In short
- 16,887 active Texas food truck sales-tax permits, 6,300 of them issued in the last 12 full months (Oct 2025 to Sep 2026). The 12 months before that show 3,118, though that year is undercounted.
- Houston 756, Austin 405, San Antonio 319, Dallas 226: the four biggest take 27% of the new ones.
- These are permits, not trucks on the road. A permit holder also needs a DSHS license to operate, and the file keeps only active permits.
On this page
- The 25 Texas cities with the most new food truck permits
- New food truck permits per month: a step up in March 2026
- Did the DSHS license cause the March jump? Probably not, and we do not know what did
- Where the active food truck permits are
- Active permits by the year they were issued
- Which cities grew fastest? Treat the percentages as an upper bound
- Inside or outside city limits?
- Starting a truck yourself? Where to go next
- Method and source
- Want the names behind the counts?
- Frequently asked questions
How many food trucks are in Texas, and which cities are getting the most new ones? The Texas Comptroller publishes every active sales-tax permit with an issue date, city and business type. We counted the ones coded as mobile food services (NAICS 722330), the code food trucks, carts and trailers register under. For storefront restaurants see the sibling page, new Texas restaurants by city.
The 25 Texas cities with the most new food truck permits
| City | Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | Prior 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Houston | 756 | 345 |
| 2. Austin | 405 | 282 |
| 3. San Antonio | 319 | 163 |
| 4. Dallas | 226 | 101 |
| 5. Fort Worth | 196 | 88 |
| 6. El Paso | 151 | 92 |
| 7. Katy | 108 | 43 |
| 8. Spring | 83 | 43 |
| 9. Midland | 76 | 36 |
| 10. Corpus Christi | 62 | 36 |
| 11. Cypress | 57 | 19 |
| 12. Humble | 56 | 20 |
| 13. Odessa | 54 | 24 |
| 14. Amarillo | 52 | 13 |
| 15. Arlington | 51 | 26 |
| 16. Killeen | 46 | 18 |
| 17. Garland | 42 | 15 |
| 18. Laredo | 41 | 22 |
| 19. Irving | 39 | 12 |
| 20. Brownsville | 38 | 32 |
| 21. Pflugerville | 38 | 16 |
| 22. Conroe | 37 | 20 |
| 23. Lubbock | 36 | 26 |
| 24. Round Rock | 35 | 34 |
| 25. Mckinney | 30 | 11 |
New 722330 sales-tax permits by the city on the permit, still active today. The prior-12 column is undercounted because closed permits have left the file. Suburbs such as Katy, Spring and Cypress are separate rows because the permit uses the mailing city.
Read it for what it is. A sales-tax permit is a registration to collect tax, not proof a truck is on the road. The city is the mailing city on the permit, which may be where the owner lives or where the commissary is, not where the truck parks.
New food truck permits per month: a step up in March 2026
Monthly new permits ran about 265 to 418 from March to December 2025, hit 402 in February 2026, then jumped to 657 in March and have stayed between 540 and 699 since.
New mobile food services permits issued in Texas per month, active permits only. Earlier months are undercounted.
Did the DSHS license cause the March jump? Probably not, and we do not know what did
Since July 1, 2026, Texas food trucks need a statewide license from the Department of State Health Services (DSHS). It is a natural suspect for a surge. We checked it against the data:
What does not fit
- Timing. The step came in March, four months before the July 1 start. June (699) and July (688) look the same.
- Calendar. It is not an extra working day: permits per weekday with any issued rose from 19.5 to 27.3.
- One place or one filer type. The five biggest cities were 31.1% of February and 29.1% of March. Both of the two biggest taxpayer types in the file rose together.
What could fit (unproven)
- A real surge in people starting trucks, possibly pushed along by news of the coming statewide license.
- A change in how the Comptroller records or codes permits.
- A catch-up in processing. We cannot tell from the public file.
August (607) and September (540) are lower. Recent months should be the least undercounted, so that dip is not explained by closures. It may be a slowdown or late recording. For what the license itself needs, see the Texas food truck permits checklist.
Where the active food truck permits are
These are active permits of every issue year, by mailing city. Houston and Austin hold about 20% of the state's total between them.
Top 10 cities by active 722330 permits, Oct 24, 2026. Total statewide 16,887.
Active permits by the year they were issued
The file holds 5,713 active permits issued in 2026 so far, against 3,659 for all of 2025 and 2,027 for 2024. Older years shrink partly because trucks close. Part of the rise is real growth, part is survivor bias, and we cannot split the two.
Which cities grew fastest? Treat the percentages as an upper bound
Among cities with at least 30 new food truck permits in the prior 12 months (12 qualified), these ten show the biggest change. Because the prior year is undercounted, real growth is smaller than shown.
| City | Oct 2024 to Sep 2025 | Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Katy | 43 | 108 | +151% |
| Dallas | 101 | 226 | +124% |
| Fort Worth | 88 | 196 | +123% |
| Houston | 345 | 756 | +119% |
| Midland | 36 | 76 | +111% |
| San Antonio | 163 | 319 | +96% |
| Spring | 43 | 83 | +93% |
| Corpus Christi | 36 | 62 | +72% |
| El Paso | 92 | 151 | +64% |
| Austin | 282 | 405 | +44% |
Slowest of the qualifying cities: Round Rock (+3%) and Brownsville (+19%). Statewide: 3,118 permits in the prior 12 months, 6,300 in the last 12.
Inside or outside city limits?
The Comptroller marks each outlet as inside or outside city limits, and it is filled in for every food truck permit. It describes the address on the permit, which may be a home or commissary, so it does not tell you where trucks sell. For what the state license costs, see the DSHS fee calculator; local rules on parking and fire inspection are separate.
Starting a truck yourself? Where to go next
- Costs up front. The Texas mobile food vendor license fee calculator adds up DSHS fees per vehicle.
- Passing inspection. Use the Texas food truck inspection checklist before your DSHS visit.
- All the paperwork. The permits checklist covers tax, commissary and city rules.
- Will it pay? The food truck break-even calculator shows tickets per day you need.
Method and source
- Pick the trucks
Outlets with NAICS code 722330, mobile food services. The code is numeric in the file.
- Count by issue date
Whole calendar months by
outlet_permit_issue_date. The latest date in the file is Oct 24, 2026, so October is left out of the monthly and 12-month counts. - Group by city
The outlet city is upper-cased and trimmed. Suburbs are not merged into the big city next to them.
- Publish counts only
No business names, owners or addresses appear on this page.
- Source. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Active Sales Tax Permit Holders on data.texas.gov, a public record. Pulled 2026-10-26.
- Not endorsed. TX Openings is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Comptroller or DSHS.
- Not a record of any one company. Counts say nothing about any single truck, and a permit is not a DSHS license.
Want the names behind the counts?
Frequently asked questions
How many food trucks are in Texas?
Nobody publishes an exact count. The closest public record is the Comptroller sales-tax permit file: 16,887 active permits under the mobile food services code (NAICS 722330) on Oct 24, 2026. That counts permits, not trucks on the road. It includes carts, caterers who use the same code, and permits for trucks that rarely sell. It leaves out trucks that never registered for sales tax.
Which Texas city has the most new food trucks?
Houston, by a wide margin: 756 new permits in the last 12 full months, ahead of Austin (405), San Antonio (319), Dallas (226) and Fort Worth (196). Houston counts the mailing city on the permit, so some unincorporated areas are in it.
Did the new DSHS food truck license cause the jump in permits?
Not in an obvious way. The statewide DSHS mobile food vendor license began on July 1, 2026, but new permits jumped from 402 in February to 657 in March, four months earlier, and stayed at 540 to 699 a month since. We cannot say what caused it.
Is a sales-tax permit the same as a licensed food truck?
No. A sales-tax permit lets a business collect tax. A Texas food truck also needs a DSHS mobile food vendor license, which is a separate application and inspection. Some permit holders have not applied for one or never start selling.
Why do older months look smaller?
The file lists only permits that are still active. A truck that registered in 2024 and shut down in 2025 is gone, so older months undercount what was issued. Last-12-month figures are the more reliable ones, and growth percentages are an upper bound.
Where does the data come from, and can I cite it?
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Active Sales Tax Permit Holders, on data.texas.gov (dataset jrea-zgmq), a public record. We publish counts only, never business names or addresses. You may cite these numbers with a link to this page; please say they are permits issued, not confirmed trucks.