Rats in New York City are widespread, as they are in many densely populated areas. For a long time, the number of rats in New York City was unknown, and a common urban legend declared there were up to five times as many rats as people. In 2014, however, scientists more accurately measured the entire city's rat population to be approximately only 24% of the number of humans. That would equate to approximately 2 million rats to New York's 8.4 million people at the time of the study.