How the Cost of Snow Piles Up

6 months ago · 2 minute read

Let It Snow may be a holiday classic, but city officials definitely aren’t singing along. In fact, they’re hoping for the opposite. That’s because snow, while lovely to look at, can cause a flurry of problems. Transportation, like buses, trains, bikes, and cars, grind to a halt in the face of road closures and dangerous black ice accumulations. Plowing and salting roads isn’t just a hassle (especially if you live in a rural area); it’s expensive. 

A single snow plow could run a state between $150,000 – $250,000 back in 2017. For a whole state, especially one where all of the roads need to be cleared, we’re talking millions of dollars to establish a fleet. That doesn’t count yearly maintenance, paying people to drive them, gas, or the salt to make salt brine. A state could easily use thousands of tons of salt and millions of gallons of brine; no cheap feat. It’ll likely come as no surprise that Massachusetts routinely pays the most in the union for their snow plows. 

According to the US Department of Transportation, 70% of our country’s roads are threatened by snow each year. State and local governments frequently spend billions of dollars to clear that snow and millions more in repair once the snowy season has ended, but, unfortunately, money isn’t the only cost. More than 100,000 people are injured every year in accidents when snow or ice is involved. Emergency responders have to take the roads, too, after all. 

Besides the safety issues, it’s also more cost-effective to deal with the snow as it falls than wait it out. If neighborhoods shut down, states could potentially lose hundreds of millions of dollars each day from salaries, retail business, and taxes. Not to mention how expensive it is when you need to hire contractors for emergency repairs or extra snow plows. 

Just remember all of this the next time you’re dreaming of a white Christmas.