Snow Removal profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Snow Removal falls under Administrative and support services. For tax year 2023, 3,118,914 returns reported $114.4 billion in receipts, $17.9 billion in cost of sales and $24.2 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 84.3% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 21.2% |
| Average receipts per return | $36,687 |
| Average net income per return | $7,769 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in snow removal
Snow removal is labor, fuel, salt and equipment, all concentrated in storm nights.
Where snow removal margin leaks, and how to win it back
- Season contracts in heavy snow years
- Salt costs
- Equipment breakdowns mid-storm
- Damage claims
- Overtime
Ways snow removal companies raise margin: price season contracts with a cap on visits; buy salt before the season; keep spares on the truck; charge for salting separately.
Check your snow removal prices against the costs
We do not have sourced price ranges for snow removal services yet, so start from your own costs with the labor rate calculator and list your prices on the services list.
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual snow removal menu: driveway plowing, per push; season contract; walk and step shoveling; salting driveways and walks; pre-treating before storms; parking lot plowing; sidewalk clearing; snow hauling.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In snow removal it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are snow and ice removal businesses pay an average of $132 a month for; commercial auto at $299 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent snow removal job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for snow and ice removal businesses, checked October 9, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.