Roaches and Mice in New York Apartments: The Violation Data
New York City housing inspectors issued 35,278 roach violations and 27,273 mouse violations in 2025, after a 2024 peak of 42,230 and 32,994. Almost all of them, 94 per cent, were classed as immediately hazardous. The Bronx accounted for the largest share by a wide margin. That is the reverse of what landlords report about bed bugs, where the Bronx sits near the bottom, and the gap between inspector evidence and landlord self-reporting is the most useful thing this data shows.
When a New York tenant complains about roaches or mice, an inspector from the city’s housing department can visit and, if the infestation is confirmed, issue a violation that obliges the landlord to abate it. Those violations are public. We analysed seven years of them.
The trend
| Inspection year | Roach violations | Mouse violations | Rat violations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 25,749 | 24,129 | 604 |
| 2020 | 19,961 | 18,226 | 511 |
| 2021 | 28,056 | 25,726 | 1,050 |
| 2022 | 29,494 | 26,949 | 1,162 |
| 2023 | 35,462 | 30,037 | 1,386 |
| 2024 | 42,230 | 32,994 | 2,251 |
| 2025 | 35,278 | 27,273 | 3,532 |
Roach and mouse violations climbed steadily from the pandemic low of 2020 to a 2024 peak, then fell back in 2025. Roaches outnumber mice every year, and the gap has widened: in 2019 the two were nearly level, and by 2024 roach violations ran 28 per cent ahead.
These counts measure inspections that found an infestation, which depends on tenants complaining and inspectors visiting as much as on the pests. The rise from 2020 partly reflects inspection activity recovering after the pandemic. The shape is informative; the level is not a prevalence estimate.
94 per cent are immediately hazardous
New York classes housing violations as non-hazardous, hazardous or immediately hazardous, with correspondingly short deadlines for correction. Of the roach and mouse violations issued in 2025, 58,755 were in the immediately hazardous class and 3,792 in the hazardous class. Four were non-hazardous.
The violation text is specific, typically ordering the owner to abate the infestation consisting of roaches in the entire apartment, with the unit and location identified. It is an obligation on the landlord, not a suggestion, and 15,887 separate buildings received at least one roach or mouse violation in 2025.
The Bronx, and what it says about self-reporting
In 2025 the Bronx received 14,880 roach violations and 11,324 mouse violations, more than Brooklyn on both counts despite having roughly half Brooklyn’s population. Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island follow well behind.
Set that beside New York’s bed bug filings, where landlords report on their own buildings every year. In those filings the Bronx reports 2.27 infested units per 1,000, one of the lowest rates in the city, below Brooklyn and Queens. We analysed those filings separately in what New York’s bed bug filings show.
Bed bugs and roaches are different pests, so the two datasets need not agree. But the direction of the difference is worth stating plainly. The borough with the most infestations confirmed by an inspector is not the borough with the most infestations reported by landlords. Self-reported data is only as good as the incentive to report, and a public filing about your own building carries an obvious incentive to understate.
Rat violations rose almost sixfold
Rat violations in housing rose from 604 in 2019 to 3,532 in 2025, the only pest in this data still rising in the most recent year. That is a striking change, and we would not over-read it. A rise of that size over a short period can reflect enforcement priorities, inspector training or changes in how violations are recorded, and New York’s rat mitigation work has changed considerably over the same period. What the data establishes is that inspectors are now citing rats in housing far more often than they were.
For the complaint side of the rodent picture, including the July peak and the trend since 2021, see the rodent complaint data.
What this means for tenants and landlords
- A roach or mouse violation is usually a short-deadline order. The immediately hazardous class carries the tightest correction window, and it covers almost all of these.
- Treating one unit rarely closes it. Roaches and mice move between apartments through shared walls, pipe chases and gaps around penetrations, which is why building-wide inspection and sealing matter more than a single-unit spray. The evidence on what actually kills roaches is in bait versus spray.
- Tenants can look up their building. Violations are public, and a history of repeat roach or mouse citations is a reasonable thing to check before signing a lease.
- Responsibility is set out in local law, and the general position is covered in landlord and tenant pest control responsibilities. For multi-unit buildings specifically, see apartment and condo pest control.
How we did this
We queried New York City’s housing maintenance code violations dataset for violations whose description names roaches, mice, rats or bed bugs, grouped by the year of inspection, by borough, and by violation class. Building counts use the unique building identifier.
A violation is issued per condition per unit, so a building can receive several. Counts reflect inspections, which are largely complaint-driven, so they track tenant reporting and inspector capacity as well as pest pressure. We have not converted counts to rates per unit, because the dataset does not include the number of units inspected. Comparisons between boroughs should be read with population and housing stock in mind.
Frequently asked questions
How many roach violations does New York issue?
Housing inspectors issued 35,278 roach violations in 2025, down from a peak of 42,230 in 2024. Mouse violations were 27,273 in 2025 against 32,994 in 2024. Roach violations have outnumbered mouse violations in every year since 2019.
Which New York borough has the most roaches?
By inspector violations, the Bronx, with 14,880 roach violations and 11,324 mouse violations in 2025, more than Brooklyn on both counts despite a much smaller population. These are counts of confirmed infestations from complaint-driven inspections, not a prevalence survey.
Are roaches in an apartment considered hazardous in New York?
Almost always. Of the roach and mouse violations issued in 2025, 94 per cent were in the immediately hazardous class, which carries the shortest deadline for the landlord to correct.
Is the landlord responsible for roaches in New York?
A confirmed infestation results in a violation ordering the owner to abate it, typically worded as an order to abate the infestation in the entire apartment. The general legal position and the exceptions are covered in our landlord and tenant responsibilities guide.
Why do rat violations keep rising when roach violations fell?
Rat violations rose from 604 in 2019 to 3,532 in 2025 while roach and mouse violations fell back in 2025. Part of that may reflect enforcement priorities or recording changes rather than more rats, so it should be read as more rat citations, not necessarily more rats.
Why does the Bronx rank low for bed bugs but high for roaches?
Partly because they are different pests, and partly because the data comes from different sources. Bed bug figures are landlord self-reports; roach figures are inspector-confirmed violations. The borough with the most confirmed roach and mouse infestations is not the one landlords report most bed bugs in, which is a reason to treat self-reported data with care.
Can I look up violations for my building?
Yes. New York publishes housing maintenance code violations by building, and a history of repeated roach or mouse violations is worth checking before signing a lease.
Sources
- NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Housing Maintenance Code Violations, NYC Open Data. data.cityofnewyork.us
- NYC HPD, Bedbug Reporting dataset, NYC Open Data. data.cityofnewyork.us
- Analysis by The Pest Control Brief, September 2026.
