Short answer
Dallas County had 318 architecture offices with paid employees in 2023, employing 5,277 people at an average of $113,121 a year, according to the Census Bureau. They averaged 16.6 employees, twice the US figure of 8.3. Texas requires every business offering architecture to register with TBAE each year; 412 registered design businesses list a Dallas County address. Texas public owners must choose architects on qualifications, then negotiate a fair price.
- 318 architecture offices in Dallas County employ 5,277 people on a $597 million payroll.
- Offices average 16.6 employees, against 8.3 nationally; nine have 100 or more.
- TBAE's roster lists 3,833 active design businesses, 1,711 of them based outside Texas.
- A new public school, assembly or office building costing over $100,000 needs a Texas architect or approved engineer.
- AECOM, headquartered in Dallas, reported $16.1 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025.
On this page
This report is for owners, developers, school districts and businesses hiring an architect in Dallas, for designers looking at local employers, and for companies that sell to architecture firms. The Census figures cover Dallas County; for the wider metro's suburbs, the county figure is a floor.
Dallas County by the numbers
County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 reports NAICS 541310, Architectural Services, for Dallas County, Texas:
| Measure (2023) | Dallas County |
|---|---|
| Architecture offices | 318 |
| Employees | 5,277 |
| Annual payroll | $596,938,000 |
| Employees per office | 16.6 |
| Average annual pay | $113,121 |
| Share of US architecture offices | 1.39% of 22,805 |
The count is of establishments with paid employees rather than companies. A firm with a Dallas studio and a Frisco studio counts once in each county, and a sole practitioner with no staff isn't counted. Nationally the industry has 189,468 employees across 22,805 offices, so the US office averages 8.3 people (our calculation).
Bigger offices than most US markets
| Employees at the office | Offices |
|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 185 |
| 5 to 9 | 51 |
| 10 to 19 | 36 |
| 20 to 49 | 26 |
| 50 to 99 | 11 |
| 100 to 249 | 6 |
| 250 or more | Not published |
In bands: 272 offices under 20 employees, 37 with 20 to 99 and nine with 100 or more. The Census Bureau withholds the classes above 249 here; subtracting the published classes from the total leaves three offices with 250 or more people. Only 58% of Dallas offices have fewer than five employees, against 64% nationally, and the county's payroll per employee is about $14,400 above the US average of $98,717. The likely reason is the large national and regional practices with Dallas studios.
The same Census release counts 549 engineering offices (541330), 399 commercial and institutional builders (236220, which includes design-build firms) and 275 interior design offices in the county. Design-build contractors sign one contract to design and build and hire the architect themselves; an architecture firm works for you and helps you hold the contractor to the drawings.
Who is registered to practice
The Texas Board of Architectural Examiners (TBAE) licenses architects, registered interior designers and landscape architects. It also requires businesses that offer any of the three to register with it every year, at $45 for the initial registration and each renewal.
TBAE's active business roster, downloaded on 30 October 2026, lists 3,833 registered businesses. 2,122 give a Texas address and 1,711 are based in other states, which shows how much Texas work out-of-state firms chase. By ZIP code, 412 list a Dallas County address, more than the 318 Census offices because the roster includes interior design and landscape firms, firms with no employees, and mailing addresses. Check any firm in TBAE's business search and the architect in Find a Design Pro.
When a Texas public building needs an architect
Private homes, farm buildings and smaller commercial and multifamily buildings are exempt from the Texas architecture law; the Houston report sets out those private thresholds. For buildings owned by a state agency, a city, a school district or another Texas public entity, TBAE's flowchart applies:
| Public building | Registered architect or approved engineer required? |
|---|---|
| Institutional residential facility (24-hour custodial care) | Yes |
| New education, assembly or office building costing over $100,000 | Yes |
| Alteration or addition costing over $50,000 that removes, moves or adds walls or partitions, or changes an exit | Yes |
| Other public buildings, or work below those thresholds | Exempt |
"Approved engineer" means one of the limited number of professional engineers TBAE allows to provide architectural services on nonexempt projects.
How Texas public owners choose
The Professional Services Procurement Act, Chapter 2254 of the Texas Government Code, bars a governmental entity from selecting an architect on competitive bids. It must first select the most highly qualified provider on demonstrated competence and qualifications, then try to negotiate a fair and reasonable price. If that fails, it formally ends negotiations and moves to the next most qualified firm. A contract made in violation is void.
Private clients can borrow the method: shortlist on qualifications, interview, pick the best-qualified firm, then negotiate scope and fee. AIA publishes standard agreements for each route: B101-2017 for a full owner-architect agreement, B102-2017 when you attach your own scope, and A141-2014 when you hire a design-builder for both design and construction. The AIA Dallas firm directory is a starting list.
The public company on Noel Road
SEC records show no listed company filing under architectural services in Dallas County, but one of the world's largest design companies is based there. AECOM's 10-K for the year ended 30 September 2025 gives its principal executive offices as 13355 Noel Road, Dallas, and describes services that include "architectural and engineering design." It reported revenue of $16,139.6 million and about 51,000 employees, roughly 18,000 in the United States. The filing cites Engineering News-Record's 2025 Design Survey as ranking AECOM the largest general architectural and engineering design firm in the world by 2024 design revenue. AECOM files under SEC code 8711, engineering services, and most of its work is infrastructure, so it isn't a typical choice for a single building.
Jobs and pay
BLS estimates for May 2025 cover the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro, a wider area than the Census county figures: 2,580 architects at a mean wage of $100,900 (median $93,840), and 3,360 architectural and civil drafters at a mean of $69,890. NCARB counts 17,162 Texas architect licenses in 2025, 60% held by Texas residents. AIA Dallas runs a job board.
Selling to Dallas architecture firms
Larger offices mean more buyers inside each firm. As general guidance:
| Office size | Dallas County offices | Who usually decides |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 9 employees | 236 | The owner-principal, quickly |
| 10 to 49 employees | 62 | A managing principal, with an office or studio manager |
| 50 or more employees | 20 | Operations, IT or finance leads, with a principal sponsoring |
Illustrative example. The company, prices and results are invented.
Trinity Stack IT (trinitystack.example) runs IT and file storage for design firms, where large model files shared with consultants make sync and backup a weekly problem. It targets the 62 offices with 10 to 49 employees, where an office manager often runs IT on the side, and the 20 larger ones for co-managed support. After checking which firms list Revit or BIM roles in their job posts, it has 45 accounts. Two emails and a call to each office manager produce 11 assessments and four contracts at $3,500 a month. Finding those 45 and the person who owns IT at each is the research Bebop does for every account in a list.
Next step: see the builders those firms work with in construction companies in Dallas.
Sources
- County Business Patterns (CBP), 2023, US Census Bureau, accessed 30 October 2026
- When to engage an architect or approved engineer (flowchart, revised February 2024), Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, February 2024
- Business registration, Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, accessed 30 October 2026
- Active and pending business roster, Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, downloaded 30 October 2026
- Find a Design Pro, Texas Board of Architectural Examiners, accessed 30 October 2026
- Texas Government Code chapter 2254, Professional and Consulting Services, Texas Legislature, accessed 30 October 2026
- AECOM Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, AECOM, via SEC EDGAR, 19 November 2025
- List of all current AIA Contract Documents, AIA Contract Documents, accessed 30 October 2026
- Firm directory and job board, AIA Dallas, accessed 30 October 2026
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, metropolitan area estimates, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, accessed 30 October 2026
- NCARB by the Numbers 2026: jurisdictions, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, accessed 30 October 2026
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Published .
Questions people ask
How many architecture firms are in Dallas?
The Census Bureau counted 318 architecture offices with paid employees in Dallas County in 2023, employing 5,277 people. They averaged 16.6 employees, twice the national average. Separately, the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners' business roster lists 412 registered architecture, interior design or landscape architecture businesses with a Dallas County address. Suburban offices in Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties aren't included in either count.
How do I check if a Dallas architecture firm is registered?
Texas requires every business that offers architecture, registered interior design or landscape architecture to register with the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners each year. Search the firm in TBAE's business search, then look up the architect who will seal the drawings in Find a Design Pro. Both lists are kept by the board and updated daily. Someone without registration may not call themselves an architect.
Does a public building in Texas need an architect?
Often. TBAE's flowchart says a new public education, assembly or office building costing more than $100,000 needs a registered architect or an approved engineer, as does a public alteration over $50,000 that changes walls, partitions or exits, and any institutional residential facility. Texas public owners must also select the architect on qualifications under Government Code Chapter 2254, not on competitive bids.
What is the largest architecture firm based in Dallas?
Most Dallas architecture firms are private and don't publish revenue. The largest design company headquartered in Dallas that does publish figures is AECOM, whose fiscal 2025 10-K reports $16.1 billion in revenue and about 51,000 employees and cites an Engineering News-Record survey ranking it the world's largest general architectural and engineering design firm. Most of its work is infrastructure engineering.
How much do architects make in Dallas?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the mean annual wage for architects in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro at $100,900 in May 2025, with a median of $93,840 and 2,580 employed. Architectural and civil drafters averaged $69,890. Census payroll for Dallas County architecture offices works out to $113,121 per employee, a figure that includes principals and every other employee.