San Antonio, TX
San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, San Antonio ranks 124th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 130th for income. A household earns $78,112 a year while median rent runs $1,422/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 5% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is affordability (124th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 189th and home prices 151st among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in San Antonio, your take-home is worth about $64,734 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 130th of 300↑25.3%$78,112
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 147th of 30095 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $82,470
- Per-capita income
- $39,057
- Full-time pay
- $42,014
Housing
- Median rent
- 189th of 300↑34.5%$1,422/mo
- Home value
- 151st of 300↑54.3%$304,800
- Property tax
- $4,303/yr · 1.4%
- Sales tax
- 8.20%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 216th of 3005.1%
- Bachelor's+
- 158th of 30032.8%
- Avg commute
- 247th of 30027.6 min
People
- Population
- 2,763,006
- Population change
- +8.3%
- Median age
- 36.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 13.3%
- Broadband
- 93.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 158th of 300$13/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 237th of 30021.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 20.8%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- —
Watch-outs
- – Job market
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — san antonio kelly afb.
What jobs pay in San Antonio
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $233,780
- IT managers
- $163,490
- Pharmacists
- $150,500
- Financial managers
- $144,710
- Lawyers
- $137,690
- Software developers
- $128,430
- General & operations managers
- $99,790
- Registered nurses
- $94,370
- Civil engineers
- $88,290
- Accountants & auditors
- $78,650
- Web developers
- $77,730
- Police officers
- $73,860
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,840
- Elementary school teachers
- $61,720
- Plumbers
- $58,180
- Electricians
- $57,010
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $53,650
- Carpenters
- $48,900
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,380
- Customer service reps
- $42,720
- Construction laborers
- $39,390
- Janitors
- $34,540
- Retail salespersons
- $30,960
- Cashiers
- $29,800
- Waiters & waitresses
- $28,110
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the San Antonio metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Texas are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California9,709
- Florida4,324
- Arizona3,106
- Colorado2,631
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like San Antonio
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
San Antonio metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the San Antonio metro?
- Median gross rent across the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area is $1,422 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of San Antonio.
- What is the median household income in the San Antonio metro?
- A typical household in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area earns $78,112 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is San Antonio expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area runs about 5% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the San Antonio metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $82,470 (versus its face value of $78,112). CityLedger rates the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the San Antonio metro?
- The median home value across the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area is $304,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the San Antonio metro?
- The unemployment rate in the San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX Metro Area is 5.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).