Some people prefer sunny weather, others like the rain. However, there’s something uniquely enchanting about snow. Every year throughout the country, snow blankets homes in a relaxing, white layer that silences the city sounds and signifies the beginning of the holiday season.
While snow is fairly common across the northern U.S., some cities see a much larger amount than others, transforming into winter wonderlands. But which cities see the most snow?
If you’re considering moving to a new area but aren’t sure where to choose, we’re here to help. Whether you like warm, sunny cities year-round and are making a list of places to avoid, or love a cold and snowy winter, Redfin has compiled a list of the snowiest cities in the U.S. to help you move with confidence. Read on to learn more and discover if one of these cities is right for you.
How we measure the snowiest cities
For our purposes of determining the “snowiest” cities, this list will focus on cities that receive the highest average seasonal snowfall totals. Some cities may see more days with measurable snowfall but lower average totals, so we won’t include them.
Keep reading to see Redfin’s rankings of the snowiest cities in the U.S. with a population of 75,000 or more.
The snowiest city in the U.S. is Syracuse, NY. Syracuse is also the rainiest and one of the cloudiest cities in the country.
Syracuse is so snowy because of its location near the Great Lakes, often seeing strong lake-effect snowstorms. Lake-effect precipitation happens when older air that enters the region from the west or northwest travels east over the relatively warmer lakes, turning into heavy rain or snow. Syracuse is just east of Lake Ontario, so it sees this pattern frequently. The lake effect is much stronger and more common in the winter due to the larger temperature difference between the air and water.
Sometimes, lake-effect systems stall over the region, causing snowstorms that can cover the city in feet of snow within a day. Because of this, Upstate New York is known for some of the heaviest snowfall in the world. This is what prompted the largest Upstate cities to compete for the Golden Snowball Award, which is awarded annually to the city that receives the most snow. Syracuse has won the majority of the years dating back to 1951, but Buffalo has won the past three and currently holds the trophy.
The most snow Syracuse has seen in a single storm occurred during the Storm of the Century in 1993, when 42.9 inches fell in two days.
The small city of Erie, PA is second on our list. As one of the snowbelt cities, Erie sees most of its snow from lake effect storms off Lake Erie. However, because the cold air that causes storms doesn’t cross as much of the lake as other cities like Syracuse (from Lake Ontario), snow is generally lighter.
Regardless, the area does see strong storms: Recently, Erie was hit with over five feet of snow during the holidays due to a lake effect storm.
Rochester is the third-snowiest city in the U.S., again thanks to the lake effect. Similar to Syracuse, it receives an abundance of snowfall from Lake Ontario. However, it’s located further west than Syracuse, meaning there is less opportunity for cold air to pass over the lake, resulting in lower snowfall totals. Also similar to Syracuse, Rochester is known for more frequent light and moderate snow, but it has seen many strong storms.
The most intense snowstorm in the city’s history occurred from February 28-March 2, 1900. This storm dropped 43.5 inches of snow over 63 straight hours, causing the deepest snowpack Rochester has ever seen.
The last of the Upstate New York cities, Buffalo is the fourth-snowiest city in the U.S. Like Syracuse and Rochester, Buffalo gets most of its snow from strong lake effect snowstorms.
So, while Buffalo may receive less average snowfall than its neighbors, it sees some of the strongest storms and fastest snow accumulation. Buffalo’s one-day snowfall record of 33.9 inches is rivaled only by Syracuse on this list.
Boulder, CO, the first city on our list in the Rocky Mountains, is the fifth-snowiest city in the country. The keys to Boulder’s snowy winters are its elevation and location.
At 5,430 feet above sea level, Boulder benefits from upslope flow, where moisture from the east rises rapidly over the steep Rockies and condenses into precipitation. Due to the frequently-cold temperatures, this precipitation often falls as snow during the winter. The colder air temperatures also lead to extremely long snow seasons that last from September to June.
Additionally, even though it’s only 30 miles from Denver, Boulder receives more than twice the amount of snow. This is primarily due to Boulder’s pristine location in the shadow of the steep Flatiron range. When winter storm systems hit the Flatirons, they drop huge amounts of snow in order to ascend quickly, most of which falls on Boulder.
However, Boulder’s winters aren’t the freezing snowscapes some might expect. While the area does get plenty of snow, it rarely lingers more than a few days thanks to strong sunlight and relatively mild temperatures. The average winter high is around 47°F, with 60°F days not uncommon. Compared to places like Syracuse, where the average winter high is 34°F, Boulder’s winters are relatively mild (minus the dramatic temperature swings).
The sixth-snowiest city in the U.S. is Duluth, MN. During the long winter, Duluth regularly sees snow, and experiences extremely cold weather for months on end. In fact, Duluth is the fourth-coldest major city in the contiguous U.S.
Duluth is unique in that it sits on the western side of Lake Superior, which would typically make it a drier city. However, Lake Superior is large enough and far enough north for it to produce lake effect precipitation along all of its shores that can spread far inland. That, combined with other storms that blow through during the spring and fall, make it a very cold and snowy city.
Flagstaff is the seventh-snowiest city in the U.S., receiving over seven feet of snow per year on average. The city is particularly snowy because of its high elevation (6,900 feet above sea level) and proximity to the Pacific Ocean. Even though the city is relatively far south, the altitude brings plenty of cold air and means that any moisture moving over the area will likely fall near the city.
Flagstaff benefits from a similar phenomenon as Boulder, but moisture comes from the Pacific Ocean instead of the Midwest.
Snow has been relatively common lately, too. The 2022-23 season was the second-snowiest on record, and 2024-25 is starting off strong; the local Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort just had its earliest opening day in history.
Surprisingly, Anchorage, AK, the northernmost major city in the U.S., is only the eighth snowiest. This is because Anchorage is surrounded by tall mountains and fjords, which causes a large portion of the frequent Pacific storms to dump most of their snow and rain before they reach the city. However, the city still receives plenty of snow and provides gorgeous vistas year-round.
Other Alaskan towns, such as Juneau (87.6 inches) and Homer (100.6 inches), receive more snow than Anchorage on average, but are too small for this list.
Recently, during the current 2023-24 season, Anchorage totaled 133.3 inches of snow – the second-snowiest season on record. Snow fell as late as May that season.
Grand Rapids, MI, is the ninth-snowiest city in the U.S. Similar to many other cities on the list, the city sees most of its snow from lake effect storms. Grand Rapids is just to the east of Lake Michigan, meaning if cold air is blowing from the west or southwest, snow is likely to fall in the area. However, these wind patterns usually only last for around 12 hours at a time, meaning the region sees much lower snowfall totals than the top spots on this list.
The largest one-day snowfall ever recorded in Grand Rapids occurred during the famous Blizzard of January 26-27 in 1978. 16.1 inches of snow fell in 24 hours, with up to 30 inches or more in some localized areas.
Last on our list is Worcester, MA. Worcester is just the fourth city on the list not to benefit from the lake effect. Instead, the area sees most of its snow from Nor’easters, which are storms that result from strong, cold air from the northeast hitting the relatively warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean. These storms can produce very strong snowstorms across New England and even further south.
In fact, the January 2015 Blizzard, which was a Nor’easter, dumped 34.5 inches of snow – a single-storm record.
Interestingly, Worcester receives nearly 30 inches more snow on average than coastal cities like Boston and Providence. This is because of its inland location and proximity to higher elevation, causing lower temperatures and more winter precipitation.
The outright snowiest place in the United States is a tossup between Mount Rainier (Tahoma) and Mount Baker (Kulshan) in Washington State. These mountains receive an average of 640–663 inches of snowfall each year, but have seen as much as 1,122 and 1,140 inches respectively – the highest totals in the world.
The mountains receive so much snow because of their high elevation and proximity to frequent moisture from the Pacific Ocean. One of the lowest-elevation ski resorts in the U.S., The Summit at Snoqualmie, also benefits from this pattern. Late-season snow at higher elevations is especially common.
How is snowfall changing?
There are three ingredients necessary for snow:
Cold air (around 32 degrees Fahrenheit)
Moisture (high relative humidity)
Rising air (required for clouds and precipitation)
This trend is already happening and is projected to get worse. In fact, the 2023-2024 winter was the warmest on record in the contiguous U.S., with many calling it “The Lost Winter.” Cold and snow were largely absent across large swaths of the country.
So, as the world warms, the snowiest cities in the U.S. will likely see less snow in the future.
Methodology
This list contains seasonal snowfall data for major cities with over 75,000 residents, measured from July 1st through June 30th.
Data comes from the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and its parent administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
