I live in Chicago. Yes, there are probably more rats than people here. But at least they mostly stay in the sewers and only come out at night. The city constantly puts out bait but it’s a losing battle.
Lots of cats in the city, of course, but almost everyone keeps them as “indoor cats”, so they don’t help. We do have some hawks that have moved back in over the last 20 years or so, but they seem to prefer the squirrels and pigeons. Maybe we need owls to hunt the rats at night.
IIRC, coyotes are following the train tunnels into NYC to feast on the rats.
Hadn’t thought about the city raptors moving out. We have eagles and falcons living on buildings. Nothing quite like walking out on a roof to find an eagle eating a rabbit