San Antonio, TX cityscape
Markets / Texas / San Antonio
RENTAL MARKET INTELLIGENCE

San Antonio, TX

Investors prioritizing affordability and positive household migration should investigate San Antonio, but buyers who require current rent growth should avoid it.

Median price$280k
Median rent$1,416
Gross yield6.1%
Job growth▲ 0.1%
Metro Area · CBSA 4170040 public sourcesChecked nightly
SCORE / 10034RANK #479 / 571
Composite Market ScoreRank #479 of 571 scored US market areas
Direct rental answer

How much is rent in San Antonio, TX?

Zillow's metro-wide Observed Rent Index is $1,416 per month for 2026-06-30. That is down 1.98% from a year earlier.

Zillow ZORI$1,4162026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

Realtor asking rent$1,1592026-05

Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings

Census ACS gross rent$1,363ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

HUD 2BR FMR$1,426FY2026 FMR

Two-bedroom standard

These figures are not averaged together. Zillow and Realtor describe asking-rent markets, ACS measures rent paid by surveyed households, and HUD publishes administrative bedroom standards.

Exact county schedules

HUD rent benchmarks inside San Antonio

Every row keeps its own county FIPS schedule. No county is selected as a metro proxy and no synthetic metro FMR is calculated.

FY2026 FMR · FY2026 · monthly gross-rent standards
CountyStudio1 BR2 BR3 BR4 BR
Bexar County, TXFIPS 48029$1,077$1,177$1,426$1,830$2,132
Comal County, TXFIPS 48091$1,077$1,177$1,426$1,830$2,132
Guadalupe County, TXFIPS 48187$1,077$1,177$1,426$1,830$2,132
Medina County, TXFIPS 48325$905$912$1,196$1,578$1,584
Wilson County, TXFIPS 48493$1,077$1,177$1,426$1,830$2,132
Atascosa County, TXFIPS 48013$831$1,002$1,098$1,435$1,454
Kendall County, TXFIPS 48259$1,301$1,311$1,650$2,176$2,185
Bandera County, TXFIPS 48019$1,077$1,177$1,426$1,830$2,132
The read

Why this market scores where it does

Investors prioritizing affordability and positive household migration should investigate San Antonio, but buyers who require current rent growth should avoid it. At a $280,370 median home value, the gross yield is 6.06%; however, median asking rent fell 1.98% year over year.

Opportunity rests on manageable housing costs and household inflows. Home values equal 3.68 times median household income, while rent consumes 22.29% of income. Tax filings show net migration of 8,675 households. Those inflows are constructive, but job growth of just 0.1% does not offset the weak rent signal.

For-sale conditions point to buyer leverage: median market time is 72 days, 38.04% of listings have price drops, and supply is 5.4 months. The 11,652 permits reinforce supply caution. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with a 0.1456% annual climate loss ratio, making property-level exposure and insurance terms important underwriting checks.

Frequently Asked Investor Questions

What are the basic acquisition and rent economics?
The median home value is $280,370, median asking rent is $1,416 per month, and gross yield is 6.06%.
Are household flows positive?
Tax filings show 53,279 households moved in and 44,604 moved out, producing net migration of 8,675; average AGI was $70,514 for inbound movers versus $69,954 for outbound movers, a $560 gap.
What evidence suggests negotiating room?
Months of supply is 5.4, median days on market is 72, and 38.04% of listings have price drops.

Investor Quick Takeaways

Gross Yield: 6.1%

Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.

Rent Momentum: ▼ 1.98%

Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.

Investor Activity: 7.1%

Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).

Climate Exposure: FEMA NRI

Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.

Run Cash-Flow Test for San Antonio
Market pulse

The current market in eight signals

Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.

Months of supply5.4 mo.▲ from 4.8 mo. a year ago
Median days on market72 days▲ from 60 days a year ago
Listings with price drops38.0%▲ from 34.2% a year ago
Sale-to-list ratio97.4%2026-05-01
Home value growth▼ 1.9%Zillow ZHVI · trailing 12 months
Rent growth▼ 1.98%Zillow ZORI · trailing 12 months
Gross rental yield6.1%Rent × 12 ÷ price
Payroll job growth▲ 0.1%CES · 12m to 2026-06
Release-to-release evidence

What actually changed

This comparison exists because at least one underlying source period advanced. Rebuilding the same data never creates a new observation.

Published score held steady3434
0 pts

The published component scores did not move in this release.

Weights were unchanged at metro-2026-07-v2-omb2023, so the movement comes from refreshed evidence and percentile ranks.

The named source periods advanced, but the measured values on this page held steady.

Composite breakdown

What each component measures

Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.

Jobs48Rent trend2Affordability67Supply14Climate safety48
Published arithmeticComponent × weight = points
34
SignalScoreWeightPoints
Job growth4830%14.40
Rent trend225%0.50
Affordability6715%10.05
Supply pressure1415%2.10
Climate risk4815%7.20
Published score34
San Antonio, TX scoreRank #479
34
Job growth48/100

Job growth of 0.1% -> employment momentum offers little support against weak rent performance.

Rent trend2/100

Asking rent fell 1.98% -> current rental pricing power is weak despite a 6.06% gross yield.

Affordability67/100

A 3.68 price-to-income ratio and 22.29% rent-to-income burden -> acquisition and tenant affordability are strengths within this record.

Supply pressure14/100

5.4 months of supply, 72 median days on market, 38.04% price drops, and 11,652 permits -> buyers may have negotiating room, while the supply pipeline is a rental-competition risk.

Climate risk48/100

Inland flood exposure and a 0.1456% annual climate loss ratio -> insurance terms and property-level flood exposure are material underwriting checks.

The numbers

What this market costs and what it earns

Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.

ZHVI Median Price
$280k
YoY ▼ 1.9%
ZORI Median Rent
$1,416
YoY ▼ 1.98%
Gross Rental Yield
6.1%
Rent × 12 ÷ price
$1,416 × 12 ÷ $280,370
Job Growth (YoY)
▲ 0.1%
CES payrolls
Job signal 48/100
Median Household Income
$76k
Census ACS 5-year
Rent Burden
22.3%
Annual rent ÷ household income
Price-to-Income
3.7x
Median value ÷ household income
HUD 2BR Fair Market Rent
$1,426
Market rent 99.3% of FMR
Historical affordability context

Compare aligned 2019 and 2024 asking-rent and nominal household-income endpoints across the direct-overlap metro set.

Independent rent evidence

One market, several legitimate rent benchmarks

These releases observe different homes and different moments. RentMarker keeps them separate: ZORI remains the scoring baseline, while the other sources test how sensitive the market story is to bedroom mix and measurement method.

Monthly benchmark5 of 5 reported values
Zero-based scale
Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$375$750$1,125$1,500Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,416Realtor asking rent2026-05$1,159HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,177HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,426Census ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,363Monthly rental benchmarksIndependent monthly rent measures shown on a zero-based scale. Missing source values are labelled unavailable and are not inferred.$0$750$1,500Zillow ZORI2026-06-30$1,416Realtor asking2026-05$1,159HUD 1BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,177HUD 2BR FMRFY2026 FMR$1,426ACS gross rentACS 2024 5-year$1,363
The chart compares published levels without averaging them. A longer bar does not mean a source is more accurate; it means that source measures a higher rent under its own definition.
Typical observed market rentZillow ZORI
$1,416Primary RentMarker baseline
2026-06-30

All homes and bedroom counts

A smoothed metro rent index for observed rentals; it is the primary rent used by RentMarker scores and career ratios.

View source release ↗
Median asking rentRealtor asking rent
$1,159−$257 vs ZORI
2026-05

Studio, 1BR and 2BR listings

The median advertised rent in Realtor.com's 50-largest-metro rental report; source NAs remain unavailable.

View source release ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 1BR FMR
$1,177−$239 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR

One-bedroom standard

An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.

View source release ↗
Fair Market RentHUD 2BR FMR
$1,426+$10 vs ZORI
FY2026 FMR

Two-bedroom standard

An administrative gross-rent benchmark used by HUD programs; it is neither a listing median nor a prediction of one lease.

View source release ↗
Median gross rentCensus ACS gross rent
$1,363−$53 vs ZORI
ACS 2024 5-year

Occupied rental units paying rent

A five-year survey estimate of contract rent plus applicable tenant-paid utilities; it is not a current asking-rent index.

View source release ↗
Take the next step

Keep San Antonio as context, then replace market-wide evidence with the candidate property's facts.

Direct local rental evidence

Recent leases and rental-market liquidity in San Antonio, TX

These Apartment List observations match the exact metro CBSA code 41700. They are kept separate from Zillow asking rent, Census occupied-home rent and property-level comparables.

Direct recent-lease rent history

Monthly overall-rent index; missing observations are not filled from another geography.

$1,331$1,184$1,0372017-012026-07
Recent-lease rent$1,1472026-07 · -5.3% year over year
Rental vacancy8.9%2026-07 · -0.3 percentage points year over year
Time on market37 days2026-07 · +0.3 days year over year
Measured rent retention

How much of gross yield survives the first two measured deductions?

This bridge subtracts direct rental vacancy and effective property tax only. It is not net yield, NOI, cap rate or property cash flow.

Gross-to-retained yield bridgeApartment List 2026-07
Gross yield bridged to measured rent-retention yieldGross yield of 6.1%, less property-tax drag of 1.6% and vacancy drag of 0.5%, leaves measured rent retention of 3.9%.3.9%6.1%RETAINEDGROSS
measured retention property tax vacancy
Gross yield
6.1%
Vacancy
8.9%
Effective tax
1.6%
Retained yield
3.9%
Regional price level

What feels expensive inside San Antonio

BEA compares each category with the United States, which equals 100. This is a 2024 price-level comparison—not annual inflation.

BEA Regional Price Parities · 2024US = 100
Regional price parity categories for San Antonio, TXHorizontal bars compare all-items, housing, goods, utilities and other-services price levels with the United States benchmark of 100.708090100110All items94.7Housing94.6Goods93.8Utilities82.2Other services96.2
Orange extends above the national level; emerald extends below it. The chart does not convert rent or income into purchasing power.
Occupation wage lens

How asking rent sits against major local occupations

Annualized Zillow asking rent is divided by each BLS annual median wage. This is a screening ratio for one wage, not a household budget or affordability verdict.

Six largest published major groupsannual rent ÷ median wage
Annualized asking rent compared with major occupational median wages in San Antonio, TXHorizontal bars show annualized Zillow asking rent as a share of the BLS annual median wage for six major occupational groups with the largest published employment.0%10%20%30%40%50%60%Office and AdministrativeSupport Occupations$45,100 median wage37.7%Food Preparation and ServingRelated Occupations$29,100 median wage58.4%Transportation and MaterialMoving Occupations$40,270 median wage42.2%Sales and Related Occupations$36,560 median wage46.5%Management Occupations$104,990 median wage16.2%Business and FinancialOperations Occupations$78,400 median wage21.7%
Office and Administrative Support Occupations$45,100 median wage
37.7%
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations$29,100 median wage
58.4%
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations$40,270 median wage
42.2%
Sales and Related Occupations$36,560 median wage
46.5%
Management Occupations$104,990 median wage
16.2%
Business and Financial Operations Occupations$78,400 median wage
21.7%
BLS OEWS 2025-05; Zillow rent 2026-06-30. The 30% line is a visible screen, not a RentMarker score or a claim about household costs.
Supply pipeline

What is being built, and for whom

Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.

National supply context

Compare this authorization pipeline with asking-rent growth, jobs and for-sale liquidity across the evidence-complete metro set.

Building permits by structure type
units per year · latest year annualised
Download CSV ↓
15,653201916,377202022,021202123,961202215,966202314,802202410,497202511,58420265+ unit buildingssingle family
11,584 units authorised in 2026, 14% of them in 5+ unit buildings. This is a single-family building cycle, so the competition is other houses, not new apartments. ✓ recomputed from series
Source: Census Building Permits Survey
Who is arriving, and who is buying

Demand, and the competition for it

Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.

Net Household Move
+8,675
53,279 in vs 44,604 out (IRS SOI)
▲ 16.3% of arriving households
Mover Income Gap
+$560
Arriving $70,514 vs leaving $69,954
Average AGI per tax return (IRS SOI)
Investor Purchase Share
7.1%
2,607 of 36,731 originated purchase loans
CFPB HMDA 2024
Dominant Hazard
inland flooding
0.146% building value annual loss ratio
FEMA NRI · risk type: water
Compare yield and FEMA exposure →
Households arrive mainly from: Travis County · Harris County · Hays County · El Paso County · Nueces County
53,279 in − 44,604 out = 8,675 net
Direct market links

Where tax-return households moved from and to

These are the largest flows where both counties map to a RentMarker market area. They are a documented subset of the all-US IRS totals above.

Explore every route
Leading inbound markets
  1. Austin, TX6,106 arriving
  2. Houston, TX3,591 arriving
  3. Dallas, TX2,729 arriving
Leading outbound markets
  1. Austin, TX5,295 leaving
  2. Houston, TX3,217 leaving
  3. Dallas, TX3,211 leaving
Directional moving briefs

Relocation routes involving San Antonio

Each route begins with a direct IRS tax-return household flow and then tests what changes in housing, income, jobs, regional prices and climate evidence.

Browse all routes
The other side

What would make this a bad buy

Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.

Three ways the case breaks

  1. Asking rent fell 1.98% while job growth was only 0.1%, leaving little evidence of operating-income momentum.
  2. The 11,652 permits and 5.4 months of for-sale supply indicate meaningful supply-side competition.
  3. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1456% of building value.
Statistical peers

Market areas that behave like San Antonio

Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.

Market areaScorePriceRentYieldJob Growth
San Antonio, TX (Target)34$280k$1,4166.1%▲ 0.1%
Cincinnati, OH56$313k$1,5836.1%▲ 0.2%
St. Louis, MO50$280k$1,4596.3%▼ 0.5%
Indianapolis, IN45$297k$1,5586.3%▼ 0.4%
Tampa, FL26$361k$2,0206.7%▲ 0.1%
Provenance

Where every figure came from

“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.

Dataset SourceMethodRelease PeriodPulled Date
Census ACS 5-year — household income and gross rentdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — historical household incomedirectACS 2019 and 2024 5-year2026-08-05
Census ACS 5-year — populationdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-26
Apartment List Rent Estimates — recent-lease rent indexdirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquiditydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancydirectApartment List 2026-072026-08-08
BEA County Personal Income — income and populationdirect2024 County Personal Income (released 2026-02-05); history 1969-20242026-08-03
BEA Regional Price Parities — metropolitan price levelsdirect2024 Regional Price Parities (released 2026-02-19); history 2008-20242026-08-03
BLS CES — payroll employmentdirectCES SM current2026-07-26
BLS LAUS — resident employmentdirectLAUS current2026-07-26
BLS OEWS — occupation employment and wagesdirectMay 2025 OEWS estimates (released 2026-05-15)2026-08-03
BLS QCEW — county employment and wagesdirectannual county employment and wages 2021-2025; latest 2025 vs 20242026-08-02
OMB/BLS delineation — metro geographydirectOMB July 2023 delineation2026-07-30
Census Building Permits Survey — permitted unitsdirectBPS through 20262026-07-26
Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-29
Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stockdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-07-30
Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and incomedirectACS 2024 5-year ZCTA2026-08-08
FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratiosmodelledNRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS)2026-07-26
FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciationdirectannual county HPI history 1975-2025; latest 20252026-08-02
HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy typedirectHMDA 2024 purchase originations2026-07-26
HUD CHAS — renter burden by HAMFI income banddirectHUD CHAS 2018-2022 ACS 5-year (released 2025-12-23)2026-08-03
HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standarddirectFY2026 FMR2026-07-26
HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallbackdirectZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY20262026-07-26
HUD-USPS ZIP-to-county residential-address crosswalkdirectHUD-USPS 2026Q12026-08-09
IRS SOI — county migration and mover incomedirectSOI migration 2022-20232026-07-26
Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage ratesdirectweek of 2026-07-302026-08-06
Census ACS 5-year — effective property taxdirectACS 2024 5-year2026-08-06
Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventorydirectcounty inventory 2026-062026-07-28
Realtor.com Rental Report — top-50 asking rentsdirecttop-50 rental asking rents 2026-052026-08-05
Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cutsdirectmetro tracker through 2026-05-012026-07-26
Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supplydirectZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-032026-08-12
USDA ERS — Rural-Urban Continuum CodesdirectUSDA ERS 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes2026-08-02
Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rentsdirectcounty ZHVI/ZORI 2026-062026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — metro home valuesdirectMetro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZHVI — city home valuesdirectzillow_zhvi_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI — metro market rentsdirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv2026-07-26
Zillow ZORI — city market rentsdirectzillow_zori_city.csv2026-07-29
Zillow ZORI - metro market rents, not seasonally adjusteddirectMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_month.csv2026-08-15
Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rentsdirectZORI ZIP 2026-062026-08-08