Free tool
Pricing snow
in Chicago
per push or seasonal
Chicago: 38.4 in of snow a year and about 6.7 pushes a season at a 2 in trigger, from the 1991-2020 normals. Enter what one push costs you and see the per-push, seasonal and capped prices side by side, with what each earns in a light, normal and heavy winter.
- Free, no sign-up. The headline result is always open.
- Your numbers stay yours. Nothing is converted or guessed behind the scenes.
- Last updated October 11, 2026.
A normal season at your trigger
6.7 pushes
pushes, from the snowfall normals for your city and trigger depth. Heavy winter and light winter bands below.
Light winter 4.7 · Heavy winter 8.7
Per push $38.33 · Seasonal $230 · Capped at 7.7 pushes
Our read
Seasonal with a cap
A flat seasonal price loses too much of its margin in a heavy winter at your tolerance. Cap it at the number below and bill per push above it.
The heavy-winter margin on a flat seasonal drops more than a quarter below the target: cap it.
- Per push$38.33 per pushLight 40%Normal 40%Heavy 40%
- Seasonal$230 per seasonLight 53%Normal 33%Heavy 13%
- Capped seasonal$230 to 7.7 pushesLight 53%Normal 33%Heavy 26%
A seasonal contract without a cap gives up $1,850 across your contracts in a heavy winter.
What to fix first
In order of money
Each line is a season’s money across the contracts you entered. The first one is where to start.
Tighten the route
$2,100 a season
Five minutes saved per visit, over every push and every contract, is real money. Route density, scheduling and dispatch from the office are where it comes from.
Put a cap in the contract
$1,850 a season
State the pushes included and the per-push rate above them. It is the one clause that turns a heavy winter from a loss into a normal month.
Log every push and every bag of salt
$1,700 a season
A season priced from memory is priced wrong. A system that records each visit, time on site and materials per property shows what each contract really earns, and gives you the push count to price next year from.
Thanks. Your full report is below.
Full report
Your full report
Every model in every winter, the push counts behind them, the cost build-up and the normals used, with their source.
Three models, three winters
| Model | Winter | Pushes | Revenue | Cost | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per push | Light winter | 4.7 | $180 | $110 | 40% |
| Per push | Normal winter | 6.7 | $260 | $150 | 40% |
| Per push | Heavy winter | 8.7 | $330 | $200 | 40% |
| Seasonal | Light winter | 4.7 | $230 | $110 | 53% |
| Seasonal | Normal winter | 6.7 | $230 | $150 | 33% |
| Seasonal | Heavy winter | 8.7 | $230 | $200 | 13% |
| Capped seasonal | Light winter | 4.7 | $230 | $110 | 53% |
| Capped seasonal | Normal winter | 6.7 | $230 | $150 | 33% |
| Capped seasonal | Heavy winter | 8.7 | $270 | $200 | 26% |
The normals used
- Station: Chicago O’Hare Intl Airport, IL (USW00094846), 1991-2020, 25 years of data.
- Annual snowfall: 38.4 in.
- Days with snowfall at or above 0.1 in: 27.8 · 1 in: 11.4 · 3 in: 3.9 · 5 in: 1.4 · 10 in: 0.1 days a year.
- Source: www.ncei.noaa.gov, read 2026-10-11.
Cost build-up
- Cost per push $23.00 (12 min at $95.00/h plus $4.00 materials); per-push price $38.33 at a 40% margin; seasonal $230 after a 10% discount; cap 7.7 pushes (Medium risk).
- Light and heavy winters are 0.7× and 1.3× the normal pushes: our planning assumption, not a published statistic.
- Figures are rounded. Nothing here is a quote.
What it does
Snow in Chicago
Chicago gets about 38 inches a year with eleven 1-inch days and the occasional lake-enhanced burst. The spread between a normal and a heavy winter is wide, which is what the heavy-winter band is for.
The numbers behind this page come from the Chicago O’Hare Intl Airport, IL station in the 1991-2020 normals: 38.4 in of snow in a normal year, and 27.8 days with 0.1in or more, 11.4 days with 1in or more, 3.9 days with 3in or more, 1.4 days with 5in or more and 0.1 days with 10in or more. The push count at your trigger is the first number the calculator shows; the heavy-winter band is 30% above it.
You get three things: the per-push, seasonal and capped-seasonal prices from your own cost per push and margin; what each one earns in a light, normal and heavy winter; and which one protects you at the risk you are willing to carry, with the rule that decided it. The headline is never gated. An email unlocks the full report.
Who it is for
Who it is for
Snow and ice contractors pricing residential driveways and small commercial lots, from a one-truck operation to a company with a few crews, in Canada and the northern United States. It works for a single driveway or, with the contracts field, for the whole book.
It is not a bid tool for large commercial sites with hourly or per-event tenders, and it does not price salting on its own. If your contracts are per hour or per tonne, the normals still tell you how many events to expect; the pricing models here are for pushes.
Method
How it works
For one property:
| Step | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Pushes, normal season | days a year with snowfall at or above your trigger, from the city’s normals (estimated between published depths where needed), or your own count |
| Pushes, heavy and light | normal × 1.3 and normal × 0.7 |
| Cost per push | entered, or minutes ÷ 60 × crew and truck per hour + salt and materials |
| Per-push price | cost per push ÷ (1 − target margin) |
| Seasonal price | normal pushes × per-push price × (1 − seasonal discount) |
| Cap | normal pushes × 1, 1.15 or 1.3 for low, medium or high risk tolerance; pushes above it are billed per push |
| Each model, each winter | revenue, cost = pushes × cost per push, margin = (revenue − cost) ÷ revenue |
| Heavy-winter exposure | the margin a flat seasonal contract loses between a normal and a heavy winter, × your contracts |
The three fixes are the exposure a cap removes, the money a push and materials log makes visible (one push in ten, plus the materials, is the usual leak), and five minutes a visit saved by a tighter route, each across the contracts you entered.
Assumptions
Rules and assumptions
The recommendation is rule-based. The rules, in the order they are tested:
- No pushes at the trigger in a normal season: per push.
- Low risk tolerance: per push.
- High risk tolerance, and the seasonal margin in a heavy winter is at least three-quarters of the target: seasonal.
- Otherwise: capped seasonal, with the cap set by the risk tolerance (normal season × 1.0, 1.15 or 1.3).
- Normals. Every city’s push counts come from the official 1991–2020 climate normals (Environment and Climate Change Canada; NOAA NCEI), read on 2026-10-11 and linked from each city page and the report. A trigger the source does not publish (2 cm, 2 in) is estimated between the two nearest published depths, and the page says so. Cities whose station has no snowfall rows in the normals are left out rather than guessed.
- Heavy and light winters are 1.3× and 0.7× the normal pushes. The normals do not publish an upper range, so this is our planning assumption.
- The cap sits at the normal season × 1, 1.15 or 1.3 by risk tolerance. Our assumption; the capped model shows the cap so you can change the tolerance.
- Example costs (12 minutes at $95.00 an hour plus $4.00 materials) are example inputs, not rates. Enter yours.
- No salting-only visits, no stacking, no end-of-driveway returns. If you make them, add them to the cost per push or the push count.
- Rounding. Figures are rounded so the prices don’t pretend to be exact.
Worked example
A worked example
The numbers the calculator opens with on this page: a double driveway in Chicago at a 2 in trigger, which the Chicago O’Hare Intl Airport, IL normals put at 6.7 pushes in a normal season (estimated between the published depths), so 4.7 in a light winter and 8.7 in a heavy one. One push takes 12 minutes at $95.00 an hour for the crew and truck, plus $4.00 of salt: $23.00 a push. The contractor wants a 40% margin, offers a 10% seasonal discount, will carry a medium amount of risk, and has 40 contracts like it.
- Per push: $38.33 a push; the margin is 40% in every winter.
- Seasonal: $230 for the season; 33% in a normal winter, 13% in a heavy one, 53% in a light one.
- Capped seasonal: $230 up to 7.7 pushes, then $38.33 a push; 26% in a heavy winter.
The verdict is seasonal with a cap. Across 40 contracts, a flat seasonal price gives up $1,850 in a heavy winter; the biggest fix is tighten the route, worth $2,100 a season. Drop the trigger to 1 in or set the risk to low and watch the prices move.
Other cities: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and Minneapolis and St. Paul; or the calculator for any city.
Questions
Questions people ask
Where do the push counts come from?
From the official 1991–2020 climate normals: Environment and Climate Change Canada for Canadian cities and NOAA for U.S. cities. Each city page names the station, shows the published “days with snowfall at or above” counts and links to the source. A trigger depth the source does not publish is estimated between the two nearest published depths, and the page says so.
My city is not listed.
Choose “My own push count” and enter the pushes from your records, or the nearest listed city. We add cities where the normals really differ; the ones without snowfall rows in the official normals are left out rather than guessed.
What is a heavy winter?
In this tool, a season with 30% more pushes than the normals, and a light winter 30% fewer. That is our planning assumption, not a published statistic; the normals do not give an upper range. Change the risk setting to see where the cap lands.
Why does the trigger depth matter so much?
Because most snowfalls are small. In Toronto there are about 45 days a year with measurable snow and seven with 5 cm or more. A 2-cm trigger roughly doubles the pushes of a 5-cm one, so the trigger in the contract is the price.
Should the seasonal price be discounted?
Only as much as the cash up front is worth to you. The tool applies the discount you enter to the normal-season total; the capped model keeps the same discount and adds the per-push rate above the cap.
Do you store what I enter?
The inputs and the result are stored without any name or contact details, so we can see how the tool is used. If you ask for the full report, your email is stored with the time, the page and the consent you gave. See the privacy policy.
Next step
Price the winter from your own numbers.
A free diagnostic looks at how you quote, route and track snow today and tells you which fix pays first: the cap, the push log, or the route.
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