Landscaper in Texas: licence, certification and what employers require (2026)

Texas licenses irrigators and landscape irrigation technicians through the Commission on Environmental Quality. This page says what a landscaper licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Texas, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Landscaping itself is not licensed. Applying pesticides or herbicides commercially requires a state pesticide applicator licence, which transfers by reciprocity between many states through the state department of agriculture; irrigation work is licensed in a few states (Texas, for one). Check Texas's rule for the work you actually do.

What to have ready before you move

• Pesticide applicator licence and categories
• Irrigation licence if you hold one
• CDL if you drive the trucks

Start the paperwork before you give notice. There is no Texas licence to wait for, so the only clock is the employer's.

What people get wrong

• Spraying without the state licence; fines are per application

Who hires landscapers in Texas

Landscapers in Texas are hired by landscape contractors, golf courses, municipalities, property managers and tree services. The metros with the most of that work are Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Texas openings page.

For the money side: the median landscaper in Texas earned $36,240 a year ($17 an hour) in May 2024 across 68,700 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Texas has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Texas, on one page

The Texas page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Texas employers hiring from out of state.