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.

New Hampshire Sidewalk Snow Removal: No City Sets a Clock

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

The rules collected here are sidewalk rules, and the great majority of New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire 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.

A rule, not a clock

What state law sets

RSA 47:17, XV (Use of Public Ways)

None

Cities publishing an hour count

against 150 nationally

0 of 7

Cities with an ordinance

read on one day

September 23, 2026

Read

1 publish a penalty

The short answer

No New Hampshire city read here sets a deadline for clearing a sidewalk

New Hampshire has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. Nor did any of the seven New Hampshire cities read for this publish a deadline for clearing a sidewalk: what their winter pages and their codes set out instead is where snow may be put once it has been moved. 10 states came back that way, and the answer in them is the same as the answer everywhere else, which is that the city that issues the ordinance is the one that would have to have issued this one.

One of the New Hampshire cities below publishes somewhere to report a walk that has not been cleared, linked on its own line. The city that publishes the rule is the city that answers questions about it.

A city may0 of 7 cities with an ordinancenone counting in hours

What New Hampshire itself did

The New Hampshire statute, and what it does not do

New Hampshire sets no statewide shovelling deadline. State law instead gives city councils the power to make an ordinance requiring it.

That is the national pattern rather than a New Hampshire 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.

Permission for a local government to write one

RSA 47:17, XV (Use of Public Ways)

New Hampshire General Court, Office of Legislative Services

has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own

To regulate all streets and public ways, wharves, docks, and squares, and the use thereof, and the placing or leaving therein any carriages, sleds, boxes, lumber, wood, or any articles or materials, and the deposit of any waste or other thing whatever; the removal of any manure or other material therefrom; the erection of posts, signs, steps, public telephones, telephone booths, and other appurtenances thereto, or awnings; the digging up the ground by traffic thereon or in any other manner, or any other act by which the public travel may be incommoded or the city subjected to expense thereby; the securing by railings or otherwise any well, cellar, or other dangerous place in or near the line of any street; to prohibit the rolling of hoops, playing at ball or flying of kites, or any other amusement or practice having a tendency to annoy persons passing in the streets and sidewalks, or to frighten teams of horses within the same; and to compel persons to keep the snow, ice, and dirt from the sidewalks in front of the premises owned or occupied by them.

New Hampshire General Court, Office of Legislative Services, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

What happens if it is not done

What New Hampshire cities publish as a penalty

One New Hampshire city prints 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.

Where nothing was found

7 New Hampshire cities read publish no clearing ordinance

No New Hampshire city read here sets an hour deadline for an abutting owner to shovel; the ordinances found regulate where snow may be put rather than when a walk must be cleared, and the cities plow their own priority sidewalks.

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.

Berlin
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
City of Berlin Public Works would like to remind residents and commercial property owners of some Winter housekeeping issues. Regularly plowed Sidewalks and edges of streets are to be kept clear for plowing.
- Section City Ordinance Sect 13-4(b)
- Published by City of Berlin Public Works
Winter- Snow, Ice, Sand & Salt, Berlin, NH, read September 23, 2026
Claremont
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
No person shall put or place, or cause to be put or placed, snow or ice upon the surface of the sidewalks within the city or the travelled portion of any class IV or class V highway or city-maintained portion of any class II highway, except as provided in this section.
- Section Sec. 16-5. - Snow obstruction.
- Published by City of Claremont
Code of Ordinances, Chapter 16, Article I, Claremont, NH, read September 23, 2026
Concord
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
No person shall put or place or cause to be put or placed any snow or ice upon the surface of the traveled portion of any street, nor shall such snow or ice be put or placed on a street so as to block sidewalks and hydrants.
- Section 5-1-15 - Snow Obstruction on Streets.
- Published by Concord General Services, Highway and Utilities Division
Code of Ordinances, Title I, Chapter 5, Concord, NH, read September 23, 2026 Where the city takes reports
Keene
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
No person shall shovel, plow, put or place or cause to be shoveled, plowed, put or placed, within the traveled portion of any sidewalk, street, lane, alley, or highway, any snow or ice.
- Section Sec. 82-67. - Placement of snow and ice.
- Published by City of Keene
Code of Ordinances, Chapter 82, Article III, Keene, NH, read September 23, 2026
Laconia
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
Do not place snow in the roadway and sidewalk areas.
- Published by Laconia Department of Public Works
Winter Maintenance, Laconia, NH, read September 23, 2026
Meredith
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
No person shall place or cause to be placed any snow or ice on the traveled portion of any public way or sidewalk in the town, unless specific written permission is obtained for special events from the town manager or designee of the office of the town manager.
- Penalty not less than $30.00 and not more than $300.00
- Section Sec. 26-3. - Placing snow and ice on streets and sidewalks.
- Published by Town of Meredith
Code of Ordinances, Chapter 26, Article I, Meredith, NH, read September 23, 2026
Nashua
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
Citizens are encouraged to clear sidewalks in front of their homes and businesses to assist the City in keeping sidewalks safe and passable.
- Published by Nashua Department of Public Works, Street Department
Sidewalk Clearing, Nashua, NH, read September 23, 2026

How New Hampshire 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

New Hampshire sidewalk snow removal questions

How long do you have to shovel your sidewalk in New Hampshire?

New Hampshire has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. Nor did any of the seven New Hampshire cities read for this publish a deadline for clearing a sidewalk: what their winter pages and their codes set out instead is where snow may be put once it has been moved. 10 states came back that way, and the answer in them is the same as the answer everywhere else, which is that the city that issues the ordinance is the one that would have to have issued this one.

Does New Hampshire have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

New Hampshire sets no statewide shovelling deadline. State law instead gives city councils the power to make an ordinance requiring it. The section is RSA 47:17, XV (Use of Public Ways), published by New Hampshire General Court, Office of Legislative Services. It reads: “To regulate all streets and public ways, wharves, docks, and squares, and the use thereof, and the placing or leaving therein any carriages, sleds, boxes, lumber, wood, or any articles or materials, and the deposit of any waste or other thing whatever; the removal of any manure or other material therefrom; the erection of posts, signs, steps, public telephones, telephone booths, and other appurtenances thereto, or awnings; the digging up the ground by traffic thereon or in any other manner, or any other act by which the public travel may be incommoded or the city subjected to expense thereby; the securing by railings or otherwise any well, cellar, or other dangerous place in or near the line of any street; to prohibit the rolling of hoops, playing at ball or flying of kites, or any other amusement or practice having a tendency to annoy persons passing in the streets and sidewalks, or to frighten teams of horses within the same; and to compel persons to keep the snow, ice, and dirt from the sidewalks in front of the premises owned or occupied by them.”

What is the fine for not shovelling a sidewalk in New Hampshire?

One New Hampshire city prints a penalty beside the rule, each as a dollar figure. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used. Meredith prints not less than $30.00 and not more than $300.00: “Any person who violates this section shall be subject to a fine of not less than $30.00 and not more than $300.00 and the offender may be subject to reimburse the town for any expense incurred by the cleanup of said violation.”

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

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

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

New Hampshire read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 7 cities above, and RSA 47:17, XV (Use of Public Ways). 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.