Texas Business License Bond Requirements by Agency (2026)

If you have been searching for the “Texas business license bond,” here is why you are not finding a straight answer: there is no such thing. Texas has no universal business license, and therefore no universal business license bond.

What Texas has instead is roughly a dozen agencies that each license their own slice of the economy, each setting its own bond requirements, plus cities that bond permitted work separately on top of that. Your bond — if you need one — is determined by which agency licenses your line of work.

This guide maps it: which Texas agency requires a bond, how much, for how long, and where the city layer comes in.

Start with the agency, not the amount

The most common mistake we see is someone buying a bond because the dollar figure matched. At least five different Texas licenses use a $10,000 bond, each on a different form filed with a different agency, and they are not interchangeable.

So the first question is never “how much?” It is “who is asking?” Once you know the agency, the bond, the form and the amount all follow.

State licensing agency bond requirements

TxDMV — Texas Department of Motor Vehicles

Licenses motor vehicle dealers, salvage dealers and related operations.

License	Bond	Term
General Distinguishing Number (GDN) — independent dealers	$50,000	2 years

The $50,000 figure has applied to new and renewing independent GDN applications since September 1, 2021, when HB 3533 doubled it from $25,000. Any pricing you find quoted against a $25,000 dealer bond is out of date. The bond term matches the two-year license cycle, and the premium is quoted for the full two years rather than annually.

The requirement does not apply to every GDN type — trailer and non-motorized travel trailer GDNs are outside it, and franchised dealers holding a GDN tied to a franchised dealer license are treated differently. Confirm your license type before you buy.

Texas Secretary of State

The SOS registration unit handles more bond types than any other Texas agency, and they are the cheapest bonds in the state.

Registration	Bond	Term
Notary public	$10,000	4 years
Third-party debt collector / credit services organization	$10,000	1 year
Telephone solicitor	$10,000	1 year
Health spa	$20,000 – $50,000	1 year
Athlete agent	$50,000 (plus $100,000 if providing financial services)	varies

These are mostly flat-rated — no credit pull, issued in minutes. The notary bond is the highest-volume surety bond in the state simply because there are more notaries than anything else, and it runs about $50 to $100 for the entire four-year commission.

TDI — Texas Department of Insurance

License	Bond	Term
Public insurance adjuster	$10,000	2 years
Title insurance agent	$10,000 minimum, scaling with premium volume	1 year

The title agent bond is one of the few Texas bonds that scales with your own production — Texas Insurance Code §2651.101 sets it at 10% of gross premium written, with $10,000 as the floor most new agencies start at.

SML — Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending

Licenses mortgage companies, loan originators and servicers. The bond amount depends on license type and prior-year volume rather than a single fixed figure — see the Texas mortgage broker bond page for the current tiers under Texas Finance Code Chapters 156, 157 and 158.

One change worth knowing about if you are a servicer: effective January 1, 2026, SML requires all residential mortgage loan servicers registered under Finance Code Chapter 158 to file and maintain their surety bond electronically through NMLS, under 7 Tex. Admin. Code §58.107. Registrants still operating on a paper bond must convert to an electronic surety bond in order to renew. If your renewal is coming up and your bond is a PDF in a filing cabinet, that is now a blocker.

Texas Department of Banking

License	Bond	Term
Money transmitter / currency exchange	$300,000 – $2,000,000	1 year

Texas Finance Code Chapter 151 governs money services businesses. These are the largest routine license bonds in the state and the only ones in this guide that get underwritten like commercial credit — expect financial statements, and expect the process to take days rather than hours.

TABC — Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

License	Bond	Term
Conduct surety bond — covered permit types	$5,000 – $30,000	2 years

Not every TABC permit requires a bond. Whether one is required, and at what amount, depends on the permit type and the applicant’s history under Alcoholic Beverage Code Chapter 33.

TDLR — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation

TDLR licenses electricians, HVAC contractors, tow operators, vehicle storage facilities, cosmetology and dozens of other programs — and it is the agency people most often assume requires a bond when it does not.

Treat TDLR requirements as program-specific. There is no blanket TDLR bond. Many TDLR programs have no bond requirement at all; some carry one; and in at least one case the bond is a sanction rather than a licensing prerequisite. Under Texas Occupations Code §2303.306, a vehicle storage facility license holder who commits multiple violations can be ordered to obtain a surety bond, with the commission setting the amount based on the seriousness of the violations. That is a disciplinary bond, not something a new VSF posts at application.

If a TDLR program is your licensing path, verify the requirement with that specific program before buying anything.

Federal bonds Texas businesses hit most

Bond	Amount	Term	Agency
Freight broker (BMC-84)	$75,000	1 year	FMCSA
Medicare / DMEPOS	$50,000	1 year	CMS
Tax preparer	$5,000	1 year	Varies by jurisdiction

Federal requirements sit on top of state ones, not instead of them. A Houston freight brokerage carries the federal BMC-84; a Texas medical equipment supplier carries the CMS bond and whatever the state requires for its business structure.

The city layer — where most people get surprised

A state license bond does not satisfy a city permit bond. They have different obligees, different forms and different amounts. If you do work in the public right-of-way, assume the city has its own requirement until you have confirmed otherwise.

Houston

Permit / license	Bond
Sidewalk, driveway, curb & gutter	$2,000
Sign contractor	$25,000
Wrecker / tow	$5,000

For the full picture of what Houston actually requires of contractors — registrations, permits and which bonds attach to which work — see our Houston contractor license and bond requirements guide.

Other major Texas cities

City	Bond	Amount
Dallas	Sidewalk contractor	$2,000
Dallas	Paving	$10,000
Austin	Right-of-way contractor	$10,000
San Antonio	Right-of-way	$10,000 per permit, or $100,000 blanket
San Antonio	Sign contractor	$45,000
Fort Worth	Parkway contractor	$10,000 / $25,000
Fort Worth	Street & storm drain	$25,000
El Paso	Blanket building & construction	$10,000 / $25,000
Lubbock	Contractor compliance	$20,000

San Antonio’s structure is the one to understand, because several cities use a version of it: a $10,000 bond per permit, or a $100,000 blanket bond covering every right-of-way permit you pull that bond year. If you work in that city regularly, the blanket is usually cheaper than a pile of individual bonds — and much less paperwork.

Work in state-controlled right-of-way rather than city streets and you are looking at a Texas right-of-way bond or an encroachment bond instead.

What about general contractors?

Texas does not license general contractors at the state level. There is no state GC license and therefore no state GC license bond.

What exists instead:

• Trade licensing. Electricians and HVAC contractors go through TDLR; plumbers through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners.
• City registration and permit bonds. The table above — this is where most Texas contractors meet their first bond.
• Contract bonds. Bid, performance and payment bonds required by the project owner, not by a licensing agency. On public work they are statutory: Texas Government Code Chapter 2253 governs payment and performance bonds on state and local public projects. Those are contractor bonds, a different family from license and permit bonds.

How to confirm what your license actually requires

1. Get the agency’s own checklist, not a summary of it. Agencies publish the bond form they will accept, and that form is the specification.
2. Confirm four things: bond name, amount, obligee, effective date. Those four determine whether the bond is accepted or handed back.
3. Check the city layer if any part of your work sits in the public right-of-way or needs a municipal permit.
4. Get quoted on the specific form. A quote against “a $10,000 bond” is a guess; a quote against the actual form is a price.

The most common failure is not price, it is paperwork: the principal’s name on the bond has to match the license application exactly. “Gulf Coast Motors” and “Gulf Coast Motors LLC” are different legal entities, and clerks reject on that difference every day.

What Texas license bonds cost

Standard pricing: 1% to 10% of the bond amount per term, set mainly by personal credit. A $10,000 bond runs roughly $100 to $1,000; a $50,000 bond runs roughly $500 to $5,000. Many of the Secretary of State registrations are flat-rated in the low hundreds, with no credit check at all.

The full breakdown by bond amount and credit tier is in our guide to what a license and permit bond costs, and every bond we write in the state is listed on the Texas license and permit bonds page.

Frequently asked questions

Does Texas require a business license bond? Not as a general matter. Texas has no universal business license and no universal business license bond. Bonds attach to specific licenses issued by specific agencies — TxDMV for motor vehicle dealers, the Secretary of State for notaries and several registrations, the Department of Insurance for public adjusters, and so on. If no agency licenses your line of work, there is usually no state bond to post.

Which Texas agency sets my bond amount? Whichever agency issues your license. The amount is set by statute or by that agency’s rules, not by the surety and not by you. TxDMV sets the motor vehicle dealer bond at $50,000. The Secretary of State sets the notary bond at $10,000. Your quote is a percentage of whatever amount the agency named.

Do I need a city bond if I already have a state license bond? Often yes. City permit bonds are separate obligations with the city as obligee. A contractor holding a state registration still posts the City of Houston’s $2,000 bond for sidewalk, driveway, curb and gutter work in the public right-of-way, and separate bonds in Dallas, Austin or San Antonio for similar work there.

Does Texas require a general contractor license? No. Texas does not license general contractors at the state level. Specific trades are licensed — electricians and HVAC through TDLR, plumbers through the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners — and cities run their own registration and permit-bond requirements. That is why general contractors in Texas usually encounter bonds at the city permit desk or in a construction contract rather than at a state licensing board.

How much is a Texas license bond? Typically 1% to 10% of the bond amount per term, based mainly on personal credit. A $10,000 bond runs roughly $100 to $1,000, and a $50,000 bond runs roughly $500 to $5,000. Many small registrations are flat-rated instead — a Texas notary bond is about $50 to $100 for the full four-year commission.

How fast can a Texas license bond be issued? Most standard license and permit bonds are approved and emailed the same business day, and flat-rated bonds issue within minutes. Bonds requiring financial review — money services bonds, larger mortgage bonds — generally take 24 to 72 hours. Filing time at the agency is separate and depends on that agency’s process.