Chicago's Dirtiest Neighborhoods: Roaches, Rodents & the Cleanest Kitchens

The city pays people to walk into restaurants and look under things. Under prep tables. Behind the walk-in where nobody has mopped since 2019. Inside the ceiling tile that doesn't sit flush.

Three years. 54,000+ inspections. A portrait of what is actually happening in Chicago's kitchens.

Where Roaches Roam

Chinatown: 96 cockroach citations. Highest in the city. Also one of the densest restaurant corridors — more kitchens per block, more inspections, more chances for a German cockroach behind a steam table to make the report.

Rogers Park second at 57. Albany Park at 45. Dense commercial corridors, high turnover, old buildings with shared walls. Median neighborhood gets about 15. Chinatown has six times that.

German cockroaches are the predominant species in urban food service environments. Infestations correlate more strongly with building infrastructure than with sanitation practices alone.

Rodent Reality

Different map entirely. Englewood leads with 216 citations. Garfield Park at 147. Austin at 137.

These are counts in inspection records, not a direct measure of neighborhood-wide rodent prevalence; they reflect inspections conducted and findings recorded in the public data. A droppings citation describes pest evidence documented during an inspection.

The Cleanest Kitchens

Hyde Park: 72.2% pass rate. Three out of four inspections end clean. City average is about 55%.

Andersonville at 71.8%. Beverly at 70.6%. Not the trendiest neighborhoods. Neighborhoods with good building stock and operators who've been there a while.

Every restaurant is searchable on Chispections. Full rankings on the leaderboards page.