Austin, area by area
Austin is four different tree towns
The same species behaves differently on either side of MoPac, and the permit rules bite hardest in the oldest neighborhoods.
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Austin straddles the Balcones Escarpment. West of MoPac is thin soil over limestone — live oak and Ashe juniper, shallow root plates, wind-throw and oak wilt. East is deep Blackland Prairie clay — pecan, cedar elm and hackberry, with shrink-swell root damage showing up as canopy thinning. On the permit side one number covers the whole city: 19 inches in diameter at 4.5 feet needs a permit, and 24 inches makes an oak or pecan a Heritage tree that generally can't come down at all.
The line that splits the city in two
Austin sits on the Balcones Escarpment. It runs roughly north to south through the middle of town, more or less under MoPac, and it's the edge of the Edwards Plateau. West of it you're on limestone with a few inches of soil over the top. East of it you're on the Blackland Prairie, which is deep clay that swells when it rains and cracks open when it doesn't.
That isn't trivia. It decides which trees grow where, how they fail, how a climber gets to them, and what the job costs. A live oak on a west Austin hillside and a live oak in Windsor Park are doing two different things underground, and they don't need the same thing from me.
So when somebody tells me they're in Austin, my first real question is which side of MoPac.
Which one is your Austin?
Pick the one you're in and you'll get the soil, the species and the access problems that actually apply to your yard, instead of generic advice written for somewhere with topsoil.
The 19-inch line, and the 24-inch one
Austin is the strictest city I work in, and the two numbers that matter are measured at 4.5 feet off the ground. Austin regulates by trunk diameter measured 4.5 feet off the ground. Under 19 inches on residential property, the city doesn't regulate it — that's the sentence most homeowners never get told. At 19 inches and up, any species is a Protected tree and needs a permit to remove. At 24 inches and up, oaks, pecan, American and cedar elm, bald cypress, Texas ash, Texas madrone, bigtooth maple and Arizona or eastern black walnut become Heritage trees, and removing one is prohibited except under section 25-8-641. Removals that aren't tied to construction go through a Tree Ordinance Review Application, and there's a separate track for dead, diseased and imminent-hazard trees.
The practical version: get a tape around your trunk at chest height, divide the circumference by 3.14, and you'll know within a minute whether the city has an opinion about your tree. Sixty inches around is about nineteen through, which is exactly where permitting starts. Seventy-five inches around puts an oak into Heritage territory, and at that point removal is off the table except under specific code provisions.
Central Austin is where this bites hardest, because the oldest neighborhoods are full of trees planted eighty years ago that are now comfortably over both thresholds. West Lake Hills and Rollingwood are inside Austin's mailing addresses but they are separately incorporated cities, so Austin's ordinance isn't theirs and you have to ask their city hall, not Austin's.
There's a fuller breakdown, with the source documents, on the tree permits page.
What Austin gets wrong about oak wilt
Oak wilt is established across Travis County and it is worse in the live oak stands west of town, because those trees are usually growing as one connected root system rather than as separate trees. The fungus moves through the root grafts. That's why a dying patch spreads outward in a ring instead of jumping around a street at random.
The part homeowners can control is the calendar. Don't prune oaks between February 1 and June 30. Fresh cuts in that window attract the beetles that carry the spores. If a limb is genuinely dangerous it comes off anyway, with the fewest cuts possible and paint on every wound immediately. The oak wilt page covers how to spot it and what actually helps.
How far into Austin I come
I'm based in Kyle, which puts south Austin about twenty minutes up I-35 and the north side of town closer to an hour in traffic. I take work across the city, and the honest note is that drive time is real: for a small job a long way north, ask me and I'll tell you whether it's worth your money or whether you'd do better with somebody closer.
The service area page lists all 49 towns I cover with drive times, and the Austin page has the citywide version of the prices.
Measure first
Tape around the trunk at 4.5 feet, divide by 3.14. Under 19 inches through and Austin doesn't regulate a residential removal at all — which is the sentence most homeowners never get told.
February 1 to June 30
Don't prune oaks in that window unless it's a hazard. Oak wilt is already in Travis County and a fresh cut is the doorway.
Questions I get asked
Why is west Austin tree work different from east Austin?
The Balcones Escarpment runs through the middle of the city. West of it is thin soil over Edwards limestone, so root plates spread wide and shallow across rock and the dominant trees are live oak and Ashe juniper. East of it is deep Blackland Prairie clay that shrinks and swells with the weather, which shears fine roots and shows up as canopy thinning in pecans and cedar elms. Same species, different failure mode, different job.
What size tree needs a permit in Austin?
Nineteen inches in diameter measured 4.5 feet above the ground, any species, on residential property. Under that, the city doesn't regulate the removal. At 24 inches, listed species including all oaks, pecan, American and cedar elm, bald cypress and Texas ash become Heritage trees and removal is prohibited except under section 25-8-641.
Does Austin's tree ordinance apply in West Lake Hills or Rollingwood?
No. Both are separately incorporated cities with their own rules, even though they sit inside Austin's postal geography. Ask their city hall rather than assuming Austin's thresholds apply to you.
Do you charge more to come into Austin?
The prices are the same ones on the rest of the site. Drive time is the honest variable: south Austin is close to me, far north Austin is an hour each way in traffic, and for a small job up there I'll tell you if you're better off with somebody local.
Tell me what’s going on with your tree
A photo with something in frame for scale tells me most of what I need.
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.