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 York Sidewalk Snow Removal: 4 to 24 Hours

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

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

4 to 24h

The range across its cities

[object Object] is the tightest

7 of 7

Cities with an ordinance

3 clear it themselves and bill

September 23, 2026

Read

4 publish a penalty

The short answer

New York runs from four hours in New York City to a day in Rome

New York has no sidewalk clearing statute that any of the codes read here relies on. The clock is a city's instead, and six New York cities count in hours. The tightest is New York City at four hours and the loosest Rome at a day, a gap of 20 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.

One of the New York 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.

Nothing found7 of 7 cities with an ordinance6 counting in hours3 clear it themselves

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 7 New York cities that publish an ordinance

Six New York cities publish a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. The middle of the New York figures is twelve hours, against a day nationally.

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.

New York City
Up to 6h
four hours if the snow stops between 7 AM and 5 PM, fourteen hours if it stops between 5 PM and 9 PM, and by 11 AM if it stops between 9 PM and 7 AM
If the snow stops falling between: 7 AM and 5 PM, clear the sidewalk within 4 hours 5 PM and 9 PM, clear the sidewalk within 14 hours 9 PM and 7 AM, clear the sidewalk by 11 AM
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
if you own a building or lot, you must clear your sidewalk thoroughly after it snows
What it says about ice
Spread salt, sand, or other granular material if the ground is frozen.
- Width a path at least 4 feet wide, plus access to the crosswalk and pedestrian ramp for corner properties
- Penalty up to $250 from the Department of Sanitation
- Published by NYC311, Department of Sanitation
Snow or Ice on Sidewalk, NYC311, read September 23, 2026 Where the city takes reports
Yonkers
Up to 6h
within six hours after a snowfall that ends in the daytime, and before 12 pm the day after a snowfall that occurs during the night
Snow and ice must be removed from the sidewalks and fire hydrants within six hours after every snowfall, which ends in the daytime and before 12 pm (Noon) of the day after any snowfall, which occurs during the night.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
as a property owner/renter/business owner, you are responsible for keeping sidewalks and fire hydrants clear and clean from snow and ice
What it says about ice
Ice sits inside the same clock: the page reads snow and ice must be removed from the sidewalks and fire hydrants.
- Published by City of Yonkers Code Enforcement Bureau
Responsibilities During a Snow Storm, City of Yonkers Code Enforcement Bureau, read September 23, 2026
White Plains
7h to 12h
within two hours of a daytime snowfall for a place of business or a listed zoning district, and within ten hours in any other district
Should the snow cease to fall or the foreign matter be deposited in the daytime, such removal shall be completed within two (2) hours after such fall or deposit, if the abutting or adjoining lot or premises is a place of business, or is within a "B," "BR," "CB," "UR," "OR," "CO" or "LI" District of the zoning ordinance, and within ten (10) hours if the abutting or adjoining lot or premises is within any other district of the zoning ordinance.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or occupant of any lot or premises abutting or adjoining any public street, alley, park or place within the city
What it says about ice
In the event the snow and ice on the sidewalk shall be frozen so hard that it cannot be removed without injury to the sidewalk, the owner or occupant of said lot or premises shall cause the sidewalk to be strewn with ashes, sand or some other approved abrasive material and shall as soon thereafter as the weather shall permit, thoroughly clean such sidewalk.
- Penalty not less than $35.00 or more than $150.00 for each offense
- Section Sec. 7-2-1
- Published by White Plains Code of Ordinances, Title VII Public Works
Sec. 7-2-1 Snow removal by owners of abutting property, White Plains Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Elmira
7h to 12h
within twelve hours after the snowfall has ceased, or the ice to form
The owner or owners, occupant or occupants of the property along or in front of which, or any part of which, a sidewalk is constructed or built, shall clean the snow and ice from such sidewalk within twelve hours after the snowfall has ceased, or the ice to form
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or owners, occupant or occupants of the property
What it says about ice
Ice runs on the same twelve hour clock, timed from the ice forming rather than the snow ending.
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 154
- Published by Elmira City Charter, Article X Department of Public Works
Sec. 154 Control over streets, bridges, sewers, sidewalks, repairing sidewalks and cleaning snow, Elmira City Charter, read September 23, 2026
Albany
13h to 24h
within 24 hours of the completion of the storm
All sidewalks adjacent to your property must be cleaned within 24 hours of the completion of the storm.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
property owners
What it says about ice
The page sets no separate ice clock. It adds that handicap ramps adjacent to your property are included in the code and also must be cleared within 24 hours.
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Published by City of Albany Department of General Services
Snow Removal, City of Albany Department of General Services, read September 23, 2026
Rome
13h to 24h
within 24 hours after any snowfall
It shall be the duty of every property owner and every person in possession of property in the city to remove the snow from all sidewalks bordering any portion of the property within 24 hours after any snowfall and to remove all ice which may form on the sidewalk or to make the sidewalk safe by applying sand or other suitable substance.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
every property owner and every person in possession of property in the city
What it says about ice
Ice is inside the same sentence as the snow duty: to remove all ice which may form on the sidewalk or to make the sidewalk safe by applying sand or other suitable substance.
- Penalty a violation punishable by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or by imprisonment not exceeding 15 days or both, under the general penalty where no specific penalty is provided
- Section Sec. 58-231
- Published by Rome City Code, Chapter 58 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places
Sec. 58-231 Removal from sidewalks, Rome City Code, read September 23, 2026
Syracuse
By the clock
every day by six o'clock in the afternoon of the following day, and within four hours after snow ceases to fall inside the special assessment district
The owner, agent or occupant of any structure or vacant lot fronting upon any park, street or alley, shall clear or cause to be cleared, the sidewalk along the said premises from all snow and ice that may fall or accumulate thereon every day by six o'clock in the afternoon of the following day, except as hereinafter provided.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner, agent or occupant of any structure or vacant lot
What it says about ice
Section 24-3 paragraph 3 allows sand or salt where the ice is frozen hard: the owner, agent or occupant may within the time specified in the preceding paragraphs cause the sidewalk to be strewn with salt, sand or some similar suitable material and shall thereafter as soon as the weather shall permit, thoroughly clean such sidewalk.
- Penalty not to exceed $100.00, or a penalty not to exceed $100.00 per violation recovered in a civil action
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Sec. 24-3
- Published by Syracuse Revised General Ordinances, Chapter 24 Streets and Sidewalks
Sec. 24-3 Removal of snow and ice from sidewalks, Syracuse Revised General Ordinances, read September 23, 2026

Why one New York answer does not exist

New York City and Rome are 20 hours apart

A house on one side of a city line in New York has four 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 New York 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 New York itself did

New York has written nothing on this

New York sets no statewide shovelling deadline. The clock is written by each city, village or town, and the codes checked here cite the General City Law only as the source of the city's power over its own streets and sidewalks.

That is the national pattern rather than a New York 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.

No statute found, and the cities cite none

No New York statute was found on this

has no sidewalk clearing statute that any of the codes read here relies on

What happens if it is not done

A bill or a penalty, depending on the New York city

Three New York 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.

Four New York 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 New York 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 York sidewalk snow removal questions

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

New York has no sidewalk clearing statute that any of the codes read here relies on. The clock is a city's instead, and six New York cities count in hours. The tightest is New York City at four hours and the loosest Rome at a day, a gap of 20 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. Six New York cities publish a count of hours, and each one below is quoted from the ordinance or the city page it was read from. The middle of the New York figures is twelve hours, against a day nationally.

Does New York have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

Why do two New York cities give different deadlines?

A house on one side of a city line in New York has four 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. New York City writes: “If the snow stops falling between: 7 AM and 5 PM, clear the sidewalk within 4 hours 5 PM and 9 PM, clear the sidewalk within 14 hours 9 PM and 7 AM, clear the sidewalk by 11 AM”

Will the city clear my sidewalk in New York?

Three New York 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. Elmira sets it out this way: “in case said owner or owners, or occupants shall neglect to clean such snow and ice from such sidewalk within such time, the same may be done by and under the direction of the city manager and the city shall assess against the real property a charge equal to the cost actually incurred by or on behalf of the city for labor, equipment, materials, an administrative fee of $70.00, and any other costs necessary to effectuate the snow and ice removal.”

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

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

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

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

New York read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 7 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.