El Paso, TX Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)
Key Facts
- License required for
- All vendors and solicitors, § 5.15.020
- Standard annual fee
- $40 per year
- Itinerant vendor fee
- $100 per year
- License term
- One year, non-transferable
- Maximum fine
- $200 per violation
Summary
Selling merchandise on El Paso streets or door-to-door as a vendor or solicitor requires a city license under Chapter 5.15, with annual fees that scale by vendor type: from $40 for a general vendor up to $170 for money changers. Several exemptions exist, including licensed home occupations and food vendors covered elsewhere.
No person shall engage in, transact or conduct the business or occupation of a vendor or solicitor, as herein defined, either as principal or as agent, servant or employee of any other person, without first having obtained a license therefor, unless such person is exempt, under the provisions of this chapter, from having to obtain such a license.
Full Breakdown
020). 010(F) to include anyone selling merchandise from a truck, a rented space, or on foot from house to house, and a solicitor is anyone taking orders for future delivery. 030). 040 sets annual license fees: $100 for itinerant (nonresident) vendors or solicitors, $70 for anyone using a private vehicle to carry merchandise, $170 for money changers, and $40 for everyone else; a two-day temporary license costs $20. 060). Itinerant applicants can be referred to the chief of police for fingerprinting and periodic reporting. 12, newspaper and religious-literature distributors, nonprofit organizations, home-occupation licensees selling on their own premises, farmers selling their own farm products, and people making five or fewer casual used-goods sales a year.
Violations & Fines
Engaging in vending or soliciting without the required license, or violating any Chapter 5.15 provision, is punishable under Section 5.15.100 by a fine up to $200, with each separate act of vending or soliciting treated as its own offense. The permit official or code enforcement division can inspect and confiscate merchandise deemed unsafe or misrepresented, and the chief of police may revoke a license after a hearing for selling unsafe or misrepresented goods or for an itinerant vendor's failure to file required reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a city license to sell things on El Paso streets?
How much does a vendor license cost?
Are food trucks covered by this chapter?
What happens if I vend without a license?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in El Paso
Texas rules heatmap·Compare El Paso to another location·View the Texas food trucks & mobile vendors overview
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