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.

Texas Sidewalk Snow Removal: 24 Hours

Q: How wide does a cleared path have to be in Texas?

One Texas city sets a width, and Amarillo sets an unobstructed, clear and nonhazardous path of no less than thirty-six (36) inches in width. 57 cities nationally publish one; the rest describe the walk rather than measure it, and the city named on each line is the one that reads the result.

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

The rules collected here are sidewalk rules, and the great majority of Texas 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 Texas 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 7

Cities with an ordinance

read on one day

September 23, 2026

Read

municipal code and city pages

The short answer

Amarillo gives a day, and Texas sets nothing above it

Texas has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and one Texas 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 7 cities with an ordinance1 counting in hours

City by city, in each city’s own words

The 2 Texas cities that publish an ordinance

One Texas 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 Texas 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.

Amarillo
13h to 24h
within twenty-four (24) hours of cessation of any fall of snow, sleet or freezing rain
Snow and ice will be removed from all other Sidewalks within twenty-four (24) hours of cessation of any fall of snow, sleet or freezing rain.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
Any person in charge or control of any Building or Lot, Tract or Parcel of land abutting a Sidewalk
What it says about ice
However, if snow and ice on a Sidewalk has become so hard that it cannot be removed without likelihood of damage to the Sidewalk the owner will, within the time specified above, put enough sand or other abrasive on the Sidewalk to make travel reasonably safe. As soon thereafter as weather permits, the Sidewalk shall be thoroughly cleaned.
- Width an unobstructed, clear and nonhazardous path of no less than thirty-six (36) inches in width
- Section Sec. 4-6-184
- Published by City of Amarillo
Sec. 4-6-184. Snow removal., Amarillo Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026
Abilene
No clock
The ordinance requires the walk cleared and names no time by which.
Each owner of real property shall keep the abutting sidewalks and sidewalk amenities free from snow, ice and other hazardous substance.
Whose duty it is, as the ordinance puts it
Each owner of real property
- Section Sec. 29-38
- Published by City of Abilene
Sec. 29-38. Duty of abutting property owner to repair and maintain sidewalks, sidewalk amenities, landscaping, driveways and curbs., Abilene Code of Ordinances, read September 23, 2026

What Texas itself did

Texas has written nothing on this

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

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

has no sidewalk clearing statute at all

Where nothing was found

5 Texas cities read publish no clearing ordinance

Texas sets no statewide sidewalk snow rule and the four largest cities publish none either; the two that do are on the plains, Amarillo with a thirty six inch path and a twenty four hour clock, and Abilene with a standing duty and no deadline attached to it.

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.

Austin
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of Austin
Code of Ordinances, City of Austin, read September 23, 2026
El Paso
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of El Paso
Code of Ordinances, City of El Paso, read September 23, 2026
Houston
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of Houston
Code of Ordinances, City of Houston, read September 23, 2026
Lubbock
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of Lubbock Public Works
Snow & Ice Removal Policy, Lubbock, TX, read September 23, 2026
San Antonio
No ordinance found
No sidewalk clearing ordinance was found for this city.
- Published by City of San Antonio
Code of Ordinances, City of San Antonio, read September 23, 2026

How Texas 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

Texas sidewalk snow removal questions

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

Texas has no sidewalk clearing statute at all. The clock is a city's instead, and one Texas 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 Texas 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 Texas as it is nationally: 74 of the 150 cities that count in hours land on exactly that.

Does Texas have a state law about clearing sidewalks?

How wide does a cleared path have to be in Texas?

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

Which cities in the country give you the least time?

How current is this?

Sidewalk snow removal rules in every state

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

Texas 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.