Sidewalk Shoveling Rules and Fines Around Boston, Town by Town

Your car is not the only thing a town can tag after a storm. In much of Greater Boston, the sidewalk in front of your house is your responsibility, with a clock that starts when the snow stops. In other towns there is no rule at all, which can be just as confusing when you are standing there with a shovel and wondering whether the neighbors will notice.

We went through the published sidewalk rules for 43 cities and towns, checked November 8, 2026. Here is what each says, grouped by how strict they are.

Quick summary

• A hard deadline with fines for residents: 14 cities and towns (counting Boston once), with deadlines from 3 hours to 24 hours.
• A rule for businesses or downtown only: Andover, Stoneham, Woburn, Wakefield, Wilmington, North Reading, Lexington.
• No published rule, just a request: Bedford, Burlington, Chelmsford, Danvers, Dracut, Marblehead, Melrose, Middleton, Nahant, Peabody, Reading, Saugus, Tewksbury, Topsfield, Tyngsborough, Westford.
• Could not be confirmed: Arlington, Chelsea, Lynnfield, Revere, Winchester (their town pages could not be read, or only an archived copy was available).

The clock usually starts when snow stops falling, not when the storm starts, and many towns have a separate rule for overnight snow.

Shortest deadlines: Boston and Lynn

Boston (including Charlestown and East Boston) gives you the shortest window: clear sidewalks and curb ramps within 3 hours after the snow stops, or 3 hours after sunrise if it fell overnight. The path must be 42 inches wide. Fines are per day: $50 for residential properties up to 16 units, $100 for larger buildings, and $200 for commercial.

Lynn gives houses of 6 or fewer units 10 hours after sunrise or the end of snow; commercial, mixed-use and 7-plus-unit buildings get 3 hours. Paths are at least 42 inches, and fines run $50, then $100, then $300, with each day counting.

Town-by-town table

Chelsea’s archived guide gives 24 hours, with a 24-inch minimum width, but the live page could not be opened. Arlington’s bylaw, as seen through a search index and not opened, reportedly gives homes 8 daylight hours at $25 a day. We list both as unverified.

What the differences mean in practice

A tight deadline is about daylight. Several rules count only daylight hours, so snow that ends at 9 p.m. generally gives you until the next morning, not midnight. Salem, Beverly, Cambridge and Lowell give explicit “by noon” or “by 1 p.m. the next day” cutoffs for overnight snow.

Width matters. Minimums run from 24 inches (Chelsea’s archived guide) to 42 inches in Boston, Lynn and Malden’s preferred width. Plan on a path at least 36 inches wide and you will satisfy most of them.

Ice counts too. Cambridge, Beverly, Lowell, Medford and Winthrop address ice as well as snow, and several accept sand or salt in place of bare pavement.

Corner ramps are part of the job. Boston, Cambridge and Salem say curb ramps are included.

Fines escalate and can repeat daily. Boston, Cambridge, Billerica, Lynn and Wakefield count each day as a new offense. After a third offense within five years, Medford may clear the sidewalk and bill you.

Where the rules are lighter

• Melrose: the city says owners are responsible but posts no deadline or fine, and plows only sidewalks next to city property. An old copy of the city code (Sec. 177-12) shows a six-daylight-hour duty applying to commercial, office and manufacturing districts. We could not confirm whether the code has changed.
• Peabody, Westford and Chelmsford ask residents to shovel but have no ordinance requiring it.
• Reading has no requirement today. A bylaw going to the November 2026 Town Meeting would require 24 hours for residential and 12 hours for business properties, starting with a warning, then $100, then $200. Check the outcome.
• Wakefield fines owners of commercial properties and buildings with more than 4 units $200 per violation, but 1-4 unit homes are not covered.
• Andover, Stoneham and Woburn apply deadlines only to listed downtown streets, with deadlines of 10 a.m. (Andover), 5 hours (Stoneham) and 2 hours (Woburn, daytime snow).
• Wilmington and North Reading regulate business sidewalks.
• Lexington does not require homeowners to shovel but asks them to; business owners clear after the town’s first pass in Lexington Center.

Who do you call?

If you think a neighbor’s walk violates a rule, call 311 in Boston, Cambridge’s non-emergency line, or your town’s DPW or code enforcement. In Belmont the residential rule comes through Code Enforcement (617-993-2657).

What we could not confirm

Fines for Everett, Lowell and Belmont’s residential rule are not in the pages we read. Arlington, Chelsea, Lynnfield, Revere and Winchester were not readable. Ordinances change at Town Meeting. Treat this as a map, confirm with your town before you rely on a number, and when in doubt, shovel early.

Sources

• City of Boston: Rules for clearing snowboston.gov
• City of Cambridge: Snowcambridgema.gov
• City of Somerville: Snowsomervillema.gov
• City of Malden: Winter Weather Centralcityofmalden.org
• City of Medford: Snowmedfordma.org
• City of Salem: Snow FAQsalem.com
• Town of Winthrop: Sidewalk ordinancewinthropma.gov
• City of Lowell: Code (Wayback copy of eCode360)web.archive.org

Details such as dates, hours and prices come from the sources above and can change. Check with the organizer before you go.