6 published records
Business licenses and permits in Dallas County, Texas
Dallas County Health and Human Services regulates food and on-site sewage in county territory. It does not regulate every incorporated city inside the county — Dallas, Garland, Irving and the rest run their own programmes and charge their own fees, so confirm which authority covers your address. Note also that from 1 July 2026 the county states mobile food unit permits and inspections are issued by Texas DSHS rather than the county, so an older county mobile food fee still shown on general fee pages no longer describes how those units are permitted.
What are you opening in Dallas County?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Dallas County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial On-Site Sewage Facility Inspectiononly if it applies to you | Dallas County Health and Human Services — Environmental Health Division | $310 per inspection; re-inspection $110 | one-time | 2026-08-21 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
What do these permits involve in Dallas County?
Commercial On-Site Sewage Facility Inspection
$310 for a commercial septic inspection and $110 for a re-inspection. This matters in unincorporated Dallas County where premises are not on city sewer — a business taking a site outside the sewered area inherits an on-site sewage facility and the county inspection regime with it. Inside the City of Dallas the equivalent concern is the sanitary sewer and its trap or discharge permits instead. Figures were read from the county's published environmental health fee schedule; dallascounty.org refuses connections from our crawler, so this source is verified by a person rather than machine-checked.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Environmental Health Fee Schedule — Dallas County Health and Human ServicesDallas County Health and Human Services, Environmental Health Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-08-21
Who issues business permits in Dallas County?
We hold records from one agency for Dallas County, alongside the state-level registrations every Texas business needs. Permitting here is split between local and state offices, so check which authority covers your address before you file.
Dallas County issuing agencies
Other Texas jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.