Staffing agencies in Plano: Collin County's professional staffing market and how to check a PEO

This report is for employers in Plano, Frisco, McKinney and Allen choosing an agency or PEO, job seekers comparing them, and B2B sellers whose customers are staffing firms. The Census figures cover Collin County as a whole.

Collin County staffing agencies in Census data

US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, for Collin County, Texas, NAICS 56131 (Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services) and 56132 (Temporary Help Services):

A temp agency is the employer of the people it supplies, so its contractors at client sites are counted at the agency's location. That's why 180 temp branches hold 81% of the jobs. The pay level says something about the work: an average of about $63,500 in temp help is far above the roughly $46,700 in Dallas County's temp help (see the Dallas County report), which suggests a mix weighted toward professional contracting. County Business Patterns doesn't break temp help down by job type.

Size

In broader bands, 212 establishments have 1 to 19 employees, 52 have 20 to 99 and 21 have 100 or more; the 21 is the total less the smaller bands, because the Census Bureau doesn't publish the top classes for the combined codes. The industry rows show that 3 temp branches and 1 placement office have 250 or more employees, and no temp branch reached 500.

These are establishments with paid employees, not companies: a national firm with offices in Legacy and in Frisco counts twice, and an independent recruiter with no payroll isn't counted. Professional employer organizations are a separate industry, with 17 locations and 1,405 employees in the county. No SEC-registered listed staffing company has its business address in Collin County; the nearest are in Dallas.

Contract, direct hire or PEO?

A staffing firm finds people; a PEO doesn't. If your team is hired and you want benefits and HR administration, compare PEOs, not agencies.

Checking a PEO in Texas

Texas requires PEOs to be licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The state's open data file of TDLR licences, updated 19 October 2026, lists 502 PEO licences (428 full and 74 limited), and 367 of them are held by businesses outside Texas. Only 3 list a Collin County business address, and all 3 show expiry dates that had passed by the time we checked, the latest on 9 October 2026. TDLR has a separate process for expired licences and late renewals, so two lessons follow:

• Most PEOs serving Plano companies aren't local. Don't filter your shortlist by address.
• A listing isn't a licence. Check the expiry date and status in TDLR's licence search, not just that the name appears.

For a staffing agency, check the entity's status on the Texas Comptroller's franchise tax account status page, and ask for its workers' compensation and liability certificates.

Worked example: comparing two PEO quotes

Illustrative example. The company and both quotes are invented to show the arithmetic.

Spring Creek Analytics (springcreek.example), a 22-person software firm in Plano with an average salary of $95,000 ($2,090,000 of payroll), has two PEO quotes:

The two fees are equal when 2.8% of an employee's pay equals $1,800 a year, at a salary of about $64,286. Above that, a per-employee fee is cheaper, and the gap grows with every raise. Compare the fees only after checking that both quotes include the same benefits plans, workers' compensation and payroll taxes, which PEOs often bill separately.

How to vet a Plano agency

1. Check the entity on the Comptroller's account status search.
2. For a PEO, check the TDLR licence, its type (full or limited) and its expiry date.
3. Get certificates for workers' compensation and general liability naming your company.
4. For contract roles, ask whether contractors are the agency's W-2 employees, and the overtime and conversion terms.
5. Read ratings on ClearlyRated and call two clients with similar roles.

If you're looking for work

In a professional market like this one, agencies are paid by the employer, so don't pay to register. For a contract role, ask whether you'll be a W-2 employee of the agency, with payroll taxes and workers' compensation handled, or an independent contractor responsible for your own.

Selling to Collin County staffing firms

The buyers are mostly small: 212 of the 285 locations have fewer than 20 employees, and 105 are placement or search offices. They buy candidate sourcing data, applicant tracking, job advertising, background checks and contractor onboarding; temp branches add timekeeping and payroll.

Split recruiters by specialty from their job postings: an IT contracting office and a finance search boutique buy different tools. At volume, Bebop finds firms that match a description and explains why each fits; see how to build a prospect list for the method.

Subject: [Skill] candidates in Collin County

Hi [first name],

I saw [firm] has [number] open [skill] roles for clients around Plano.

Most of your competitors are searching the same job boards. Our [product] finds [skill] engineers within [distance] of the client site, with current contact details, so your recruiters call people who haven't heard from five agencies this week.

Worth a trial on your hardest open req?

[Your name]

Local sources

Next step: compare Plano with its larger neighbor in the report on staffing agencies in Dallas.