Austin, Texas · Travis County
Tree removal in Austin
The city with a full-time arborist's office and the most paperwork attached to a chainsaw anywhere in the region.
In Austin, a tree of about 19 inches in diameter or more is where the city gets involved. Below that you are generally clear to take it down.
About 30 minutes from me in Kyle. Whatever the answer turns out to be, it is a form and a measurement rather than a refusal — these get approved all the time. Call me and I’ll tell you where you stand.
What Austin actually regulates
Austin runs city arborist review and permitting with its own protected and heritage tiers, and it's the one place where getting the sequence wrong is genuinely expensive. Beyond the rules: east Austin sits on black prairie clay, west Austin sits on limestone, and the same species behaves differently on either side of MoPac.
24 inches in diameter and up
The most protected category
Heritage tree — the most protected category, and still not a dead end.
At 24 inches or more, on the listed species, Austin classes this as a Heritage tree. Removal is prohibited except as provided under City Code section 25-8-641, which does set out routes through it. A tree that is dead, diseased or an imminent hazard also runs on a separate track entirely. This is a real process rather than a form you fill in, so worth talking through before you assume the answer is no.
19 inches in diameter and up
Permit needed
Protected tree. You need a permit to remove it.
At 19 inches or more, any species is a Protected tree in Austin and a permit is required to remove it.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
Under 19 inches on residential property, the city doesn't regulate it.
Austin's tree ordinance doesn't reach trees under 19 inches in diameter on residential property, so no Tree Ordinance Review Application is needed. An HOA or plat restriction still can.
The ordinance, in its own words
A Protected tree has a diameter of 19 inches or more, measured 4.5 feet above the ground. A Heritage tree has a diameter of 24 inches or more and is one of the listed species; removal of a heritage tree is prohibited, except as provided under Section 25-8-641.
Source: City of Austin — Tree Reviews and Permitting. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Austin code attaches
- If it's not construction-related
- A removal not tied to construction goes through a Tree Ordinance Review Application (TORA).
- If it's part of building or development
- Where there's development, tree review runs concurrently with building plan review and the tree permit accompanies the residential building permit.
- Species rules
- The Heritage list is all oaks, pecan, American elm, cedar elm, bald cypress, Texas ash, Texas madrone, bigtooth maple, Arizona walnut and eastern black walnut. At 24 inches those are effectively unremovable without meeting 25-8-641.
- How it's measured
- Diameter measured 4.5 feet above the ground. Three tiers on private property: 8 to 18 inches, Protected at 19, Heritage at 24.
- Dead, diseased or hazardous trees
- Austin runs a separate track for dead, diseased and imminent-hazard trees. It's a process, not a free pass, but it's the right door to knock on.
- Who to call
- Austin Development Services, City Arborist Program
Check your own tree against Austin’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Austin, put the trunk measurement in, and it will show you exactly which band you are in and what the code says about it.
How a removal actually goes in Austin
Anything from alley-accessible east side lots to hillside west side properties where nothing bigger than a wheelbarrow gets in. Central Austin adds a real constraint people forget: nowhere to put the truck and chipper. If your street is narrow and permit-parked, tell me.
Everything gets hauled away and the ground raked off behind us. Want the logs kept for firewood? Say so before we start and my crew will cut them to length and stack them rather than running them through the chipper.
The trees I get called about here
It depends entirely on which side of town you're on — east Austin's black clay grows pecan, cedar elm and hackberry; west Austin's limestone grows live oak and ashe juniper. Citywide, the two things I'm called about most are oak wilt, which is well established in Travis County, and limb failure on mature live oaks. The February 2023 ice storm did enormous damage to Austin's canopy and a lot of what I still see are trees carrying broken, hung-up or badly torn limbs from it.
Before you decide to remove it
A mature live oak took fifty years to reach that size and I can take it down in a morning. Neither of us can put it back. So the first thing I want to know is whether it actually needs to go — a tree that looks finished is quite often a tree that needs the deadwood out of it and nothing more. Here’s how to tell the difference, and here’s the risk check if you want to work it through yourself.
If it does need to come out, the permit side is the easy part. The rules for every town I’ve read are here, and here’s everything else I do in Austin.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Austin?
It depends on the trunk size. A Protected tree has a diameter of 19 inches or more, measured 4.5 feet above the ground. A Heritage tree has a diameter of 24 inches or more and is one of the listed species; removal of a heritage tree is prohibited, except as provided und… That is City of Austin — Tree Reviews and Permitting, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Austin's rules?
Put a tape around the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground to get the circumference, then divide by 3.14 for the diameter. Austin writes its rule in inches in diameter. If the trunk splits into several stems below 4.5 feet, measure below the split — that usually puts you in a higher bracket than you expected.
What if the tree is dead or dangerous?
Austin runs a separate track for dead, diseased and imminent-hazard trees. It's a process, not a free pass, but it's the right door to knock on.
How much does tree removal cost in Austin?
Access is the biggest driver, ahead of size — whether there is a drop zone or whether every piece has to be roped out over a roof is the difference between a morning and a full day. Then trunk diameter, then lean and deadwood. Send me a photo and the circumference and I can usually price it from that.
Got a tree in Austin you’re not sure about?
Text me a photo and the measurement round the trunk. I’ll tell you which side of the line it’s on and what it takes to get it done.
Same-day callback on estimates
Call or text before 5pm on a weekday and you'll hear back from me the same day. Not an answering service — me.