NYC restaurant pest codes (04K–04N) and rat inspections by ZIP
From Oct 5 to Nov 1, 2026, our New York City list holds 751 restaurants NYC Health cited for rats, mice, roaches or flies, and 2,077 privately owned commercial or 4+-unit apartment buildings that failed a rat inspection for rat activity.
Every Monday you get the newest complete week for the area around your shop, each line linked to the city's record.
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$149/month per territory. 14-day free trial, no card.| Code | What it covers | Restaurants |
|---|---|---|
| 04K | Rats or signs of rats | 63 |
| 04L | Mice or signs of mice | 321 |
| 04M | Live roaches | 157 |
| 04N | Filth flies or other nuisance pests | 422 |
A restaurant can get more than one code at one inspection.
These are counts of our list, not of NYC Health's whole file. The list leaves out records with no location we can map (12 restaurants and 35 places with a failed rat inspection), and NYC Health's file changes daily. Records post late, so the newest week we count ended at least a week before the data date.
Source: New York City, five boroughs, counted by the pestcite engine from city records, Oct 5 – Nov 1, 2026; data as of Nov 8, 2026. Records: DOHMH New York City Restaurant Inspection Results, Rodent Inspection, Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output. How we count
What do NYC restaurant codes 04K, 04L, 04M and 04N mean?
They are NYC Health's restaurant pest codes. 04K: rats or signs of rats, 63 restaurants. 04L: mice or signs of mice, 321 restaurants. 04M: live roaches, 157 restaurants. 04N: filth flies or other nuisance pests, 422 restaurants. A restaurant can get more than one code at one inspection.
Is an NYC restaurant pest citation final?
No. NYC Health's file holds citations that are upheld or not yet decided. Some are dismissed later and drop out of the file, and so do restaurants that close. NYC restaurant inspections also have no pass or fail.
So each line shows what the inspector wrote that day: the date, the codes, any DOHMH action, the restaurant's phone and a link to the city's row.
What does a failed NYC rat inspection mean?
NYC Health inspects a building for rats after a complaint, or when it checks every property in an area: that is an initial inspection. If the building fails, the city comes back for a compliance inspection. A building fails for rat activity when the inspector finds signs like fresh droppings, burrows, runways or live rats. A fail is not proof of rats today: the owner may have fixed it since.
Our list has 2,170 buildings that failed for rat activity in those 4 weeks: the 2,077 privately owned commercial or 4+-unit apartment buildings above, and 93 churches, schools, hospitals or similar. For 1,487 of them we show the owner of record, a company named in the city's property records (NYC PLUTO 26v2). For the rest we print only the address: we never print a person's name, and we name a company only when the record plainly shows one. We leave out houses and buildings with fewer than 4 apartments.
What a line looks like
Two records from Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2026, near ZIP 10027 in Harlem.
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MELBA'S
NYC Health cited this restaurant on Oct 30, 2026 under code 04K (rats) and code 04L (mice) (Cycle Inspection / Re-inspection).
NYC Health records: 04K · 04L NYC Health page
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2239 3 AVENUE
Failed a rat inspection for rat activity on Oct 30, 2026 (compliance inspection).
Inspector's notes: Burrows, Harborage
Calling about a line without sounding like an ambulance chaser
- Read the record first. Check the date, the codes and any later inspection. A citation is not final, and a restaurant DOHMH closed may have re-opened since.
- Start with building owners. A rat-inspection line names the owner of record when it is a company. That call is about their building, not about someone's kitchen.
- Lead with the visit, not the citation. After a failed rat inspection the city comes back for a compliance inspection: offer to look before it does. If they ask how you knew, the record is public. Send the link.
What you can and can't say about a record: Is it legal?
Why do some NYC ZIPs have far more rat inspections?
NYC Health inspects more often in its Rat Mitigation Zones: Harlem, East Village and Chinatown, Bed-Stuy and Bushwick, and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. A building with no record was not inspected, which is not the same as no rats.
Source: NYC Health, Rat Mitigation Zones.
Neighborhoods with higher numbers [of] properties with active rat signs may not actually have higher rat populations but simply have more inspections.
See the gap yourself: 10027 (Harlem) inside a zone, then 10301 (Staten Island) outside them.
Price, and what arrives
- Every Monday, an email with the top 20 records for your territory, ranked. The web list and the CSV have every record. Each line links to the city's record.
- One territory is a circle around your shop (1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 miles) or a set of ZIP codes. Two shops can share one territory when one set of ZIPs covers both; two circles are two territories.
- $149/month per territory. Founding firms pay $79/month for 12 months. 14-day free trial, no card.
For scale, $149/month is the cost of 2 to 3.7 commercial pest leads from Google Local Services Ads, which run $40–75 per lead (Blue Grid Media, Mar 21, 2026, fetched Nov 7, 2026). More on what pest control leads cost.