diff --git a/src/canvas/textFeature.js b/src/canvas/textFeature.js
index e85930182c..620e6a893a 100644
--- a/src/canvas/textFeature.js
+++ b/src/canvas/textFeature.js
@@ -99,11 +99,13 @@ var canvas_textFeature = function (arg) {
   this._renderOnCanvas = function (context2d, map) {
     var data = m_this.data(),
         posFunc = m_this.style.get('position'),
+        renderThreshold = m_this.style.get('renderThreshold')(data),
         textFunc = m_this.style.get('text'),
         mapRotation = map.rotation(),
         mapZoom = map.zoom(),
-        fontFromSubValues, text, pos, visible, color, blur, stroke, width,
-        rotation, rotateWithMap, scale, offset,
+        mapSize = map.size(),
+        fontFromSubValues, text, posArray, pos, visible, color, blur, stroke,
+        width, rotation, rotateWithMap, scale, offset,
         transform, lastTransform = util.mat3AsArray();
 
     /* If any of the font styles other than `font` have values, then we need to
@@ -117,7 +119,17 @@ var canvas_textFeature = function (arg) {
     });
     /* Clear the canvas property buffer */
     m_this._canvasProperty();
+    posArray = m_this.featureGcsToDisplay(data.map(posFunc));
     data.forEach(function (d, i) {
+      /* If the position is far enough outside of the map viewport, don't
+       * render it, even if the offset of size would be sufficient to make it
+       * appear in the viewport. */
+      pos = posArray[i];
+      if (renderThreshold > 0 && (
+          pos.x < -renderThreshold || pos.x > mapSize.width + renderThreshold ||
+          pos.y < -renderThreshold || pos.y > mapSize.height + renderThreshold)) {
+        return;
+      }
       visible = m_this.style.get('visible')(d, i);
       if (!visible && visible !== undefined) {
         return;
@@ -130,10 +142,6 @@ var canvas_textFeature = function (arg) {
         return;
       }
       m_this._canvasProperty(context2d, 'fillStyle', util.convertColorToRGBA(color));
-      // TODO: get the position position without transform.  If it is outside
-      // of the map to an extent that there is no chance of text showing,
-      // skip further processing.
-      pos = m_this.featureGcsToDisplay(posFunc(d, i));
       text = textFunc(d, i);
       m_this._canvasProperty(context2d, 'font', m_this.getFontFromStyles(fontFromSubValues, d, i));
       m_this._canvasProperty(context2d, 'textAlign', m_this.style.get('textAlign')(d, i) || 'center');
diff --git a/src/textFeature.js b/src/textFeature.js
index 8b2db4a31d..cddd10cda2 100644
--- a/src/textFeature.js
+++ b/src/textFeature.js
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ var feature = require('./feature');
  *      stroke color.  May include opacity.
  * @property {geo.geoColor|function} [style.textStrokeWidth=0] Text stroke
  *      width in pixels.
+ * @property {number|function} [style.renderThreshold] If this is a positive
+ *      number, text elements may not be rendered if their base position
+ *      (before offset and font effects are applied) is more than this distance
+ *      in pixels outside of the current viewport.  If it is known that such
+ *      text elements cannot affect the current viewport, setting this can
+ *      speed up rendering.  This is computed once for the whole feature.
  */
 
 /**
diff --git a/tests/cases/textFeature.js b/tests/cases/textFeature.js
index a44c5d8b34..b9cf4afdef 100644
--- a/tests/cases/textFeature.js
+++ b/tests/cases/textFeature.js
@@ -198,5 +198,36 @@ describe('geo.textFeature', function () {
       expect(text.getFontFromStyles(true, text.data()[3], 3)).toBe('italic small-caps bold condensed 40px/60px serif');
       expect(text.getFontFromStyles(true, text.data()[11], 11)).toBe('bold 16px/60px sans-serif');
     });
+    it('renderThreshold', function () {
+      mockAnimationFrame();
+      logCanvas2D();
+      map = createMap();
+      layer = map.createLayer('feature', {renderer: 'canvas'});
+      text = layer.createFeature('text').data(testText);
+      text.draw();
+      stepAnimationFrame();
+      var count1 = $.extend({}, window._canvasLog.counts).fillText;
+      text.style({renderThreshold: 0});
+      text.draw();
+      stepAnimationFrame();
+      var count2 = $.extend({}, window._canvasLog.counts).fillText;
+      expect(count2 - count1).toBe(14);
+      text.style({renderThreshold: 1});
+      text.draw();
+      stepAnimationFrame();
+      var count3 = $.extend({}, window._canvasLog.counts).fillText;
+      expect(count3 - count2).toBe(6);
+      text.style({renderThreshold: 20});
+      text.draw();
+      stepAnimationFrame();
+      var count4 = $.extend({}, window._canvasLog.counts).fillText;
+      expect(count4 - count3).toBe(8);
+      text.style({renderThreshold: 0});
+      text.draw();
+      stepAnimationFrame();
+      var count5 = $.extend({}, window._canvasLog.counts).fillText;
+      expect(count5 - count4).toBe(14);
+      unmockAnimationFrame();
+    });
   });
 });