Nearly Half of Inspected NYC Restaurants Had a Pest Violation
Of 26,983 New York food establishments inspected since January 2024, 12,608 picked up at least one pest-related violation. That is 46.7 per cent, close to half. The most cited pest violation is not an animal at all: 19,446 citations were for harborage or conditions conducive to pests, more than any single species code, and nearly double the 10,684 for mice. The regulator is mostly writing up the conditions, not the infestation.
Restaurant inspection results are public in New York and the violation codes distinguish between pest types, which makes them one of the few places where commercial pest pressure can be measured rather than estimated. We analysed inspections from the start of 2024.
What inspectors actually cite
| Code | What it covers | Violations |
|---|---|---|
| 08A | Establishment not free of harborage or conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests | 19,446 |
| 04L | Evidence of mice or live mice in food or non-food areas | 10,684 |
| 04N | Filth flies or refuse and sewage-associated flies, or other nuisance pests | 8,512 |
| 04M | Live roaches in food or non-food areas | 3,959 |
| 04K | Evidence of rats or live rats in food or non-food areas | 2,234 |
Two things stand out. Mice are cited nearly five times as often as rats, which will surprise anyone whose mental image of a New York pest problem is a rat. And the conditions code outnumbers every species code, which tells you what inspectors are trained to look for: not the animal, but the gap under the door, the standing water, the food waste and the clutter that make an establishment habitable.
Why harborage is the most-cited violation
A pest has to be seen, or leave evidence, to be cited under a species code. Conducive conditions are always visible, always attributable, and they are the thing an operator can actually fix. They are also the leading indicator: a kitchen with harborage conditions today is a kitchen with droppings in six months.
For the trade, that is the commercially useful reading of this dataset. The recurring citation is not solved by more frequent spraying. It is solved by exclusion, drainage, waste handling and housekeeping, which is why commercial contracts that consist only of a monthly spray tend to leave the client failing the same inspection line year after year.
Nearly half of establishments, and what that means
46.7 per cent of inspected establishments picked up at least one pest violation over the period. That figure needs care in both directions.
- It covers about two and a half years of inspections, and most establishments are inspected more than once, so this is the share with a violation on any visit rather than on a given visit.
- A pest violation is not a closure. Most are corrected and scored; only a small minority of inspections result in closure, and those usually involve multiple critical violations.
- Nor is it evidence that half of restaurants have infestations. A single mouse dropping behind a cooler and a live roach population in a prep area are both violations, and the code does not distinguish severity.
What it does establish is that pest findings are routine rather than exceptional in commercial food service, in a city with an active inspection regime. Operators who treat a pest citation as a scandal are mispricing a normal operating risk; operators who treat it as unavoidable are ignoring the fact that more than half of establishments got through without one.
What this changes for a food business
- Buy inspection-readiness, not just treatment. If your contract does not include documented exclusion work and a conducive-conditions walkthrough, it is not aimed at the thing most likely to be cited.
- Fix the building, not the population. Door sweeps, sealed penetrations, drain maintenance and waste storage move the needle on 08A, which is the most likely citation by a wide margin.
- Expect mice before rats. The citation ratio is roughly five to one, and the exclusion tolerances are different: a mouse needs a far smaller gap than a rat.
- Keep the service record. Documentation of ongoing professional service is part of how an establishment demonstrates control, and it matters when a violation is contested.
The commercial service model and what it costs are covered in restaurant pest control and commercial pest control costs. For operators bidding this work, winning commercial contracts covers what buyers actually evaluate. Identifying what you are dealing with is in cockroach identification and droppings identification.
How we did this
We queried New York City’s restaurant inspection results dataset for inspections dated from 1 January 2024 onward, counting violations under the five pest-related codes and counting distinct establishments with at least one such violation. Establishment counts use the unique identifier the city assigns to each business.
Three caveats. Violations are counted per citation, so an establishment cited on several visits contributes several violations. The dataset records inspections rather than a random sample, and inspection frequency is risk-weighted, so establishments with past problems are inspected more often. And these are New York figures under New York’s code; other cities score differently, so the ratios travel better than the absolute rates.
Frequently asked questions
How many restaurants have pest violations?
In New York, 12,608 of 26,983 establishments inspected since January 2024 received at least one pest-related violation, which is 46.7 per cent. That covers any violation on any inspection in the period, not the share failing on a given visit.
What is the most common pest violation in restaurants?
Harborage and conducive conditions, cited 19,446 times. It outnumbers every individual species code, because inspectors cite the conditions that support pests whether or not an animal is present.
Are mice or rats more common in restaurant inspections?
Mice, by a wide margin. Evidence of mice was cited 10,684 times against 2,234 citations for rats, a ratio of nearly five to one.
Does a pest violation close a restaurant?
Usually not. Most violations are scored and corrected. Closures generally follow multiple critical violations rather than a single pest citation, though a severe active infestation can trigger one.
What does a harborage violation actually mean?
That the establishment is not free of conditions conducive to rodents, insects or other pests: gaps that allow entry, clutter and voids that provide shelter, standing water, and food or refuse handling that provides a food source. It is the citation an operator has the most direct control over.
How can a restaurant avoid pest citations?
Target the conditions rather than the population: door sweeps and sealed penetrations, drain and grease management, waste storage away from the building, and removing clutter from storage areas. A treatment-only contract does not address the most commonly cited violation.
Do these numbers mean New York restaurants are dirty?
No. They reflect a large, dense, heavily inspected food sector where pest pressure is constant and inspection is frequent and risk-weighted. More than half of inspected establishments recorded no pest violation at all.
Sources
- NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Restaurant Inspection Results, NYC Open Data. data.cityofnewyork.us
- Analysis by The Pest Control Brief, September 2026, covering inspections from January 2024.
