Texas Ground Snow Load: The Code and the Local Figures

Texas adopts the national building code without a ground snow load amendment of its own, so the governing figure for a given address is the one the code's own table carries, and the body that applies it is the city building department, under Local Government Code Chapter 214. six figures published by Texas bodies themselves are set out below. 17 states are in the same position, which makes it the second commonest arrangement in the country. six Texas figures, running from 3.5 PSF at City of Midland to 20 psf at City of Amarillo, every one of them quoted from the document it was printed in. Nationally 235 figures were read across 33 states.

The city building department, under Local Government Code Chapter 214: the state adopts the code but leaves the figure to each municipality's own amendment. In its own words: “Subject to Subsection (e), a municipality may establish procedures: (1) to adopt local amendments to the International Residential Code that may add, modify, or remove requirements set by the code; and (2) for the administration and enforcement of the International Residential Code.”

Texas splits into zones or bands rather than counties, so the boundary that matters is drawn on the document itself. The published Texas figures run from 3.5 PSF to 20 psf.

the Texas Legislature, by Local Government Code Section 214.212 adopts International Residential Code (as it existed on May 1, 2012). Texas adopted it as written. The adopting rule reads: “To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the International Residential Code, as it existed on May 1, 2012, is adopted as a municipal residential building code in this state.”

A ground snow load is a weight per unit area and not a depth, and the two are joined only by the density of the snow on the day, which is why the published documents give the load and leave the depth out. Wet spring snow and dry January snow of the same depth are different weights on the same roof. The city building department, under Local Government Code Chapter 214 works in loads for that reason, and so does every figure set out below.

The code's figure is applied to a given address by the city building department, under Local Government Code Chapter 214. The document behind it is Local Government Code Chapter 214, Subchapter G, Building and Rehabilitation Codes, published by Texas Constitution and Statutes, Texas Legislative Council, read on September 23, 2026. It establishes the point this way: “The International Residential Code applies to all construction, alteration, remodeling, enlargement, and repair of residential structures in a municipality.”

14 of 50: Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin. The other 36 split into 17 that adopt the national code without a snow amendment and 19 that leave every figure to a county or city building department. That is the single most useful fact about this subject and no one state's own website carries it.