This year has seen the most reported rat sightings in at least a decade — with as many through July 2022 as in all of 2020 or 2019. According to city data, through July 31 there have been more than 16,000 rat sightings, compared to just under 14,000 in the same timeframe last year. In both 2020 and 2019, there were about 16,000 documented rat sightings for the full year.