Do I Need a Permit to Remove a Tree in Austin?

Inside Austin city limits, yes, for any tree 19 inches or more in diameter. Outside Austin, usually no, but every city runs its own rules and one of them is stricter than Austin in practice.

Start with a tape measure. Everything follows from one number.

Measure the trunk first

Measure the circumference at 4.5 feet above the ground, which is roughly chest height, then divide by 3.14 to get the diameter.

The shortcut: 60 inches around is about 19 inches across. 75 inches around is about 24 inches across. If your tape reads under about 58 inches in Austin, the ordinance does not reach it. Multi-trunk trees are measured differently, so if yours splits below chest height, ask rather than assume.

Austin’s two thresholds

Diameter	Status	What it means
Under 19 in	Not regulated	Remove it as you wish.
19 – 23.9 in	Protected	Permit required before removal.
24 in and above	Heritage, if a protected species	Removal needs real justification and can be refused.

The Heritage species list covers live oak, pecan, elm, ash, bald cypress, walnut and Texas madrone. Those are the trees that make Austin look like Austin, which is the point of the rule. A 30-inch live oak in your front garden is not coming out because you would prefer more lawn, and an application on those grounds will be refused.

Accepted grounds are things like disease, death, genuine hazard, or a tree that makes a permitted development impossible. Mitigation, meaning replanting inches or paying into the city fund, is commonly attached.

Dead and hazardous trees

These follow a lighter process, and that is the good news for anyone with an obviously finished tree over the house. It is not no process. The condition has to be documented rather than asserted: photographs of the defect or the dead canopy, and the trunk measurement, recorded before anything comes down.

We put that record together as part of quoting a dead tree removal or a hazardous tree, because “it looked dead” is not a defence six months later.

The suburbs are all different

City	Homeowner removal
Austin	Permit from 19 in. Heritage at 24 in.
Georgetown	Heritage category, approval usually needed. Strictest suburb.
Buda	Protected and heritage categories. Check anything sizeable.
Round Rock	Rules bear mainly on development. Routine removals often fine.
Cedar Park	Development-focused. Watch plat conditions on greenbelt lots.
Pflugerville	Development-focused. In Travis County, but Austin’s rule does not apply.
Leander	Development-focused. Newer lots may carry plat conditions.
Hutto	Development-focused. Rarely an issue for young trees.
Kyle	Development-focused.
Lakeway	City provisions plus strict HOA committees.
Unincorporated county	Generally no tree permit at all.

Two traps in that table. Pflugerville is in Travis County and people assume Austin’s rule follows the county line: it does not, it stops at the Austin city limit. And Georgetown is stricter than Austin for a homeowner, because its heritage approval applies whether or not you are developing.

Your HOA is a separate problem

City approval and HOA approval are unrelated, and plenty of Austin-area associations have landscape provisions covering front yard trees. Lakeway’s architectural committees are stricter in practice than the city. Sun City in Georgetown adds its own layer. Read your covenants before you book anyone.

What happens if you skip it

Fines that can reach thousands, plus mitigation requiring replacement planting or payment into the city fund. Austin enforces this, and neighbours report it, particularly when a big canopy tree disappears from a street overnight.

Measure the trunk. Make the phone call. It costs nothing and it takes ten minutes.

General information rather than legal advice, and ordinances are amended over time. Check the current rule with your city before acting on it.