026. 

Michael Charley, director of Skokie’s Department of Health and Human Services, outlined that ambitious target while presenting an update and overview of the department’s rat control program to trustees during an Oct. 9 Village Board meeting.

Skokie started measuring a steady increase in reports of rats in 2020, a phenomenon Charley said other municipalities in the region have experienced and may be caused by pandemic-era behavior changes leading to more residential trash and warmer temperatures leading to more year-round rat activity.

That increase in reports continued until Skokie hit a peak of 431 weekly reports of rats in February 2024, according to data Charley presented to the board. 

The village subsequently decided to invest $274,000 by May 2024 to switch to a new pest control contractor — from Rose Pest Solutions to Platinum Pest Solutions — and hire another full-time environmental control officer to join the local health department’s operations. 

Reports of rats in Skokie have since fallen by more than half to 203 weekly cases in February 2025 — a 53% drop indicating that the latest changes to the village’s rat control measures are effective, Charley said.

The number of weekly cases is now at  261, as reports of rats fluctuate by season.

“I’m excited about it but we’re still working hard to reduce the numbers,” Charley said. “Our goal is as close to zero as possible by March 1, 2026, and we stand by that, but it’s a lot of work and I appreciate everything that my staff is doing, our communications team is doing and the community is doing.”

Charley’s report to the board included a map showing three main “hot spots” where reports of rats are most commonly sourced in Skokie — along Skokie Boulevard between Dempster Street and Church Street, just east of Skokie Boulevard between Main Street and Oakton Street, and between Oakton Street and Lincoln Avenue around Lincoln Junior High School — all areas primarily of residential properties.

As part of this month’s “Rat-tober” initiative, Charley said his department is collaborating with personnel from the Skokie Community Development Department to canvass properties in those three hot spots to search for the factors that most commonly contribute to the presence of rats. 

Those factors include overgrown vegetation, unsecured garbage, water sources, grills with accumulated grease, dog feces, bird feeders and compost bins. 

The village previously voted in 2024 to ban Skokie residents from raising chickens in their backyard, and likewise voted in 2023 to prohibit platform bird feeders and in 2012 to require rear porches to rest on concrete — all measures aimed at mitigating rat activity.

“In Skokie, with the amount of rats we have, we just can’t do things like that anymore,” Charley told the board in regard to residents feeding chickens with leftover food. “We can’t feed chickens, we can’t feed the birds, we shouldn’t be feeding wildlife that way.”

Notably, the average lifespan of a rat is two to three years in the wild, but they become sexually mature after just five to six weeks of being born and can reproduce up to 100 pups a year. 

That’s why when rats are reported to the city, an environmental control officer will survey the property within 48 hours to paint the rat burrows and immediately bait them with poison. The city’s pest control contractor will then return on a weekly basis to continue baiting and monitoring the burrows. 

The village’s efforts to curb rats has also included re-evaluating how it educates and communicates with residents.

Charley said that his office previously received 10 to 20 calls a week from people concerned about the status of rat mitigation efforts on their property. But that volume has dropped ever since village staff now leave door hangar pamphlets and email residents once work is deemed complete. 

The head of health services asked residents to report all rats they see by either calling the village at (847-933.8254)  or filling out this form online.

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Become a member of The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a member? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.