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Cleaning Up Graffiti in the City of Boston

Learn more about the Graffiti Busters, and how we're removing graffiti across the City.

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The Graffiti Busters have removed graffiti from more than 45,000 locations in the City of Boston. Our Graffiti Removal Program prioritizes assisting publicly owned properties, small businesses, and homeowners; we therefore give precedence to those cases. 

Reporting graffiti

Removing graffiti on public property

You can report graffiti on public property through Boston 311. We also remove graffiti on private property, but only with the permission of the property owner.

Go to Boston 311

Please note:
  • Our Graffiti Removal Team will investigate your report. For some cases, we may refer the report to other agencies, including the federal and state government. Request are addressed on a first-come, first-served basis and are limited to ground-level removal.
  • The Graffiti Removal Team is inactive from Mid-November to April 1. Cold weather limits the effectiveness of graffiti removal chemicals and equipment.
  • Due to limited resources, we prioritize graffiti removal efforts on City-owned property and public property. You can track the status of your request online by entering your case number and email address through the Boston 311 website.
Removing graffiti on private property

The City of Boston is unable to remove graffiti on property without the written consent of the property owner.

If you are the private property owner, please complete our Online Liability Waiver. Once complete, a copy will be sent to our Graffiti Removal Staff, who will file it with your case.

If you are not, we encourage you to reach out to the owner and urge them to fill out the waiver so that the graffiti may be removed. 

If the graffiti is aggressively offensive (i.e. includes hate speech or racist content) please reach out directly to the Property Management Department at propertymanagement@boston.gov, as we prioritize removal of such graffiti, even without a waiver. Including a photo and a clear and detailed description of the location is particularly helpful.

Related information

Related information
Graffiti Removal Liability Waiver (Online Form)
BOS:311 graffiti removal request
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