Every deadline, width and penalty here was read on September 23, 2026, off the city's own page or the municipal code that city hosts, and each one is quoted and linked beside the line it supports. Cities amend these ordinances between winters and several publish the deadline on a seasonal page that changes in autumn, so the link beside a line is what governs on the day.

Alaska Sidewalk Snow Removal: 24 Hours

Q: Does snow have to be cleared from the sidewalk or the street in Alaska?

The rules collected here are sidewalk rules, and the great majority of Alaska cities publish a second one about where the snow may go once it has been moved, most often forbidding it on the travelled part of the road. Both come off the same city pages linked below, and the Alaska cities that publish only the second are listed as such rather than folded in with the rest.

Q: Which cities in the country give you the least time?

St. Louis, Santa Fe, Sheridan, where the ordinance allows no hours at all. Above them, 57 of the 150 cities that count in hours give twelve hours or less, 74 give exactly a day, and 18 give more than a day. The widest gap inside a single state is Maine, from four hours to three days.

Nothing

What state law sets

37 states are in the same position

24h

What its cities allow

in the one city that counts in hours

2 of 3

Cities with an ordinance

1 clear it themselves and bill

September 23, 2026

Read

municipal code and city pages

The short answer

Seward gives a day, and Alaska sets nothing above it

Alaska has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and one Alaska city counts in hours. Nationally the deadlines run from no hours at all to three days across 150 cities, and no state legislature anywhere has put a number on it.

The city named on each line below is the one that publishes the rule and the one that answers questions about it. 53 cities nationally also publish a page for reporting a walk that has not been cleared.

Nothing at state level2 of 3 cities with an ordinance1 counting in hours1 clear it themselves

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 2 Alaska cities that publish an ordinance

One Alaska city publishes a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. A day is the commonest figure in Alaska as it is nationally: 74 of the 150 cities that count in hours land on exactly that.

Each card below carries what that city published and nothing else: the deadline in its own sentence, the sentence it was read from, and the width, the penalty and the wording about ice where the city printed them. The chip is a band derived from the wording for sorting, not a restatement of it.

Seward
13h to 24h
within 24 hours of the cessation of visible precipitation
Any person required under this section to remove snow and ice from any sidewalk shall effect such removal at his own cost within 24 hours of the cessation of visible precipitation and in event of failure to effect such removal within such period shall be deemed in violation of this section and the pertinent sidewalk shall be deemed in nonconforming condition with respect to the requirements of this section.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
No person having the care, either as owner, an agent of an owner, or occupant of any premises, bordered by a graded or paved sidewalk
What it says about ice
The approved methods to remove snow and ice from a sidewalk include hand shoveling with light shovels, pushers and brooms or the use of light tractors with blades, brooms or blowers configured so they cannot scrape, ship or otherwise damage the concrete or asphalt sidewalk surface. The snow may be placed in the street along the street curb in a manner so as not to block or impede traffic, provided that the street has not already been plowed and snow removed from the curb.
- Section 13.01.025. - Clearing sidewalks of snow and ice.
- Published by City of Seward, City Code Title 13 Streets and Public Improvements
13.01.025 Clearing sidewalks of snow and ice, Seward City Code, read September 23, 2026
Fairbanks
By the clock
must promptly remove any snow which falls on the sidewalk
A person having control of any premises bordered by a graded or paved sidewalk must promptly remove any snow which falls on the sidewalk and must remove or sand any ice which forms on the sidewalk, to the extent that the snow or ice is an impediment to pedestrians.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
A person having control of any premises bordered by a graded or paved sidewalk
What it says about ice
It is unlawful for any person to move snow or ice from private property or to hire, direct, or allow another person to move snow or ice from private property onto any sidewalk, street, avenue, or alley in the city to the extent that the snow or ice is an impediment to use of the sidewalk, street, avenue, or fire hydrant. It is not a violation of this subsection to move snow from a sidewalk into the adjacent street.
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 70-161. - Snow and ice; removal; standing; casting on public property.
- Published by City of Fairbanks, Code of Ordinances Chapter 70 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places
Sec. 70-161 Snow and ice; removal; standing; casting on public property, Fairbanks Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026

What Alaska itself did

Alaska has written nothing on this

Nothing in the Alaska statutes was found setting a sidewalk clearing deadline, which leaves the question to the cities below.

That is the national pattern rather than a Alaska quirk. 13 of the 50 legislatures have a statute that touches sidewalk snow at all, 10 of those do nothing but let a city decide, and not one of them sets a deadline. The clock is a municipal ordinance everywhere in the country.

Nothing at state level

No Alaska statute was found on this

has no sidewalk clearing statute at all

What happens if it is not done

Alaska cities that clear it and charge the property

One Alaska city publishes a rule letting the city clear the walk and put the cost on the property. That is the commoner enforcement route nationally: 102 of the 187 cities with an ordinance carry one, against 105 that publish a penalty.

Both routes are printed on the cards above in the sentence each was read from, because a penalty clause paraphrased is a different statement than the one the city made. Where a city publishes a page for reporting a walk that has not been cleared, that link is on its card too.

Where nothing was found

One Alaska city read publishes no clearing ordinance

Alaska's cities mostly say promptly rather than naming an hour: Seward is the one in this record that prints a number, twenty four hours from the cessation of visible precipitation, while Fairbanks says promptly and then gives an owner five working days after the public works director makes contact before the city removes the snow and charges for it, and Juneau says remove it with fines starting at twenty five dollars and no clock at all.

Where a city publishes no clearing ordinance, there is no municipal deadline to count against and no municipal penalty behind it, and what stands is the state's own position set out above. Each card below links to the chapter of the code it was read from. Nationally 80 of the 267 cities read are in the same position.

Soldotna
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of Soldotna, Municipal Code
Soldotna, Alaska Municipal Code, read September 23, 2026

How Alaska compares

The same question in the other forty nine

150 cities nationally count in hours, and the counts run from no hours at all to 72. 74 land on exactly a day, 57 give twelve hours or less, and 18 give more than a day. A further 22 set a time of day or a depth of snow rather than a count of hours at all.

The bar splits those 150 cities by how long they allow, and the table beneath it orders the states by how tight their tightest city is, which is a different ranking from how much snow a state gets.

3 of 150No hours allowed
23 of 150Six hours or less
31 of 150Within twelve hours
75 of 150Within a day
18 of 150More than a day

Fifty states and 267 cities, read September 23, 2026.
State	What the legislature did	What its cities do	With an ordinance	Tightest city
Missouri	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	ImmediatelySt. Louis
Wyoming	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 3	ImmediatelySheridan
New Mexico	A cross reference	Cities count in hours	1 of 4	ImmediatelySanta Fe
Michigan	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	2hMarquette
Maryland	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	3hAnnapolis
Massachusetts	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	3hBoston
Pennsylvania	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	3hErie
Virginia	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 7	3hRoanoke
Connecticut	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	4hDanbury
Ohio	A city may	Cities count in hours	8 of 8	4hAthens
New York	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	4hNew York City
Maine	A city may	Cities count in hours	4 of 8	4hWaterville
Vermont	A city may	Cities count in hours	1 of 6	4hWinooski
Rhode Island	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	5hNewport
Indiana	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	6hWest Lafayette
Nebraska	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	8hFremont
New Jersey	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	8hJersey City
Utah	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	8hPark City
Iowa	Owner duty, no clock	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	10hAmes
Kansas	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	12hSalina
Delaware	Nothing found	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	12hMilford
Washington	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 4	12hSeattle
California	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	1 of 2	12hSouth Lake Tahoe
North Dakota	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	24hBismarck
Wisconsin	The city clears it	Cities count in hours	7 of 7	24hGreen Bay
Colorado	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hAurora
Illinois	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hChampaign
Minnesota	A city may	Cities count in hours	6 of 6	24hDuluth
Montana	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	24hBillings
South Dakota	A city may	Cities count in hours	5 of 5	24hWatertown
Oklahoma	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 7	24hTulsa
West Virginia	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	3 of 4	24hMorgantown
Alaska	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 3	24hSeward
Idaho	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 3	24hIdaho Falls
Texas	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	2 of 7	24hAmarillo
Arizona	Nothing at state level	Cities count in hours	1 of 5	24hFlagstaff
Oregon	Nothing at state level	Required, no time named	2 of 3	None published
Arkansas	Nothing at state level	Set by the clock or a depth	1 of 7	None published
Kentucky	Nothing at state level	Set by the clock or a depth	1 of 3	None published
Tennessee	Nothing at state level	Required, no time named	1 of 4	None published
Alabama	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Florida	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Georgia	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Hawaii	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 2	None published
Louisiana	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 6	None published
Mississippi	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
Nevada	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published
New Hampshire	A city may	No city rule found	0 of 7	None published
North Carolina	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 4	None published
South Carolina	Nothing at state level	No city rule found	0 of 3	None published

Alaska sidewalk snow removal questions

How long do you have to shovel your sidewalk in Alaska?

Alaska has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and one Alaska city counts in hours. Nationally the deadlines run from no hours at all to three days across 150 cities, and no state legislature anywhere has put a number on it. One Alaska city publishes a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. A day is the commonest figure in Alaska as it is nationally: 74 of the 150 cities that count in hours land on exactly that.

Does Alaska have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

Will the city clear my sidewalk in Alaska?

One Alaska city publishes a rule letting the city clear the walk and put the cost on the property. That is the commoner enforcement route nationally: 102 of the 187 cities with an ordinance carry one, against 105 that publish a penalty. Fairbanks sets it out this way: “The director of public works, or designee, is authorized to direct the removal of any snow or ice that is not promptly removed from a sidewalk, as provided for in subsection (a). The cost of such removal shall be charged to the owner of the property, provided the owner, or person having control of the premises, fails to do so within five working days after having received contact from the director of public works, or designee.”

Does snow have to be cleared from the sidewalk or the street in Alaska?

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

Alaska ice damsWhat builds at the eaves while the walk is being cleared, and the conditions that put it there.Alaska ground snow loadThe other winter number a city sets and the state usually does not, and who publishes it where.Alaska snowpackWhat is actually on the ground this winter, measured daily, against the years behind it.Alaska frozen pipesThe other thing a long cold spell does to a building, and the temperatures it starts at.

Alaska read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 3 cities above. Every deadline, width, penalty and duty above links to the document it was published in and is reproduced in that document’s own wording. An hour count on this site is a sorting key derived from a city’s sentence and never a replacement for it. Councils amend ordinances on their own schedule, so the section linked beside a line is what governs on the day. What a particular property owes, and to whom, is a question for the city that published the ordinance.