They need people to thrive and are rarely common in wild places. If you find a baseball-size hole under Rover's doghouse, suspect the Norway rat. It's brown with a tail slightly less than half the length of its body. Norway rats can and do come inside and cause all kinds of harm. My favorite rat is our native wood rat, also known as the pack rat.
Wood rats have big eyes and ears and make large, unkempt nests.
They may invade abandoned buildings but are mainly outdoor rats. Rice rats like wet meadows. It's unlikely they will visit your garden. If they do, they certainly won't come into your house. Of the native wild mice, the primary opportunists are the deer mouse and white-footed mouse.