Staffing agencies in Houston: 1,307 locations, PEO or temp agency, and overtime billing

This report is for Houston employers comparing agencies, job seekers deciding where to register, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms and PEOs.

Houston staffing agencies at a glance

Source: US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metro Area (CBSA 26420), NAICS 56131 (Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services) and 56132 (Temporary Help Services).

Temp help holds 88% of the employees because a temp agency is the legal employer of the people it places: the Census definition says they "are employees of the temporary help services establishment," even though they work at the client's site. A crew of 200 temps at a refinery shows up on the agency branch's payroll, not the plant's.

Where they are

Where a cell reads "not reported (high-noise figure)", the Census Bureau did publish a number but marked it as moved 5% or more by the noise it injects to protect confidentiality. Harris County has 80% of the locations and 80% of the employees. Galveston's 21 locations are the largest on average, about 50 employees each.

How big they are

In broader bands: 829 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 311 have 20 to 99 and 167 have 100 or more (the last is the total less the smaller bands, since the top classes aren't published for the two codes combined). The industry rows fill the gap: seven temp help branches have 500 to 999 employees, and the published temp help cells account for all 928 of its locations, so none has 1,000 or more.

County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, not companies, so a national firm with ten Houston branches counts ten times, and self-employed recruiters aren't included. PEOs (NAICS 56133, 72 more metro locations with 4,372 employees) are a separate code and not in the tables above.

Temp agency, direct hire or PEO?

If you're a job seeker, register with temp and direct hire agencies, not PEOs: a PEO only employs people its client businesses have already hired. On a temp assignment the agency is the employer that pays you, and under federal law overtime of at least 1.5 times your regular rate is due for hours over 40 in a workweek.

Public staffing companies headquartered here

Insperity is a PEO, classified under SIC 7363 with the staffing firms but outside the two Census codes counted here. Its 10-K describes co-employment directly: it and each client "act as co-employers" of the client's worksite employees, and its revenue is gross billings based on their payroll cost plus a markup. That's why a PEO's revenue per corporate employee looks enormous: the 310,089 worksite employees are on its payroll, the roughly 4,200 corporate staff run the service.

The Texas license that does exist

Texas Labor Code section 91.011 says a person may not offer professional employer services without a license, issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Section 91.001 then excludes temporary help and day labor employers from the definition, so the license tells you nothing about a temp agency. In TDLR's license data (updated 19 October 2026), 29 PEO license records list a Harris County business address, 11 Montgomery County and 2 Fort Bend County. Several groups hold a license for each of a string of related entities, so the count overstates the number of separate PEOs.

How to choose a Houston agency

1. Name the job and the site rules first: plant safety orientations, drug testing, TWIC cards for port work or nursing licenses decide which agencies can supply at all.
2. Shortlist specialists. ClearlyRated lists 359 Houston agencies with client and talent ratings, and the American Staffing Association directory filters by job field.
3. Confirm the entity is active on the Texas Comptroller's franchise tax account status search.
4. Get a workers' compensation certificate naming your company, and ask what the agency's safety program covers on your site.
5. Ask for pay rate, markup, overtime method, per diem and conversion terms in writing. The overtime method is the one buyers miss (see below).
6. If it's a PEO, check the TDLR license before you sign.

Worked example: two ways to bill overtime on a turnaround

Illustrative example. The company, rates and markup are invented to show the arithmetic.

Bayou Ridge Chemical (bayouridge.example) books 30 helpers for a three-week turnaround at 60 hours a week: 40 straight time and 20 overtime. Pay is $24.00, overtime pay $36.00, and both agencies quote a 38% markup, a $33.12 bill rate.

Same pay, same quoted markup, $8,208 apart. Neither method is wrong, but the quote that looks identical on page one isn't. Ask for the overtime bill rate as a number in the rate sheet.

Selling to Houston staffing agencies and PEOs

Houston gives a seller two different customer types in one metro. The 928 temp help branches buy for field volume: safety training and site orientations, drug and alcohol testing, background checks, worker transport, workers' compensation and timekeeping. PEOs buy what they resell or administer for clients: benefits, payroll and HR technology, insurance and compliance services.

Build the list in two passes: TDLR's license data for PEOs (with addresses), then the ASA directory and ClearlyRated for temp and direct hire firms. Sort temp agencies by what they post; a firm advertising pipefitter helpers in Pasadena and La Porte is a safety and testing buyer, while a Galleria office placing accountants buys job ads and assessments. Time industrial pitches for when a branch's job posts show it booking a turnaround crew. With two customer types in one list, qualifying each account takes the time; Bebop finds agencies or PEOs that match a description and says why each one fits. For method, see how to find decision makers.

Subject: Site orientations for your [month] turnaround crews

Hi [first name],

I saw [agency] is booking [number] [role, e.g. pipefitter helpers] for work in [city] next month. When a crew starts on the same Monday, the slowest step is usually getting everyone through the site's safety orientation and testing.

We [what you do, e.g. run orientation and drug testing sessions at your branch] so workers arrive cleared for day one.

Would it help to price one session for this crew?

[Your name]

Sources for names and checks

Next step: see how the Dallas market differs, with AMN Healthcare and BGSF headquartered there, in staffing agencies in Dallas.