Rodents part of reason why droves of New Yorkers fleeing

New York is still losing some of its population, according to a US Census report this week, and there could be another reason why.

In addition to the high cost of living, fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and remote working, there are those subway platform scurrying, garbage bag ripping rats.

"Some people who have children and families decide they want to go to a place where their children can play outdoors, larger green spaces, you want to see animals — you don't see animals except for rats in New York," Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday when asked about the drop in population.

"So there's a combination of things. And we are getting rid of those rats, by the way."

In April, the mayor, who has frequently expressed his disdain for rats, named Kathleen Corradi the city's first "rat czar".

As many as 3 million rats dwell in New York City, an increase of nearly 1 million over the last decade, according to a recent estimate by a pest control company in Queens.

Rodents that have gorged on food waste left by COVID-era outdoor diners and recent cuts to the city's Sanitation Department budget created the "perfect storm", Julie Menin, a city council member representing Manhattan's Upper East Side, told The Guardian in November.

"We were literally hearing from parents about rats running across their children's feet as they're walking them to school," she said.

Apart from rats, some see other quality of life reasons for people moving out.

"There's a combination of why people are leaving the city," Adams said. "The cities have become unaffordable and, you know, people who left the city during the pandemic for a short period of time and some decided that they no longer want to come back into cities."

'Getting sick of it'

"People are getting sick of it. The lawlessness, the protests in transit hubs. Young families no longer see this as a place to raise their children," retired NYPD Lieutenant John Macari, who was born in Brooklyn but relocated to Florida last year, told the New York Post. "Criminals and migrants are being put ahead of everyday New Yorkers. As long as that continues, more people are going to flee."

New York City has experienced an influx of more than 150,100 migrants from the US southern border since spring last year, The New York Times reported.

"We give them a job, they become workers, they become part of our economy, like other immigrant groups have become part of our economy," Adams said.

According to the Census Bureau report released on Tuesday, nearly 102,000 people left the city from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, the highest number of any state. The state's population totaled 19,571,216 as of July.

Neighboring New Jersey saw an increase of 30,024 residents last year.

New York state could lose up to three seats in the US Congress by 2030 if the population decline continues, according to a report this week by the American Redistricting Project.

New York was one of eight US states to lose residents. Others included California, Illinois, Louisiana and West Virginia.

California, the nation's most populous state with 38,965,193 people, saw its population drop by around 75,000, a smaller number than in 2022.

Texas experienced the largest population increase in the nation, adding 473,453 people, and now has a population of 30,503,301. Next was Florida, which added 365,205 residents for a total of 22,610,726.

The US Southeastern state of South Carolina had the highest growth at 1.7 percent.