2026 local estimate · updated 2026-07-22
Cost to remodel a kitchen in Austin, TX
A typical kitchen remodel in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX area runs $65,615, with most projects landing between $9,374 and $121,856 — about 6% below the national average.
Low
$9,374
Basic materials, simple job
Typical
$65,615
What most people pay
High
$121,856
Premium materials or complex job
What's priced: Mid-range remodel of a typical kitchen — new cabinets, countertops, sink and fixtures — without moving walls or relocating plumbing. Excludes permits, structural repairs found mid-job, and premium upgrades.
Why Austin is cheaper than average
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX area earn about 18% less than the national mean for the same occupation, per Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that difference flows straight into the total.
Cabinets and countertops are the largest line items in a kitchen remodel and are bought rather than built on site, so materials carry most of the cost. Labor share rises on gut renovations that move plumbing or electrical, and falls on cabinet-and-counter refreshes.
Get a number for your own job
The figures above are for a standard project. Your size, materials, and access will move them. Run your own specification through the calculator, then apply the ×0.821 local labor factor to the labor portion.
Open the kitchen remodel calculator →Permits for a kitchen remodel in Austin
Issuing authority: City of Austin Development Services Department
Development Services prices an interior remodel at a $120.78 base fee, rising to $120.78 plus $1.208 per square foot over 100 square feet once the job spans 101 to 200 square feet, and there is a $106.72 residential plan review application processing fee.
On top of that, express permits for a kitchen remodel add a $66.33 inspection fee, and if the job pulls separate building, electrical, mechanical or plumbing permits, each one has its own base fee: $289.53, $166.99, $116.07 and $200.43 respectively. Each permit fee covers one inspection per required type, so a reinspection is billed separately if an inspector has to come back.
When a permit is needed
- “Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, countertops, and similar finish work.” — City of Austin Development Services, Work Exempt from Building Permits (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Fees
- “Interior Remodel i base fee $120.78 ii 101-200 sq. ft. $120.78 Plus $1.208 per sq. ft. over 100 sq. ft.” — City of Austin Development Services, Residential Building Plan Review Fees (1 of 6), FY2025-26 (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Residential Plan Review Application Processing Fee $106.72” — City of Austin Development Services, Residential Building Plan Review Fees (1 of 6), FY2025-26 (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Residential Express Permits/Kitchen Remodels - Inspection $66.33” — City of Austin Development Services, Residential Building Plan Review & Inspection Permit Fees (2 of 6), FY2025-26 (retrieved 2026-09-23)
- “Single Family, Duplex, Townhouse, and other Residential Structures Base Fee Building $289.53 Electrical $166.99 Mechanical $116.07 Plumbing $200.43” — City of Austin Development Services, Residential Building Plan Review & Inspection Permit Fees (5 of 6), FY2025-26 (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Inspections
- “Permit fees include one inspection per required inspection type. A reinspection fee will be charged for every additional scheduled inspection” — City of Austin Development Services, Residential Building Plan Review & Inspection Permit Fees (2 of 6) (retrieved 2026-09-23)
Austin's fee schedule quoted here is effective 10/01/2025 and the city's fiscal year starts October 1, so a new schedule may apply. Confirm current fees before you budget.
Quoted verbatim; not recalculated.
Nearby metros
- Kitchen remodel in Houston, TX — typically $65,296
- Kitchen remodel in Dallas, TX — typically $64,267
- Kitchen remodel in San Antonio, TX — typically $63,973
Compare kitchen remodel cost across every US metro we cover — the same labor-adjusted model as this page, ranked from most to least expensive, if you want the national picture rather than Austin alone.
Or step up one level: kitchen remodel cost across Texas — the average of all 6 Texas metro areas we publish, which is a coarser figure than Austin and is meant for comparing states rather than budgeting a job.
How we calculate this
We take a national installed-cost range, split it into labor and materials, and scale only the labor half by this metro's actual wage data. That is the whole model — no black box, and reproducible from the figures on this page.
- National range: $10,000–$130,000, from our kitchen remodel cost data (last verified 2026-07-13).
- Labor share: 35%. An industry rule of thumb, not a measured value — the softest assumption here, which is why we state it rather than bury it.
- Metro labor factor: ×0.821, being the mean annual wage for Carpenters in Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX divided by the national mean for the same occupation.
- Materials: held at the national level. We vary labor by metro and hold materials at the national level. That is deliberate: shingles, copper, HVAC equipment, and cabinets are nationally traded and priced, and what actually varies locally is freight and sales tax — both small next to the labor spread. We have no metro-level materials index we can defend, so rather than invent one, we vary only what we can source.
Wage source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), metropolitan area estimates, May 2025. A U.S. Government work, in the public domain and free to reuse. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we publish no page for it rather than fill the gap with an estimate.
Educational estimate only. A real quote for your specific property beats any model, including ours — get at least three.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen in Austin, TX?+
A typical project in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX area runs about $65,615, with most falling between $9,374 and $121,856. Of the typical figure, roughly $20,115 is labor and $45,500 is materials. That puts Austin about 6% below the national typical cost of $70,000.
Why is it cheaper to remodel a kitchen in Austin, TX than the national average?+
Almost entirely labor. Carpenters in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX area earn about 18% less than the national average for the same occupation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data. Because kitchen remodel is roughly 35% labor, that wage difference flows through to the total. Materials are priced nationally and barely move between metros.
What's included in these Austin, TX estimates?+
Installed cost — materials plus labor for a standard project of this type. It does not include permits, which vary by municipality, structural repairs discovered mid-job, or premium upgrades. The range reflects genuine variation in scope and material grade, not uncertainty about the metro. Always get at least three local quotes before budgeting; a real quote for your specific property will beat any estimate, including ours.
How is this different from a national average with the city name swapped in?+
We split the national installed cost into labor and materials, then scale only the labor half using the actual mean wage for Carpenters in this specific metro area, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Materials stay at the national level because we have no defensible metro-level materials index — shingles and HVAC equipment are nationally traded, and only freight and sales tax really vary. Where BLS suppresses wage data for a metro, we do not publish a page for it at all rather than fill the gap with a guess.