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.

Ohio Sidewalk Snow Removal: 4 to 24 Hours

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

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

Ohio Revised Code Section 723.011

4 to 24h

The range across its cities

[object Object] is the tightest

8 of 8

Cities with an ordinance

4 clear it themselves and bill

September 23, 2026

Read

8 publish a penalty

The short answer

Ohio runs from four hours in Athens to a day in Toledo

Ohio has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. The clock is a city's instead, and five Ohio cities count in hours. The tightest is Athens at four hours and the loosest Toledo 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.

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.

A city may8 of 8 cities with an ordinance5 counting in hours4 clear it themselves

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 8 Ohio cities that publish an ordinance

Five Ohio 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 Ohio 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.

Athens
Up to 6h
within the first four hours after daylight, following or during a fall of snow
The owner, occupant or person having the care of any building or lot of land bordering on any street with graded or paved sidewalk, within the first four hours after daylight, following or during a fall of snow, shall cause the snow to be removed from such walk; and this provision shall include snow or ice falling from any building.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner, occupant or person having the care of any building or lot of land bordering on any street with graded or paved sidewalk
What it says about ice
Whenever such sidewalk or any part thereof shall become encumbered with ice, the owner, occupant or person in control, within the first four hours after daylight, following or during its formation, shall cause such sidewalk to be made safe by removing such ice or sprinkling the same with sand or other suitable substance.
- Penalty a minor misdemeanor and not more than $100.00
- Section Athens Codified Ordinances 9.12.19; penalty 9.12.99
- Published by Athens Codified Ordinances, Title 9 General Regulations
9.12.19 Removal of ice and snow, Athens Codified Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Cincinnati
Up to 6h
within the first four hours after daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow
The owner, occupant or other person having the care of any building premises or unimproved lot of land abutting any street where there is a graded sidewalk or a sidewalk graded and paved, shall, within the first four hours after daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow, cause the same to be removed from the paved or traveled part of such sidewalk.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner, occupant or other person having the care of any building premises or unimproved lot of land
What it says about ice
Failure to comply with the provisions of this section for a period of more than two hours during the daytime shall subject such owner, occupant or person in charge to the penalty provided for violation of this section.
- Penalty not more than $25
- Section Cincinnati Municipal Code 723-57 snow, 723-59 ice; penalty 723-99-I
- Published by Cincinnati Municipal Code, Title VII General Regulations
Sec. 723-57 Removal of Snow, Cincinnati Municipal Code, read September 23, 2026
Dayton
7h to 12h
within a reasonable time, which will ordinarily not exceed 12 hours after the abatement of any storm
It shall be the duty of the owner or of the occupant of each and every parcel of real estate in the city abutting upon any sidewalk, to keep the sidewalk abutting his premises free and clear of snow and ice, and to remove therefrom all snow and ice accumulated thereon within a reasonable time, which will ordinarily not exceed 12 hours after the abatement of any storm during which the snow and ice may have accumulated.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the owner or the occupant of each and every parcel of real estate in the city abutting upon any sidewalk
- Penalty a minor misdemeanor
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Dayton Revised Code of General Ordinances 95.17; assessment 95.18; penalty 95.999
- Published by Revised Code of General Ordinances of the City of Dayton, Title IX General Regulations
Sec. 95.17 Removal of snow and ice, Revised Code of General Ordinances of the City of Dayton, read September 23, 2026
Akron
13h to 24h
a period of twenty-four hours after the fall of snow
No owner or occupant of a lot or land abutting any sidewalk in the City shall permit the sidewalk, after the fall of snow, to become and remain encumbered therewith for a period of twenty-four hours.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
no owner or occupant of a lot or land abutting any sidewalk in the City
What it says about ice
No owner or occupant of abutting lands shall fail to keep the sidewalks and aprons in repair and free from snow, ice, or any nuisance.
- Penalty a minor misdemeanor, plus an administrative charge of two hundred dollars for each notice processed and a fine of two hundred fifty dollars for a third or subsequent notice in a calendar year
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Akron Codified Ordinances 98.01(A)(3); city removal 98.011(C); penalty 98.99
- Published by Akron Codified Ordinances, Title 9 General Provisions
98.011 Repair, maintenance or clearing of sidewalks, Akron Codified Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Toledo
13h to 24h
within twenty-four hours after such deposit
The occupants of each single residential, commercial or industrial property and the owner of any multiple residential, commercial or industrial property or of any unoccupied or unimproved property, abutting upon public walks shall clear the walk of snow, ice, dirt, or any other debris within twenty-four hours after such deposit.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
the occupants of each single residential, commercial or industrial property and the owner of any multiple residential, commercial or industrial property or of any unoccupied or unimproved property
- Penalty a minor misdemeanor
- Section Toledo Municipal Code 521.01
- Published by Toledo Municipal Code, Part Five General Offenses Code
521.01 Removal of snow and ice from walks, Toledo Municipal Code, read September 23, 2026
Cleveland
By the clock
before 9:00 a.m. of each day
Every owner, occupant or person having charge of any tenement, building, lot or land fronting on any avenue, street, alley or other public highway of the City, shall clear the whole sidewalk in front of the tenement, building, lot or land, of snow and ice, before 9:00 a.m. of each day; provided, that if the sidewalk in front of the tenement, building, lot or land is not flagged or paved, a pathway thereon shall be cleared of ice and snow to the width of at least five (5) feet.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
every owner, occupant or person having charge of any tenement, building, lot or land
What it says about ice
If from any cause it is impossible to remove all the snow and ice which may adhere to such sidewalk, then every such owner, occupant or person having charge shall cover the snow or ice as shall so remain with such coating of ashes, sand or other substance as may be necessary to render travel safe and convenient.
- Width at least five (5) feet, where the sidewalk is not flagged or paved
- Penalty not more than five dollars ($5.00) for each offense, and one dollar ($1.00) for each day the offense is continued; twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each day where the lot is used for the operation of a business
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Cleveland Codified Ordinances 507.13; penalty 507.99
- Published by Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, Part Five Public Works Code
507.13 Clearing Sidewalks of Snow and Debris, Codified Ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio, read September 23, 2026
Columbus
By the clock
to be clear of snow and ice each day
Every owner, occupant, or person having charge of any lot or parcel of land in the city shall cause the paved sidewalk or shared-use path, or any part thereof, in front of and abutting, or to the side or rear of and abutting upon such lot or parcel of land, to be clear of snow and ice each day.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
every owner, occupant, or person having charge of any lot or parcel of land in the city
What it says about ice
If for any cause it shall be impossible to remove all the snow and ice which may adhere to such sidewalk or shared-use path, then every such owner, occupant, or person having charge shall cover such snow or ice as shall remain with such coating of sand or other substance as may be necessary to render travel safe and convenient.
- Penalty a minor misdemeanor
- Section Columbus City Code 902.03; penalties 902.99
- Published by Columbus City Code, Title 9 Streets and Public Property Code
902.03 Maintaining improper or unsafe sidewalks, shared-use paths or streets, Columbus City Code, read September 23, 2026
Youngstown
By the clock
by 9:00 a.m. on the day subsequent to any snowfall in the central business district; immediately after the fall of any snow elsewhere
Due to the high level of pedestrian traffic in the central business district as defined herein, all property owners and occupants within this designated area shall clear snow and ice from City sidewalks by 9:00 a.m. on the day subsequent to any snowfall.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
all property owners and occupants within this designated area, in the central business district; elsewhere the owner of any such lot or premises
- Width a minimum 42 inch path, in the central business district
- Penalty one hundred fifty dollars ($150.00) per occurrence for up to 100 linear feet, and two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per occurrence for 100 linear feet or more, added to the water bill
- If it is not done the city may clear it and charge the property
- Section Youngstown Codified Ordinances 521.06
- Published by Codified Ordinances of Youngstown, Ohio, Part Five General Offenses Code
521.06 Duty to Keep Sidewalks Clean, Codified Ordinances of Youngstown, Ohio, read September 23, 2026

Why one Ohio answer does not exist

Athens and Toledo are 20 hours apart

A house on one side of a city line in Ohio 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 Ohio 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 Ohio itself did

The Ohio statute, and what it does not do

Ohio sets no statewide shovelling deadline. The Revised Code only lets a municipality write its own rule by ordinance.

That is the national pattern rather than a Ohio 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

Ohio Revised Code Section 723.011

Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, Legislative Service Commission

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

The legislative authority of a municipal corporation, in addition to the powers conferred by sections 729.01 to 729.10, inclusive, of the Revised Code, may require, by ordinance, by the imposition of suitable penalties or otherwise, that the owners and occupants of abutting lots and lands shall keep the sidewalks, curbs, and gutters in repair and free from snow or any nuisance.

Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, Legislative Service Commission, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

What happens if it is not done

A bill or a penalty, depending on the Ohio city

Four Ohio 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.

Eight Ohio cities print a penalty beside the rule, four of them as a dollar figure and the rest as the class of offence the ordinance creates. 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 Ohio 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

Ohio sidewalk snow removal questions

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

Ohio has a statute that does one thing only, which is to let a local government pass a rule of its own. The clock is a city's instead, and five Ohio cities count in hours. The tightest is Athens at four hours and the loosest Toledo 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. Five Ohio 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 Ohio figures is twelve hours, against a day nationally.

Does Ohio have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

Ohio sets no statewide shovelling deadline. The Revised Code only lets a municipality write its own rule by ordinance. The section is Ohio Revised Code Section 723.011, published by Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules, Legislative Service Commission. It reads: “The legislative authority of a municipal corporation, in addition to the powers conferred by sections 729.01 to 729.10, inclusive, of the Revised Code, may require, by ordinance, by the imposition of suitable penalties or otherwise, that the owners and occupants of abutting lots and lands shall keep the sidewalks, curbs, and gutters in repair and free from snow or any nuisance.”

Why do two Ohio cities give different deadlines?

A house on one side of a city line in Ohio 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. Athens writes: “The owner, occupant or person having the care of any building or lot of land bordering on any street with graded or paved sidewalk, within the first four hours after daylight, following or during a fall of snow, shall cause the snow to be removed from such walk; and this provision shall include snow or ice falling from any building.”

Will the city clear my sidewalk in Ohio?

Four Ohio 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. Dayton sets it out this way: “If within a reasonable time, after the abatement of any storm during which snow or ice shall have accumulated on any sidewalk, the occupant or owner of the premises abutting thereon shall not have removed the snow and ice therefrom as is required by § 95.17, then the city may remove the snow and ice and the cost thereof shall be assessed against the lots and lands abutting the sidewalk thus cleaned.”

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

Eight Ohio cities print a penalty beside the rule, four of them as a dollar figure and the rest as the class of offence the ordinance creates. Each is reproduced below in the words its own ordinance used. Athens prints a minor misdemeanor and not more than $100.00: “Any person in violation of this section shall be deemed guilty of a minor misdemeanor and fined not more than $100.00. Each day that a person continues to violate this section shall constitute a separate and complete offense.”

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

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

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

Ohio read September 23, 2026: the municipal code and the city published pages of the 8 cities above, and Ohio Revised Code Section 723.011. 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.