Felony vs. Misdemeanor in Texas

In Texas, the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony is not the name of the offense. It is where the law says you can be punished. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or by time in a county jail. A felony is punishable by confinement in a facility run by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, from 180 days in a state jail up to life.

Everything else — which court hears the case, how long the state has to bring it, what happens to your rights afterward — follows from that one line.

The eight levels

Texas Penal Code Chapter 12 sorts every offense into three misdemeanor classes and five felony degrees. The line runs between the third row and the fourth.

Level	Confinement	Maximum fine
Class C misdemeanor	None	$500
Class B misdemeanor	Up to 180 days, county jail	$2,000
Class A misdemeanor	Up to 1 year, county jail	$4,000
State jail felony	180 days to 2 years, state jail	$10,000
Third-degree felony	2 to 10 years, prison	$10,000
Second-degree felony	2 to 20 years, prison	$10,000
First-degree felony	5 to 99 years or life, prison	$10,000
Capital felony	Life without parole, or death	—

A capital felony carries no fine. Everything above it can be punished by a fine, confinement, or both.

The state jail felony is a Texas invention. It sits just above a Class A misdemeanor and carries its own facility and its own credit rules, which is why it is worth naming separately rather than lumping it in with "a felony." Texas Penal Code, Chapter 12.

The level decides the courthouse

• Class C misdemeanors are tried in justice courts and municipal courts — the fine-only level, including most traffic citations.
• Class A and B misdemeanors go to county-level courts: a constitutional county court or a county court at law.
• Felonies go to district courts, the trial courts of general jurisdiction.

So the charge level tells you which building the case sits in before anyone has argued anything. You can browse those courts in the Referlex court directory, or see how the levels stack up in How the Texas Court System Works.

One statute, six levels

The cleanest way to see that the offense name means little is theft. Texas Penal Code Section 31.03 defines a single offense, then grades it by the value of what was taken: under $100 is a Class C misdemeanor, $100 to under $750 a Class B, $750 to under $2,500 a Class A, $2,500 to under $30,000 a state jail felony, and it climbs from there to a first-degree felony at $300,000 and above.

Value is not the only lever. Two prior theft convictions make a theft of less than $2,500 a state jail felony regardless of the amount, and Chapter 12's enhancement rules can move an offense up a level based on criminal history or the circumstances of the offense.

This is why the same words appear at several levels in real court records. On Referlex charge pages each charge is grouped by its statute section and then split by the level it was actually filed at. Driving While Intoxicated under Penal Code 49.04 is a Class B misdemeanor; the higher-BAC subsection, 49.04(d), has its own page and sits at Class A. The same pages carry the outcomes and, where the record includes them, the sentences.

Why the label outlasts the case

A felony conviction reaches past the sentence. It restricts firearm possession under both Texas and federal law, and in Texas voting rights return only after the sentence — including parole and community supervision — is fully discharged. Professional licensing boards treat felonies differently, too.

Misdemeanors are not consequence-free. A Class A assault involving family violence, for example, carries firearm restrictions of its own and can be used to enhance a later charge. The level is the starting point, not the whole answer.

None of this is legal advice, and the punishment range is the outer boundary rather than a prediction. If you are looking at a specific charge, a lawyer who handles that charge in that county is the right next step — the Referlex directory and each attorney's criminal case history are built for exactly that comparison.