Dallas and Fort Worth Allergies: DFW Allergy Season Guide
- Dallas–Fort Worth has pollen in the air most of the year: mountain cedar in winter, oak, elm, ash and pecan from February to June, grass from March to September, and ragweed from August to November.
- Cedar elm, one of the most common trees in Dallas, flowers in late summer and fall alongside ragweed, so fall allergies here aren't only ragweed.
- Dallas's AAFA Allergy Capitals rank swings with the weather: 13th in 2025 and 64th of 100 in 2026.
- Keep windows closed during pollen season, especially in the afternoon, and shower before bed to keep pollen out of your bedding.
- Allergy medicine eases symptoms. Allergy shots, allergy drops or tablets, and ILIT work on the allergy itself, and ILIT is the shortest course.
Dallas–Fort Worth allergies run almost all year. Mountain cedar pollen drifts in during winter, trees take over from February into June, grass carries the summer, and ragweed and cedar elm share the fall. Mold fills in the gaps. If you feel like you're always sneezing in DFW, the calendar backs you up, and the Dallas allergy season has only a short break after the first frost.
Allergy medicine handles the symptoms while you take it. If you're tired of reaching for it every season, allergy shots, allergy drops or tablets, and ILIT (intralymphatic immunotherapy) treat the allergy itself. More on those below.
Dallas allergy season by month
Children's Health, the Dallas pediatric hospital system, publishes a North Texas allergy calendar that gives a good picture of the year.
| Allergen | Months in DFW |
|---|---|
| Mountain cedar | December to February |
| Tree pollen (oak, elm, ash, pecan and others) | February to June |
| Grass pollen | March to September, peaking in summer |
| Ragweed | August to November |
| Cedar elm | Late summer into fall |
| Mold | All year, peaking July through late summer |
The cedar elm row comes from the U.S. Forest Service, covered in the fall section below. Use the table to match your worst weeks to a likely trigger, then bring that list to an allergist.
Winter: cedar fever in Dallas
Cedar fever isn't just an Austin problem. Children's Health lists mountain cedar season for the Dallas area as December to February, and our cedar fever guide covers what the tree is, the symptoms, how to tell cedar fever from a cold, and treatment options. The tree behind it is the Ashe juniper, and the Texas A&M Forest Service says it dominates the Hill Country west of I-35, well south of DFW. Its pollen can still blow for miles, reaching people who live nowhere near the trees.
DFW also has its own junipers. Eastern red cedar made up about 11% of Dallas's trees in a 2015 count by the Texas Trees Foundation, and the Forest Service says eastern red cedars in the eastern part of the state pollinate around the same time as mountain cedar. Its pollen travels on the wind, and in the southern part of its range pollination starts in February, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Between the two trees, juniper pollen can stretch from December into late winter here.
Children's Health notes that cedar counts are usually worse on sunny, windy days, and that a rainy fall can set up a worse cedar season.
Spring: oak, elm, ash and pecan
Tree pollen season in North Texas runs from February to June, according to Children's Health, which names ash, elm, oak, pecan, hickory, poplar, walnut and pine among the trees involved. The fine yellow dust you can see on your car is heavy and mostly falls near the tree. The pollen behind most symptoms is smaller and lighter, carried on the wind into your eyes and nose, as the AAFA explains.
Dallas has a lot of these trees. In the Texas Trees Foundation's citywide inventory, the five most common species were hackberry, American elm, green ash, cedar elm and eastern red cedar. Together they made up 67% of the city's 14.7 million trees. Elm, ash and juniper are all on the AAFA's list of the trees that cause the most allergy symptoms in the U.S.
Summer: grass and mold
Grass allergy is most prevalent during DFW's long summer. Children's Health puts grass pollen allergy season from March to September, often peaking in summer. Bermuda and Johnson grass are both on the AAFA's list of grasses that most often cause symptoms, and the AAFA notes that grass pollen can turn up any month of the year in warmer parts of the country.
Mold allergy peaks at the same time. Children's Health says it's present all year in Texas and is usually worst in the humid months of July and August. Spore counts also climb before, during and after storms, the AAFA says, so a summer thunderstorm can bring on a bad day.
Fall: ragweed and cedar elm
Ragweed is the fall allergy most people know. Children's Health gives North Texas ragweed season as August to November and says it can last up to four months in Texas, much longer than the 6 to 10 weeks the AAFA describes for most of the country. Ragweed tends to grow in rural areas, but its pollen travels hundreds of miles, so city living doesn't spare you. Our ragweed allergy guide covers symptoms, related food reactions and treatment in depth.
Cedar elm is the fall allergen many people don't expect. It's one of only two native elms that flower in the fall, according to the U.S. Forest Service's cedar elm profile, usually in August and September, sometimes with a second round in October and November. It flowers at about the same time as ragweed and is known to cause or worsen late summer hay fever. Cedar elm is a common shade tree in Texas and was one of Dallas's five most common trees in the 2015 count. If your fall allergies don't improve with ragweed season, ask your allergist to test for elm as well.
Fall also varies a lot from year to year. In its 2026 report, the AAFA found that Dallas had very low weed pollen in fall 2025 and suggested flooding may have washed away the weed seeds.
Why Dallas allergies feel so bad, and how DFW ranks
The AAFA ranks the 100 largest U.S. metro areas every year in its Allergy Capitals report. Dallas has been near the top: Children's Health reports it ranked second in 2023, and the AAFA ranked it 13th in 2025. In the 2026 report, Dallas dropped to 64th, with a total score of 76.57 against an average of 80.63.
That drop doesn't mean DFW suddenly got easy on allergies. The ranking blends pollen scores with how much over the counter allergy medicine people buy and how many allergy specialists a metro has, and the AAFA linked many of the big moves in the 2026 list to severe weather. A low pollen fall in one year can move a city a long way. But your own symptoms depend on what you're allergic to, not on the list ranking.
How to cut your pollen exposure in DFW
You can't avoid pollen in North Texas, but you can keep less of it in your home and your bed.
1. Watch the pollen forecast. The Texas A&M Forest Service suggests following local pollen counts on the news. On high count days, keep doors shut and cut back on time outdoors.
2. Keep windows closed. The AAFA recommends closing windows during pollen season and at peak pollen times, usually the afternoon. That goes for the car too.
3. Filter the air. Use central air conditioning or an air cleaner with a HEPA or certified asthma and allergy friendly filter, the AAFA says. The Forest Service also suggests higher MERV filters in home and car HVAC systems.
4. Rinse pollen off before bed. Shower before bed and change clothes after time outdoors, the AAFA advises, so pollen doesn't end up on your pillow. Drying laundry indoors instead of on a line helps too.
5. Keep indoor humidity in check for mold. The AAFA suggests keeping humidity between 30% and 50%, checking it with a hygrometer and running a dehumidifier if needed. Clear piles of dead leaves from the yard as soon as you can.
Allergy testing in Dallas–Fort Worth
With cedar, oak, grass, ragweed, elm and mold all in the mix, it's hard to know from symptoms alone which one is getting to you. A skin test or blood test can show which allergens you react to, and that matters if you're considering immunotherapy, which is matched to your specific allergens. Our guide to allergy skin tests vs. blood tests explains how the two compare. If you aren't sure whether you're dealing with allergies at all, Allergies or a Cold? walks through the differences.
Longer term options for DFW allergies
Allergy medicine controls symptoms while you take it, but it doesn't change the allergy. The AAFA suggests talking with an allergist about immunotherapy if medicine doesn't give you complete relief. Immunotherapy retrains the immune system to tolerate an allergen and comes in three forms.
Allergy shots (SCIT) have the longest track record. The AAAAI describes shots once or twice a week for four to six months during build-up, then every two to four weeks for three to five years. Our guide to allergy shots explains the schedule.
Allergy drops and tablets (SLIT) dissolve under the tongue at home. Our comparison of allergy shots, allergy drops and ILIT covers which allergens each one treats.
ILIT is the shortest course, and for some people a faster alternative to allergy shots. An allergist injects FDA approved allergen extract into a lymph node, usually in the groin, guided by ultrasound. Giving the extract that way is an off label use. A typical course is about three injections over about two months, the schedule used in the 2008 trial that established ILIT for grass pollen allergy.
Mountain cedar has its own ILIT study with a DFW connection. A 2020 trial in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology gave 21 people with cedar allergy either three monthly injections of mountain cedar extract or a placebo before the 2018 to 2019 season, and the trial registry lists sites in Grapevine, Austin and San Antonio. The extract group had better combined symptom and medicine scores than the placebo group, and lower scores on 20 of 27 peak season days. No one had a serious or whole body reaction, and four people had mild reactions where they were injected. The authors called it a proof of concept, and it was small and ran for one season. The paper lists the investigators' affiliation as Aspire Allergy & Sinus, a practice whose offices are listed on Open Air Allergy Network.
ILIT research overall is promising but smaller than the research behind allergy shots, and results vary from person to person. The ILIT safety FAQ covers the FDA question in more detail.
Finding ILIT in Dallas–Fort Worth
To see practices offering ILIT allergy treatment near you, search near Dallas or search near Fort Worth, or browse the Dallas–Fort Worth area on our Texas page. For more on each season, see Seasonal Allergies by Season.
Frequently Asked Questions
Mostly because something is almost always pollinating. Children's Health, a Dallas hospital system, lays out a calendar where tree, grass, weed and mountain cedar seasons overlap or hand off to each other across the year, with mold underneath all of it. Many of the trees that fill Dallas neighborhoods, including elm, ash and juniper, are on the AAFA's list of the trees that cause the most allergy symptoms.
It never fully ends. Ragweed season runs into November, according to Children's Health, and mountain cedar picks up in December. The usual break comes after the first frost, the AAFA notes, when frost kills the ragweed plants. Mold, which Children's Health describes as a year round allergen in Texas, can keep symptoms going in between.
Yes, though the trees that cause it mostly grow in the Hill Country, well south of DFW. Children's Health lists mountain cedar season for the area as December to February, and the Texas A&M Forest Service says the pollen can blow for miles. Dallas also has plenty of eastern red cedar, a related juniper, which made up about 11% of the city's trees in a 2015 inventory. Our cedar fever guide covers the symptoms and treatment options.
August to November, according to Children's Health, which notes that ragweed season can last up to four months in Texas. That's longer than the 6 to 10 weeks the AAFA gives for much of the country. Ragweed often grows in rural areas, but its pollen travels hundreds of miles, so living in the city doesn't spare you. Our ragweed allergy guide covers symptoms and treatment.
They're the usual hay fever symptoms: a runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, red and watery eyes, and itching in the nose, eyes, ears or mouth, as the AAFA describes. What sets cedar elm apart is its timing. The U.S. Forest Service notes it flowers at about the same time as ragweed and can cause or worsen late summer hay fever, so only an allergy test can tell the two apart.
Children's Health puts it from March to September, often peaking in summer. Bermuda and Johnson grass are both on the AAFA's list of grasses that cause the most symptoms. Grass pollen is light and carried by the wind, so you can react even if you don't mow.
They can be, especially in late summer. Children's Health says mold is present all year in Texas and peaks from July through late summer, with symptoms often worst in humid July and August. The AAFA adds that mold spore counts rise before, during and after storms, and its Allergy Capitals rankings don't count mold at all.
Yes. Allergy tablets and drops are taken at home, and ILIT (intralymphatic immunotherapy) is the shortest course, about three injections over about two months, compared with the weekly build-up visits for allergy shots that the AAAAI describes. A small mountain cedar ILIT trial included a site in Grapevine. If ILIT interests you, use Find a Provider on OpenAirAllergyNetwork.com to locate an allergist who offers it.
