Rodent Control Cost Calculator
Rodent Control costs $230 to $350 for a typical 1,800 sq ft job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $280. Labor runs 1 crew hours at $28.90 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.
What makes up the price
Cost by size
National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.
| Home size | Sq ft treated | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | 1,000 | $215 | $175 to $265 |
| 1,400 sq ft | 1,400 | $250 | $205 to $310 |
| 1,800 sq ft | 1,800 | $280 | $230 to $350 |
| 2,400 sq ft | 2,400 | $335 | $275 to $415 |
| 3,100 sq ft | 3,100 | $395 | $320 to $490 |
The treatment is not the fix. The hole is the problem
Here is the arithmetic that matters more than the price above.
A treatment kills the rodents currently inside your house. It does nothing at all about the gap they came through, so the following fall, when the first cold night arrives, more come in through the same gap. That is why so many households end up on a rodent plan indefinitely: they are paying to remove the animals rather than to close the building.
The permanent fix is exclusion — physically sealing every opening a rodent can use. And it is priced separately:
| One-time treatment, this page | around $280 |
| Targeted sealing of the entry points found | $200 to $600 |
| Full-home exclusion | $500 to $3,000, averaging about $1,200 |
The figure above covers the visit, the inspection, bait stations, traps, and sealing what can be sealed on the day. It does not cover a full exclusion. If a company quotes you a treatment and does not mention exclusion, ask what their exclusion work costs and what it covers — and if the answer is that they do not do it, you have the wrong company for this problem.
Exclusion is also the thing worth paying for. A $1,200 exclusion done properly ends the problem; $280 a year forever does not, and crosses $1,200 in under five.
A quarter of an inch
That is all a house mouse needs. A rat needs about half an inch. Both can compress through gaps far smaller than they look capable of, and both can climb brick, siding and a downspout to reach the roof.
Where they actually get in, roughly in order of how often:
- Utility penetrations — where the water line, gas line, electrical conduit, cable and AC refrigerant lines pass through the wall. Almost never sealed properly, and usually at ground level.
- The garage door corners. The bottom seal is straight and the door frame is square, so the two bottom corners leave a triangular gap. Rodent-proof corner seals exist and cost very little.
- Weep holes in brick veneer, which have to stay open for drainage, so they get stainless mesh rather than sealant.
- Dryer and bathroom vents with broken or missing dampers, and the gaps around their ducts.
- Soffit and fascia gaps, especially at the corners and where a roofline changes pitch. This is the main rat route.
- The foundation sill plate, where the wood frame meets the concrete, if the gap was never sealed.
- Crawlspace vents and doors with rusted or torn screening.
- The garage-to-house door, under it.
An inspection worth paying for walks all of these and gives you a written list with photographs. If the "inspection" is five minutes and a recommendation to buy a plan, that is a sales call.
Foam alone does not work
The single most common DIY mistake. Expanding foam is easy to use, seals beautifully, and a mouse chews through it in a night. Same for silicone alone, steel wool that is not packed tight, and duct tape.
What actually holds:
- Copper mesh or stainless wool packed tight into the gap, then foam or sealant over it. The metal is what stops the chewing; the sealant is what stops the draft and holds the metal in place. Copper does not rust, which is why it beats ordinary steel wool in anything that gets damp.
- Hardware cloth — 19 gauge, quarter-inch mesh — cut and fastened over larger openings, vents and crawlspace openings.
- Sheet metal or a metal kick plate on a chewed door bottom or a wooden sill.
- Mortar or cement where the opening is in masonry.
The test is simple: if you could get a thumbnail into it and tear it, so can they.
Where the poison goes, and where it must not
If you take one practical thing from this page beyond the exclusion point, take this: do not put bait inside wall voids, attics or crawlspaces where you cannot retrieve what dies.
A rodent that takes an anticoagulant bait dies some days later, wherever it happens to be. In an accessible space you find it and remove it. In a wall void you get three to six weeks of smell that nothing will fix, followed by blowflies and carpet beetles feeding on the carcass, which is a second pest problem caused by the first treatment.
The professional arrangement is:
- Bait stations outside, tamper-resistant and anchored, around the perimeter and at the fence line. This reduces the population pressing on the building.
- Snap traps or multi-catch traps inside, in accessible places, checked and cleared. Nothing dies where you cannot reach it.
A company that proposes throwing bait blocks into your attic is doing the fast version, not the right one.
Secondary poisoning is real
Anticoagulant rodenticides move up the food chain. A poisoned mouse is slow and easy to catch, so it gets eaten — by owls, hawks, foxes, and by cats and dogs. The second-generation compounds in particular persist in the liver and accumulate, and they are restricted for consumer sale in some states for exactly this reason.
If you have pets, or you value the raptors that are doing rodent control for you free of charge, this is a reason to lean on trapping and exclusion rather than bait. Say so when you book — a decent company will work that way on request, and will have a trapping-led program.
Also worth knowing: there is no bait that is safe for a dog that eats a poisoned rodent. "Pet-safe station" means the dog cannot reach the bait, which is a different claim.
Mice or rats?
Worth knowing before you call, because they are different jobs and different prices:
| Mice | Rats | |
|---|---|---|
| Droppings | 1/8 to 1/4 inch, pointed, scattered | 1/2 to 3/4 inch, blunt, in runs |
| Gap needed | 1/4 inch | 1/2 inch |
| Where | Kitchen, pantry, wall voids, anywhere | Attic, crawlspace, sewer line, exterior burrows |
| Sounds | Light scurrying, mostly at night | Heavier, thumping, gnawing you can hear through drywall |
| Treatment | $150 to $500, averaging around $250 | $300 to $600, often more |
Rats are also the reason to look at the roofline rather than the foundation. Roof rats climb, and a rat problem in a two-story house is usually entering above head height.
The two costs that dwarf the treatment
- Contaminated attic insulation. Rodent urine and droppings soak into blown insulation, and once a population has lived there a season the material has to come out and be replaced. That runs $1,500 to $4,000 and up depending on the area, and it is not part of any pest quote. It is also the reason to deal with an attic rodent problem in the first year rather than the third.
- Chewed wiring. Rodents gnaw insulation off cable, and the fire risk is the reason this is not a cosmetic issue. If a treatment finds evidence of chewing in the attic, an electrician looking at it is money well spent.
Cleaning up safely
Rodent droppings and urine can carry hantavirus, leptospirosis and salmonella. The practical rules:
- Do not vacuum or sweep dry droppings. That aerosolizes everything in them. Dampen first with a disinfectant or a bleach solution, wait ten minutes, then wipe up with paper towels.
- Gloves and an N95 at minimum, and ventilate the space first for half an hour.
- Double-bag it and put it straight outside.
- Wash hard surfaces with disinfectant afterwards, and launder any soft goods on hot.
Timing
They come in with the first real cold snap, which means the work to do is in late summer and early fall — seal the building before the pressure arrives rather than after. A spring treatment with no exclusion is the version of this job most likely to be repeated in October.
Questions worth asking
- Does the inspection come with a written list of entry points and photographs?
- What does your exclusion work cost, and what does it cover? Get this separately from the treatment price.
- Is any bait going into a wall void, attic or crawlspace? The answer should be no.
- Can you run this trapping-led rather than bait-led, for the pets?
- Is there a follow-up visit, and is it in the price? A heavy infestation needs one inside two weeks.
- What is in the attic — any insulation contamination, any chewed wiring?
- What is the guarantee, and does it require a plan to stay valid?
- Who removes the carcasses, and what happens if one dies somewhere inaccessible?
Common questions
How much does rodent control cost?
A one-time treatment on a 1,800 sq ft house runs $230 to $350, with a typical visit near $280. A light preventive visit is about $255 and a heavy infestation needing a follow-up around $410. Mouse work sits at the lower end of that — $150 to $500 nationally, averaging about $250 — and rat work at the higher, $300 to $600 and sometimes more. On a quarterly plan the same visit is about $210 and monthly about $105, but the figure to understand is the next one down this page: exclusion.
What does rodent exclusion cost?
Targeted sealing of the entry points found on an inspection runs $200 to $600. Full-home exclusion — screening every vent, soffit gap, weep hole and utility penetration on the building — runs $500 to $3,000, averaging around $1,200. It is a separate job from the treatment and it is the only part of rodent control that is permanent. A $1,200 exclusion done properly ends the problem; $280 a year forever does not, and crosses $1,200 inside four years.
Why do mice keep coming back after treatment?
Because a treatment kills the rodents inside the house and does nothing about the gap they came through. The following fall, on the first cold night, more arrive by the same route. This is the whole reason households end up on rodent plans indefinitely — they are paying to remove animals rather than to close the building. The fix is exclusion: physically sealing the openings, which is quoted separately from any treatment.
How small a gap can a mouse get through?
A quarter of an inch. A rat needs about half an inch. Both compress through gaps far smaller than they look capable of, and both climb brick, siding and downspouts to reach a roofline. The most common entry points are utility penetrations where water, gas, electrical and AC lines pass through the wall; the two bottom corners of a garage door, where a straight seal meets a square frame; brick weep holes; vents with broken dampers; and soffit gaps at the corners.
Does expanding foam keep mice out?
No. Foam seals beautifully and a mouse chews through it in a night. The same goes for silicone alone, loosely packed steel wool, and tape. What holds is copper mesh or stainless wool packed tight into the gap with foam or sealant over it — the metal stops the chewing and the sealant holds it in place and stops the draft. For larger openings and vents, use 19 gauge quarter-inch hardware cloth. The test is simple: if you could get a thumbnail in and tear it, so can they.
Should rodent bait go in the attic or walls?
No, and this is the most useful practical rule on the subject. A rodent that takes an anticoagulant dies some days later wherever it happens to be, so bait in a wall void or attic means three to six weeks of smell that nothing will fix, followed by blowflies and carpet beetles feeding on the carcass. The professional arrangement is tamper-resistant bait stations outside around the perimeter, and snap or multi-catch traps inside in accessible places, so nothing dies where you cannot reach it.
Is rodent poison dangerous to pets and wildlife?
Yes. Anticoagulant rodenticides move up the food chain — a poisoned rodent is slow and easy to catch, so it gets eaten by owls, hawks, foxes, cats and dogs, and the second-generation compounds accumulate in the liver. Some states restrict those for consumer sale for exactly that reason. If you have pets, ask for a trapping-led program rather than a bait-led one; a decent company will work that way on request. Note that "pet-safe station" means the dog cannot reach the bait, not that a poisoned rodent is safe to eat.
How can I tell if I have mice or rats?
Droppings are the clearest sign. Mouse droppings are an eighth to a quarter inch, pointed, and scattered widely; rat droppings are a half to three quarters of an inch, blunt, and left along runs. Mice are heard as light scurrying, mostly at night, and turn up anywhere including the kitchen and pantry. Rats are heavier — thumping and gnawing you can hear through drywall — and favor attics, crawlspaces and exterior burrows. Rats also climb, so a rat problem in a two-story house is usually entering above head height.
Does rodent damage to attic insulation need replacing?
Once a population has lived in it for a season, usually yes. Urine and droppings soak into blown insulation and cannot be cleaned out of it, so the material has to be removed and replaced — $1,500 to $4,000 and up depending on the area, and not part of any pest control quote. This is the main reason to deal with an attic rodent problem in its first year rather than its third. Chewed wiring is the other find worth acting on, because the insulation gnawed off cable is a fire risk.
How do I clean up mouse droppings safely?
Do not vacuum or sweep them dry — that aerosolizes everything in them, and droppings can carry hantavirus, leptospirosis and salmonella. Ventilate the space for half an hour first, wear gloves and an N95, then dampen the droppings with a disinfectant or bleach solution, wait ten minutes, and wipe up with paper towels. Double-bag the waste and put it straight outside, wash hard surfaces with disinfectant afterwards, and launder any soft goods on hot.
When is the best time to deal with rodents?
Late summer and early fall, before the first real cold snap pushes them indoors. Sealing the building ahead of the pressure is far more effective than treating after they are in, and a spring treatment with no exclusion is the version of this job most likely to be repeated in October. If you already have them, the order is the same: inspect, trap what is inside, and seal — rather than bait and hope.
Is a one-time rodent treatment or a plan better value?
Neither, if exclusion has not been done — both are recurring costs against a building that is still open. Once the entry points are sealed, a one-time treatment to clear what is inside is usually all that is needed, and that is the cheaper path overall. A plan makes sense where exclusion is genuinely impractical, which does happen with old stone foundations, attached row housing and properties next to a persistent outside source. Ask what the plan guarantees, and whether it stays valid if you decline it after the exclusion.
Where these numbers come from
Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.
- Exterminating and pest control services, United States: $28.90/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES6056171003)
- Bait stations, traps and exclusion materials: $55.00 per 1,000 sq ft treated (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)