NYC’s most rat-infested subway stops both in one neighborhood — but some riders not surprised: ‘You’ll see one’

Harlem has more vermin scurrying through its subway stations than any other neighborhood in the five boroughs, new data shows.

Two subway stations in the neighborhood claimed the top two spots for rat sightings on a popular app over the last 30 days.

The 116th Street Station, which services the 2 and 3 lines, was dubbed the rattiest of all Big Apple transit hubs for the month of January, according to the app Transit.

The navigation app relies on self-reported data — making for the only existing information trove of underground rat sightings.

Rats are reported on 42% of subway trips, according to the data.

Last month, 100% of tipsters reported they had spotted between one and two rodents as they waited at the 116th Street platform.

None of the submissions reported seeing zero rats last month.

“That’s not surprising. We’ve always had them,” said Freddy Bordes, who has used the subway station just about five days a week for the last 10 years.

“There’s trash everywhere. People are always jumping [the turnstyles]. It’s neglected,” he said, pointing to a plastic bag packed with rotting fruit that was left on the bench.

For Bordes, said he’s only shocked that there aren’t even more reported rat sightings — the Harlem resident estimates he sees as many as five rats when he heads underground.

Melissa Kerman, 27, agreed, saying she sees at least one rat each time she visits the station.

“If you look long enough, you’ll see one,” Melissa Kerman, 27, told The Post just moments before one of the critters scurried across the tracks.

Kerman, who works for Democracy Prep near the station, was surprised that 116th Street Station took home the top spot — the 125th Street hub, which services the 4, 5 and 6 lines, is “much worse” she claimed.

That spot, located less than a mile away, took named the second rattiest Big Apple subway station.

Although it had fewer user reports than 116th Street, tipsters see more rats on average — while 54% of people reported seeing one or two rats, 29% saw “so many.” Just 17% reported rat-free visits to the station.

The high presence of rats at both Harlem stations is an indictment of how little the city cares for the neighborhood, according to Tandy Wilson.

“Sanitation doesn’t take care of Harlem at all,” said Wilson, 35, adding that she spots three rats on average at the stations.

Wilson, who was “born and raised” in Harlem claimed the conditions have only deteriorated over the decades — even in spite of city-led initiatives to clean up the long-neglected neighborhood.

Harlem is one of just four to have designated “Rat Mitigation Zones,” an effort that was launched nearly two years ago to annihilate the vermin.

The neighborhood was given dozens of staff members tasked with exterminating, and a trove of equipment to decrease rat populations, like traps, fumigation machines and “Rat Slabs,” which harden the earth to prevent burrowing.

None of the mitigation efforts extend to the subways, however. The transit systems are not part of the city domain, officials emphasized.

The city only tracks rat sightings above ground, and like Transit, relies on self-reported data. Just about 1,000 311 calls were made in January for vermin reports — most of which came out of Brooklyn. For individual neighborhoods, however, Harlem came out on top for most sightings.

The MTA, which oversees the subways, did not immediately respond to The Post’s question about its own rat mitigation efforts.

City officials have repeatedly claimed that rat populations have plummeted across the five boroughs in the last year.

Last week, the city Department of Sanitation told The Post rat sightings for December fell 23% compared to the year before, and another 25% in January.