A woman tries to step over a snow mound as she arrives to a show during Fashion Week in New York on Thursday, Feb. 9. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A woman tries to step over a snow mound as she arrives to a show during Fashion Week in New York on Thursday, Feb. 9. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York City snow removal costs about $1.8 million per inch

By Polly Mosendz

Bloomberg

Scraping against the asphalt, one plow after another made its way down New York’s busiest intersections overnight, noisily pushing around the snow that coated the city.

In anticipation of the storm, which the National Weather Service had forecast could dump as much as 18 inches on some parts of the northeastern U.S., the New York City Department of Sanitation split its staff into two shifts on Wednesday, each group of 2,400 working 12 hours at a time to clear the city’s roughly 6,500 miles of roads.

Clearing a city the size of New York doesn’t come cheap. The sanitation department budgeted $88 million solely for snow removal this year. In addition to its full-time employees, the department also takes on emergency snow laborers, who are paid $15 an hour to shovel out places a plow can’t reach, like bus stops, and can earn overtime of $22.50 an hour if they work more than 40 hours a week. Last year, the department hired between 2,000 and 3,000 of these laborers in the aftermath of a major January storm.

Coordinating thousands of employees, hundreds of heavy machines, and tons of rock salt, the government faces a daunting task in snow removal. In the past, it got some help plowing the fluffy stuff, contracting out some of those responsibilities in outer boroughs to independent companies. Now, it handles all the plowing on its own, using 689 salt spreaders and 1,600 collection trucks, both fashioned with plows. The trucks are all equipped with GPS so the city can track where they are at any time and, therefore, how much progress they have made.

“The only vendors we have coming in is if we have to haul snow,” said Vito Turso, the department’s deputy commissioner of public affairs. “If we have to go in there and start melting snow, then we bring in a contractor with dump trucks to haul the snow from certain areas over to the designated melting sites.”

Snow removal costs the city an average of $1.8 million an inch, according to a data analysis of costs between 2003 and 2014 conducted by the city comptroller. The cost was calculated when the city still used private contractors for some snow removal; that factors into the price, as well as the cost of equipment, maintenance, and overtime pay.

A snowless winter doesn’t mean the city saves money. “No matter how much snow falls, the city must take certain precautions to be ready for any eventuality. The sweet spot of optimal per inch costs lands at approximately 43 inches,” the comptroller’s January 2015 report said. “However, if snowfall exceeds the band within 24 and 56 inches per season, history shows that costs begin to rise again on a per inch basis due to the sheer scale of the task at hand.”

The lowest cost per inch in the time period the comptroller analyzed was $740,000, when it snowed 55.5 inches in 2003. The highest was $4.4 million an inch when it snowed just over half a foot in 2012.

New York isn’t the only city paying through the nose when it snows. Washington, D.C., overpaid for snow removal in 2016, according to reports, and during a harsh winter in 2015 Boston was said to have spent about $40 million, more than twice its budget.

No matter how big the storm, all 6,500 miles of snow have got to go.

“It’s like driving from New York City to L.A. and back,” Turso said. “We have to do that overnight. But New Yorkers expect us to get it done. And generally we do get it done.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Lily Lamoureux stacks Weebly Funko toys in preparation for Funko Friday at Funko Field in Everett on July 12, 2019.  Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Everett-based Funko ousts its CEO after 14 months

The company, known for its toy figures based on pop culture, named Michael Lunsford as its interim CEO.

The livery on a Boeing plane. (Christopher Pike / Bloomberg)
Former Lockheed Martin CFO joins Boeing as top financial officer

Boeing’s Chief Financial Officer is being replaced by a former CFO at… Continue reading

Izaac Escalante-Alvarez unpacks a new milling machine at the new Boeing machinists union’s apprentice training center on Friday, June 6, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Boeing Machinists union training center opens in Everett

The new center aims to give workers an inside track at Boeing jobs.

Some SnoCo stores see shortages after cyberattack on grocery supplier

Some stores, such as Whole Foods and US Foods CHEF’STORE, informed customers that some items may be temporarily unavailable.

People take photos and videos as the first Frontier Arlines flight arrives at Paine Field Airport under a water cannon salute on Monday, June 2, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Water cannons salute Frontier on its first day at Paine Field

Frontier Airlines joins Alaska Airlines in offering service Snohomish County passengers.

Amit B. Singh, president of Edmonds Community College. 201008
Edmonds College and schools continue diversity programs

Educational diversity programs are alive and well in Snohomish County.

A standard jet fuel, left, burns with extensive smoke output while a 50 percent SAF drop-in jet fuel, right, puts off less smoke during a demonstration of the difference in fuel emissions on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Sustainable aviation fuel center gets funding boost

A planned research and development center focused on sustainable aviation… Continue reading

Helion's 6th fusion prototype, Trenta, on display on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Helion celebrates smoother path to fusion energy site approval

Helion CEO applauds legislation signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson expected to streamline site selection process.

Britney Barber, owner of Everett Improv. Barber performs a shows based on cuttings from The Everett Herald. Photographed in Everett, Washington on May 16, 2022. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
August 9 will be the last comedy show at Everett Improv

Everett improv club closing after six years in business.

Pharmacist John Sontra and other employees work on calling customers to get their prescriptions transferred to other stores from the Bartell Drugs Pharmacy on Hoyt Avenue on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bartell Drugs location shutters doors in Everett

John Sontra, a pharmacist at the Hoyt Avenue address for 46 years, said Monday’s closure was emotional.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.