Texas contractor licensing
Which Texas Cities Are Easiest and Hardest for Contractor Licensing?
San Antonio is the hardest of the 17 Texas cities we could rank for contractor licensing, going by what each city adds on top of state licenses, and Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leon Valley, and Round Rock tie as the easiest. A trade in San Antonio carries 13.2 local points on average, against 0.0 in Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leon Valley, or Round Rock, on a scale where a city that asks for nothing scores 0. The largest bond we found is $75,000, required in Abilene for foundation repair. Every number comes from city and state sources checked on October 18, 2026, and the method is below so anyone can check it.
Texas cities ranked from easiest to hardest
| 1 | Cedar Park | 0.0 | 6 | Demolition (0) | Plumbing (62) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Georgetown | 0.0 | 7 | Foundation repair (0) | Plumbing (62) |
| 3 | Leon Valley | 0.0 | 7 | Concrete flatwork (0) | Plumbing (62) |
| 4 | Round Rock | 0.0 | 8 | Demolition (0) | Plumbing (62) |
| 5 | Grand Prairie | 1.4 | 6 | Drainage and detention (1) | Plumbing (62) |
| 6 | Plano | 1.7 | 7 | Concrete flatwork (2) | Plumbing (62) |
| 7 | Schertz | 2.1 | 7 | Demolition (5) | Plumbing (62) |
| 8 | Denton | 2.7 | 8 | Demolition (1) | Plumbing (62) |
| 9 | Leander | 4.2 | 6 | Roofing (0) | Plumbing (62) |
| 10 | Garland | 5.1 | 9 | Demolition (7) | Plumbing (62) |
| 11 | Seguin | 5.2 | 6 | Concrete flatwork (7) | Plumbing (62) |
| 12 | Fort Worth | 5.3 | 8 | Foundation repair (3) | Plumbing (62) |
| 13 | Corpus Christi | 6.0 | 6 | Foundation repair (9) | Plumbing (62) |
| 14 | El Paso | 6.7 | 6 | General contracting (15) | Plumbing (62) |
| 15 | Abilene | 6.9 | 7 | Demolition (8) | Plumbing (62) |
| 16 | Lubbock | 8.2 | 7 | Concrete flatwork (14) | Plumbing (62) |
| 17 | San Antonio | 13.2 | 8 | Concrete flatwork (5) | Plumbing (62) |
Rank 1 is the easiest. Average local points use only the city's own rules; easiest and hardest trade include the Texas state license. Checked October 18, 2026.
Easiest and hardest city for each trade
| Foundation repair | Georgetown, Houston, McKinney and 1 more (0) | San Antonio (30) | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| General contracting | Cedar Park, Georgetown, Houston and 4 more (0) | San Antonio (30) | 31 |
| Roofing | Cedar Park, Georgetown, Houston and 3 more (0) | El Paso (15) | 26 |
| Plumbing | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (62) | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (62) | 35 |
| Electrical | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (58) | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (58) | 35 |
| HVAC | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (52) | Abilene, Amarillo, Austin and 32 more (52) | 35 |
| Irrigation | Cedar Park, Dallas, Georgetown and 5 more (27) | El Paso (37) | 32 |
| Concrete flatwork | Leon Valley (0) | Fort Worth (24) | 15 |
| Demolition | Cedar Park, Houston, and Round Rock (0) | Lubbock (14) | 17 |
Scores out of 100, state and local rules combined. Ties are listed together. Trades rated in fewer than three cities are left out.
The local rules behind the ranking
The largest bonds are $75,000 in Abilene for foundation repair, $50,000 in El Paso for foundation repair, $25,000 in Laredo for concrete flatwork, and $20,000 in Amarillo for a Residential Remodel license.
The highest contractor registration fees are $250 in Brownsville, $200 in New Braunfels, and $195.50 in San Antonio.
Abilene, Cedar Park, Corpus Christi, Georgetown, Leander, Leon Valley, Odessa, Round Rock, and Schertz register general contractors for free.
Houston and McKinney do not register general contractors at all.
San Antonio is the only city here that wants a passed exam or an ICC certification before it registers a contractor.
For foundation repair, Corpus Christi, Denton, Fort Worth, Garland, Georgetown, Houston, Kyle, McKinney, Plano, Round Rock, and San Antonio want a Texas professional engineer's letter or plans with the permit. That is a permit rule rather than a license rule, so it does not change the score, but it does change the cost of the job.
How we scored it
Each city and trade gets points from the rubric below, using only facts an official source publishes. The overall city ranking averages the points each city adds on its own, because the Texas state layer is the same in every city. Only fully verified trades count toward it, so a city that publishes less cannot rank easier for that reason, and a city needs at least six of them to be ranked. The easiest and hardest trade columns use the full score, state and local together.
| Each required licensing exam, state or local | 15 points, up to 30 |
|---|---|
| A separate business and law exam | 5 points |
| Experience required (hours count at 2,000 a year) | 5 points a year, up to 25 |
| First-year license, registration and exam fees | 1 point per $50, up to 15 |
| A bond | 4 points, or 8 if the bond is $10,000 or more |
| Minimum liability insurance | 5 points |
| Background check or fingerprints | 4 points |
| Continuing education to renew | 4 points |
| Published processing time | 2 points for two weeks or more, 4 for 30 days or more |
Missing data never counts as easy. A trade whose rules are not published gets no score. A partly published trade, including one whose fee is not published, keeps its score only when it already rates Moderate or harder, and shows a plus sign, because the missing facts could only add points. Across the 62 Texas cities and counties we checked, 303 of 620 trade rules are fully verified, 249 are partly published and 68 are unknown.
To cite this ranking, name Motmot Foundation Repair, Texas contractor licensing difficulty by city, data checked October 18, 2026, and link to this page. The city pages linked in the table show every fact behind each score.
Rules and fees change, and this is not legal advice. Confirm with the city where the work is before you apply or bid.