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.

Indiana Sidewalk Snow Removal: 6 to 24 Hours

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

The rules collected here are sidewalk rules, and the great majority of Indiana 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 Indiana 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

6 to 24h

The range across its cities

[object Object] is the tightest

6 of 6

Cities with an ordinance

2 clear it themselves and bill

September 23, 2026

Read

5 publish a penalty

The short answer

Indiana runs from six hours in West Lafayette to a day in South Bend

Indiana has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and three Indiana cities count in hours. The tightest is West Lafayette at six hours and the loosest South Bend at a day, a gap of 18 hours inside one state. 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 level6 of 6 cities with an ordinance3 counting in hours2 clear it themselves

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 6 Indiana cities that publish an ordinance

Three Indiana cities publish 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 Indiana 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.

West Lafayette
Up to 6h
within six hours after daylight and after snow has ceased to fall
It shall be the duty of the owner or occupant of property adjacent to any sidewalks within the city to remove snow and ice on such sidewalk within six hours after daylight and after snow has ceased to fall.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or occupant of property adjacent to any sidewalks within the city
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 34-1. Removal of snow and ice from sidewalks
- Published by City of West Lafayette
Code of Ordinances, City of West Lafayette, read September 23, 2026
Bloomington
13h to 24h
within twenty-four hours after snow or ice has ceased to fall or in any way accumulate
within twenty-four hours after snow or ice has ceased to fall or in any way accumulate
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or occupant of property abutting the public right-of-way
- Width fifty-four inches downtown, thirty-six inches elsewhere
- Penalty $50 for a first violation, $100 for a second, $150 for a third and subsequent
- Section Sec. 6.07.010. Snow and ice removal; Sec. 6.07.020
- Published by City of Bloomington
Bloomington Municipal Code, City of Bloomington, read September 23, 2026
South Bend
13h to 24h
within twenty-four (24) hours after such snow and/or ice has fallen or accumulated
It shall be the responsibility of the property owner or the occupant of any building abutting or adjacent to any public sidewalk bordering such property, to remove any snow and/or ice which accumulates on such sidewalk or which obstructs such sidewalk to the full paved width of the sidewalk within twenty-four (24) hours after such snow and/or ice has fallen or accumulated thereon.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the property owner or the occupant of any building abutting or adjacent to any public sidewalk
- Width the full paved width of the sidewalk
- Penalty not less than $15.00 for the first violation, and not less than $25.00 for each violation thereafter
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 18-7. Removal of snow and ice from sidewalks required; Sec. 18-12. Enforcement and penalties
- Published by City of South Bend
Code of Ordinances, City of South Bend, read September 23, 2026
Carmel
By the clock
by 12:00 noon of any day, all snow and/or ice that has accumulated within the previous 24-hour period
by 12:00 noon of any day, all snow and/or ice that has accumulated on said sidewalks within the previous 24-hour period, provided that such removal is not required on any Sunday or legal holiday during which no business enterprise located on said real estate is open to the public.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner of business real estate
- Penalty a written warning for the first offence, $150 plus costs for the second, and up to $500 plus costs for the third and each subsequent
- Section Sec. 6-52
- Published by City of Carmel
Code of Ordinances, City of Carmel, read September 23, 2026
Fort Wayne
By the clock
by 9:00 a.m. every day during the winter season and during the time snow shall continue on the ground
shall, during the winter season and during the time snow shall continue on the ground, by 9:00 a.m. every day clean the sidewalk in front of such house or building, and in front of which lot, from snow or ice, and keep it conveniently free thereof during the day.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or occupant of a house or building or lot
- Penalty not more than $2,500
- Section Sec. 99.047. Removal of ice, snow and dirt
- Published by City of Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne Code of Ordinances, City of Fort Wayne, read September 23, 2026
Indianapolis
By the clock
before 9:00 a.m. of the following day for snow that falls after 7:00 p.m., and by 7:00 p.m. of the same day for snow that falls after 9:00 a.m.
In case snow or ice has accumulated or fallen on any sidewalk or is continuing to fall after 7:00 p.m., it shall be removed, if practical to do so, or a sufficient path be cleared by the occupant or owner before 9:00 a.m. of the following day. If any snow or ice has fallen or accumulated on any sidewalk after 9:00 a.m., it shall be removed or a path cleared by the occupant or owner by 7:00 p.m. of such day, if the snow has ceased to fall by that time.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the occupant or owner
- Penalty not exceeding $50.00
- Section Sec. 431-106. Clearing snow and ice from sidewalks
- Published by Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County
Code of Ordinances, Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County, read September 23, 2026

Why one Indiana answer does not exist

West Lafayette and South Bend are 18 hours apart

A house on one side of a city line in Indiana has six hours and a house on the other has a day, which is the whole reason a state level answer to this question is no answer. 23 states carry a gap like it, the widest being Maine at 68 hours.

Neither city is wrong and neither is unusual. A sidewalk ordinance is written by a council for the street outside its own window, and nothing above it in Indiana obliges one council to look at what the next one wrote. The figure that applies to a reader is the one their own city published, which is why every card above carries the city’s name before it carries a number.

A sidewalk cleared earlier in the day with fresh wind blown snow already lying back across the outer half of it, a plowed road to one side and an unbroken snow field to the other — Almost every hour count on these pages runs from the end of the snowfall rather than from its start, which is the one drafting choice the ordinances broadly share. What counts as the end of it, and what a fresh drift across a cleared walk does to the clock, is left to the wording each city chose, and that wording is quoted in full on the state pages. “Snow drifting onto a shoveled sidewalk, Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, 2024-01-20”, Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0

What Indiana itself did

Indiana has written nothing on this

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

That is the national pattern rather than a Indiana 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 Indiana statute was found on this

has no sidewalk clearing statute at all

What happens if it is not done

A bill or a penalty, depending on the Indiana city

Two Indiana cities publish 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.

Five Indiana cities print a penalty beside the rule, each as a dollar figure. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used.

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.

How Indiana 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

Indiana sidewalk snow removal questions

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

Indiana has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and three Indiana cities count in hours. The tightest is West Lafayette at six hours and the loosest South Bend at a day, a gap of 18 hours inside one state. 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. Three Indiana cities publish 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 Indiana as it is nationally: 74 of the 150 cities that count in hours land on exactly that.

Does Indiana have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

Why do two Indiana cities give different deadlines?

A house on one side of a city line in Indiana has six hours and a house on the other has a day, which is the whole reason a state level answer to this question is no answer. 23 states carry a gap like it, the widest being Maine at 68 hours. West Lafayette writes: “It shall be the duty of the owner or occupant of property adjacent to any sidewalks within the city to remove snow and ice on such sidewalk within six hours after daylight and after snow has ceased to fall.”

Will the city clear my sidewalk in Indiana?

Two Indiana cities publish 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. West Lafayette sets it out this way: “In addition to the penalty for violation of this Code, if the owner or occupant fails to remove such snow or ice and the cost of such removal shall be charged against the property and shall be collected in the same manner as taxes.”

What is the fine for not shovelling a sidewalk in Indiana?

Five Indiana cities print a penalty beside the rule, each as a dollar figure. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used. Bloomington prints $50 for a first violation, $100 for a second, $150 for a third and subsequent: “The initial penalty or fine for all violations of this chapter shall be fifty dollars. A second violation ... one hundred dollars. A third and all subsequent violations ... one hundred fifty dollars.”

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

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

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

Indiana read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 6 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.