San Antonio vs Fort Worth: which should you move to?
San Antonio or Fort Worth? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
San Antonio
Fort Worth
Both cities are in Texas and both were priced at Freddie Mac's 7.03% rate of 24 September 2026, so the rate and the state's rules are shared, but the prices are different measures: San Antonio's is the San Antonio Board of REALTORS' median for all of Bexar County, Fort Worth's the NTREIS single-family median inside the city. Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,116 a month on the Bexar County median of $280,999 and $2,516 on Fort Worth's $327,000, roughly 38% of San Antonio's median household income of $66,176 and 37% of Fort Worth's $82,503, so against local pay the two are level. Zillow's index keeps the order, $247,453 for the City of San Antonio against $295,800 for the City of Fort Worth. Neither levies an income tax and both charge 8.25% sales tax, and on the same $327,000 house San Antonio's seven taxing units charge $5,340 against $5,044 from Fort Worth's six. Crime mostly favors Fort Worth: 375 violent offenses per 100,000 against 532 and 2,226 property offenses against 3,920, though San Antonio's homicide rate is the lower, about 6.8 per 100,000 against 7.6. The two added the second- and third-most residents of any US city in 2024-25. Choose San Antonio for the cheaper house, the military and medicine, and a milder winter. Choose Fort Worth for the higher incomes, the lower violent and property crime, aerospace, airlines and freight, and a hub airport.
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 1,548,422 (2025) | 1,028,117 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 2,813,140 (2025) | 8,477,157 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 8.0% (2020-2025) | 11.9% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $280,999 (August 2026) | $327,000 (August 2026) | San Antonio |
| Detached house benchmark Fort Worth publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $249,206 | $327,000 | San Antonio |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | $167,371 | $330,000 | San Antonio |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,179/mo (median, September 2026) | $1,317/mo (median, September 2026) | San Antonio |
| One-bedroom rent | $957/mo | $1,141/mo | San Antonio |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 21.4% of a year's income | 19.2% of a year's income | Fort Worth |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $1,500/mo at 7.03% | $1,746/mo at 7.03% | San Antonio |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 4.2× | 4.0× | Fort Worth |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $4,389/yr (1.562%, 2025) | $5,046/yr (1.543%, 2025) | Fort Worth |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | None | None | Even |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
San Antonio: About 1.56% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $280,999 Bexar County median sale price. A house in the City of San Antonio and Northside ISD, the school district more of the city's residents live in than any other, is taxed by seven units for 2025, which add to 2.290174 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first: Northside ISD the state's $140,000 and nothing more, the county's Road and Flood Control Fund the state's $3,000 for a flood control tax and a further 20%, the Alamo Community College District 1% with the state's $5,000 floor, the San Antonio River Authority 4%, and Bexar County, University Health and the City 20% each. So Bexar County levies 0.276331 per $100 on $224,799 after an exemption of $56,200, $621; Bexar County Road and Flood Control Fund levies 0.023668 per $100 on $221,799 after an exemption of $59,200, $52; University Health levies 0.276235 per $100 on $224,799 after an exemption of $56,200, $621; City of San Antonio levies 0.54159 per $100 on $224,799 after an exemption of $56,200, $1,217; Northside ISD levies 1.0049 per $100 on $140,999 after an exemption of $140,000, $1,417; Alamo Community College District levies 0.14915 per $100 on $275,999 after an exemption of $5,000, $412; San Antonio River Authority levies 0.0183 per $100 on $269,759 after an exemption of $11,240, $49. The seven come to $4,390 a year, 1.56% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $6,435. In San Antonio ISD, the inner-city district, the school line is 1.1552 per $100 after an exemption of $145,000, and the same house comes to $4,544, 1.62%. The median is the county's, and a typical home inside the city is cheaper: on $247,453, Zillow's August 2026 value for a typical City of San Antonio home, the Northside ISD stack comes to $3,697, 1.49%, lower because the school district's flat exemption is a larger share of a cheaper house. These are the 2025 rates, the bills due by 31 January 2026. When these figures were retrieved the Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector's official table ran to 2025, with the units' 2026 rate calculation worksheets posted but no 2026 official rates, so the calculators stay on 2025 until all seven are published. Fort Worth: About 1.54% of value for a homesteaded owner, worked out on the $327,000 median single-family sale price. A house in the City of Fort Worth and Fort Worth ISD, the school district more of the city's residents live in than any other, is taxed by six units for 2025, which add to 2.18908 per $100 before any exemption. Each takes its own homestead exemption off the appraised value first, except one: Fort Worth ISD takes the state's $140,000 and nothing more, Tarrant County College 1% with the state's $5,000 floor, Tarrant County, the City and JPS Health Network 20% each, and the Tarrant Regional Water District, which pays for the Fort Worth Floodway, none at all. So Tarrant County levies 0.1862 per $100 on $261,600 after an exemption of $65,400, $487; City of Fort Worth levies 0.67 per $100 on $261,600 after an exemption of $65,400, $1,753; Fort Worth ISD levies 1.0291 per $100 on $187,000 after an exemption of $140,000, $1,924; Tarrant County College levies 0.11228 per $100 on $322,000 after an exemption of $5,000, $362; JPS Health Network levies 0.165 per $100 on $261,600 after an exemption of $65,400, $432; Tarrant Regional Water District levies 0.0265 per $100 on the full $327,000, with no homestead exemption, $87. The six come to $5,044 a year, 1.54% of the price. Without a homestead, as a landlord or a buyer who never files, the same house owes $7,158. In Keller ISD, the district the second most residents live in, the school line is 1.0852 per $100 after the same $140,000, and the same house comes to $5,149, 1.57%. On $295,800, Zillow's August 2026 value for a typical Fort Worth home, the Fort Worth ISD stack comes to $4,425, 1.50%, lower because the school district's flat exemption is a larger share of a cheaper house. These are the 2025 rates, the bills due by 31 January 2026. The City has since adopted 0.70565 for 2026, but when these figures were retrieved the Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector's table and the appraisal district's still ran to 2025, so the calculators stay on 2025 until all six units' 2026 rates are published.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 532 (2025) | 375 (2025) | Fort Worth |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 3,920 (2025) | 2,226 (2025) | Fort Worth |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 106 (2025) | 78 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in San Antonio went from 11,219 in 2021 to a peak of 13,105 in 2022, then 10,440 in 2023, 9,173 in 2024 and 8,241 in 2025, a 10% drop in the last year and 37% below the peak, and property offenses from 61,559 to 74,787 and a peak of 80,789 in 2023, then 70,657 and 60,693, 25% below the peak. Motor vehicle theft drove most of that swing: 8,912 in 2021, 19,090 in 2023 and 9,527 in 2025, half the peak. In 2025 the CDE shows aggravated assaults down 9% (6,037 to 5,506), robberies down 17% (1,656 to 1,380), rapes down 8% (1,354 to 1,249) and murders down 16% (126 to 106). SAPD's own January-to-November comparison points the same way: all reported crime down 13% (143,529 to 124,314), crimes against property down 18.1%, motor vehicle theft down 26.5% and robberies down 16.4%, while crimes against society rose 15.4%, which the chief put down to more drug arrests. A University of Texas at San Antonio evaluation of the city's Violent Crime Reduction Plan found violent street crime fell 22% in treated hot spots in 2024 against 9.6% citywide (San Antonio Report). The 2025 CDE counts were read on 30 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 8,241 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the San Antonio Police Department (ORI TXSPD0000) in calendar 2025, divided by the 1,548,422 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 1,549,306 the rate is also 532. No SAPD total on this definition was found in anything fetched. Its year-end report to the City Council's Public Safety Committee in December 2025 counted NIBRS crimes against persons, which include simple assaults, and put them at 28,361 for January through November 2025, down 9% from 31,179 in the same months of 2024 (KSAT).
Homicides: 106 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, against 126 in 2024, about 6.8 per 100,000 on the city population. SAPD's own count for January through November 2025 was 99 against 119 in the same months of 2024, a drop of nearly 17% (KSAT); a full-year SAPD figure was not found in anything fetched. The high point in the CDE series since 2021 is 233, in 2022, a year whose count includes the 53 migrants found dead in a tractor-trailer on the Southwest Side (San Antonio Report).
On the FBI's definitions, violent offenses in Fort Worth went from 5,428 in 2021 to 4,876 in 2022, 4,849 in 2023, 4,641 in 2024 and 3,859 in 2025, a 17% drop in the last year and 29% in four, and property offenses from 25,186 to 26,275, 26,098 and a peak of 27,290 in 2024, then 22,886, 16% below it. Motor vehicle theft rose from 3,687 in 2021 to 5,157 in 2024 and fell to 3,616 in 2025, down 30%. In 2025 the CDE shows aggravated assaults down 18% (3,230 to 2,656), rapes down 18% (613 to 505), robberies down 15% (726 to 620), burglaries down 16% and larcenies down 12%, while murders rose 8% (72 to 78), the one violent measure that went up. Eddie Garcia, Dallas's former police chief, took over the department in September 2025 after months without a permanent chief, and FWPD's own figures for January through August 2026 against the same months of 2025 show robberies down from 436 to 269 and aggravated assaults from 1,842 to 1,557 as well as the drop in murders (WFAA). The 2025 CDE counts were read on 30 September 2026 from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
What the rates cover: Computed: 3,859 violent offenses (murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in the FBI Crime Data Explorer's summarized data for the Fort Worth Police Department (ORI TX2201200) in calendar 2025, divided by the 1,028,117 Vintage 2025 city population. On the CDE's own agency population of 1,030,410 the rate is also 375. That is the lowest of the Texas cities this site compares, against 532 in San Antonio, 577 in Dallas and 890 in Houston. No FWPD total on this definition was found in anything fetched; the city's quarterly crime reports, as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram described them, count crimes against persons, a broader group that includes assaults and sex offenses, and put them 12% lower in the first half of 2025 than a year earlier.
Homicides: 78 murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2025 in the FBI CDE, against 72 in 2024, about 7.6 per 100,000 on the city population. Spectrum News, reading city data in February 2026, also put the year's homicides 8% above 2024. Most of the rise came early: the city's quarterly reports counted 20 homicides in January through March 2025 against 9 a year earlier and 43 in the first half against 31 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram). The CDE series has fallen from 118 in 2021, and 2026 has turned the other way: FWPD counted 36 murders through 31 August against 54 in the same months of 2025 (WFAA).
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 11.2 °C | 7.7 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 29.3 °C | 29.5 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 822 mm | 898 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 1 cm | 4 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | 2,629 hours | 2,850 hours | Fort Worth |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for San Antonio International Airport (station USW00012921), inside the city about 8 miles north of downtown and the station where the National Weather Service keeps San Antonio's official record: January mean 52.2F, July mean 84.8F, annual mean 69.6F, 32.38 in of precipitation, 0.2 in of snow. August is the warmest month at 85.5F, with a mean high of 96.0F; July's mean high is 94.9F and January's mean low is 41.0F. May (4.40 in) and September (3.88 in) are the wettest months and February (1.74 in) the driest; the little snow the normals record falls in February and December. The normals count 122.4 days a year at 90F or above, 17.7 at 100F or above and 14.0 nights at or below freezing. Converted here to 11.2 C, 29.3 C, 822 mm and 0.5 cm. That January mean is the same as Austin's at Camp Mabry and the precipitation is the least of the Texas cities this site compares, 99 mm less than Austin's and 495 mm less than Houston's. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means (2,629 hours, 60% of possible, and 105 clear days), since the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Flash flooding is the defining hazard. San Antonio sits on the Balcones Escarpment in what a National Weather Service meteorologist calls Flash Flood Alley, where shallow soil over limestone sends heavy rain straight into the creeks. On 17 and 18 October 1998 a nearly stationary storm complex, fed by moisture from two Eastern Pacific hurricanes, dropped 11.26 in (286 mm) on San Antonio International on the 17th, still the station's wettest calendar day, and 13.35 in (339 mm) in 24 hours, and October 1998's 18.07 in (459 mm) remains the wettest month on record there. Across South Texas that flood killed 31 people, and NOAA puts the damage at $942 million ($1.81 billion in 2024 dollars); the San Antonio Report counts 11 of the dead in San Antonio. On 25 May 2013, over Memorial Day weekend, 9.87 in (251 mm) fell at the airport, the station's second-wettest day, and a gauge on Olmos Creek caught 15.31 in in five hours and about 17 in by the end of the day; US 281 stayed under water for days, crews made more than 235 rescues and at least two people died. The deadliest single day came on 12 June 2025, when more than 7 in fell in three hours over the Beitel Creek watershed on the Northeast Side and the airport recorded a record 3.9 in (99 mm) in one hour and 6.11 in (155 mm) for the day: the creek rose by as much as a foot every ten minutes, and 13 people died, 11 of them along Beitel Creek, where at least 15 vehicles were swept off the Loop 410 frontage road. Two more were found dead after a storm flooded Salado Creek over Labor Day weekend, and over the July Fourth weekend between the two 117 people died in nearby Kerr County and 135 across the state. Heat is the constant. The normals count 122.4 days a year at or above 90F, about the same as Austin's 122.8 and more than Houston's 111.3 or Dallas's 107.5, and 17.7 at or above 100F (37.8 C), between Houston's 7.0 and Dallas's 22.4. The airport's record is 75 days of 100F in 2023, including 23 in a row from 30 July to 21 August, well ahead of 59 in 2009 and 58 in 2022, and its highest reading is 111F (43.9 C), on 5 September 2000; 2026 had 24 such days through 22 September. Cold is rare and badly handled. Winter Storm Uri left 6.2 in (15.7 cm) of snow at the airport from 14 to 18 February 2021 and a low of 9F (-12.8 C) on the 15th, the coldest there since 6F (-14.4 C) on 23 December 1989; the station's record low is 0F (-17.8 C), on 31 January 1949, and its biggest snowfall 13.2 in (33.5 cm), on 12 January 1985. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February and about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst; Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 16 of them in Bexar County, and CPS Energy, the city's municipal electric and gas utility, reported $675 million to $850 million of losses on natural gas purchases and $175 million to $250 million on purchased power.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals for Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (station USW00013961), the city-owned general aviation field inside the city about 5 miles north-northwest of downtown: January mean 45.8F, July mean 85.1F, annual mean 65.9F, 35.34 in of precipitation. Meacham's normals carry no snowfall, so the 1.6 in of snow stored here is the normal at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), about 20 miles northeast of downtown, where the National Weather Service keeps the metro's official record. August is the warmest month by a tenth of a degree at 85.2F, with a mean high of 95.9F; July's mean high is 95.7F and January's mean low is 35.3F. October (4.46 in) is the wettest month, then May and June (4.02 in each), and January (2.05 in) the driest. The normals count 105.5 days a year at 90F or above, 24.1 at 100F or above and 32.8 nights at or below freezing. DFW Airport averages 46.3F in January and 85.7F in July with 37.01 in of rain, 20.3 days at 100F or above and 29.2 nights at or below freezing. Converted here to 7.7 C, 29.5 C, 898 mm and 4.1 cm. Those 24.1 days at 100F are more than Love Field's 22.4 for Dallas and fewer only than Austin's 28.7 among the Texas cities this site compares, although the July mean is 1.2 C below Dallas's. Sunshine hours are the older 1961-1990 NCDC means that Current Results lists for Dallas (2,850 hours, 61% of possible, and 135 clear days); it lists no separate Fort Worth figure, and the 1991-2020 normals do not include sunshine.
Hazards: Hail is the costly routine hazard. On the evening of 5 May 1995 a supercell dropped hail up to softball size on Mayfest, the outdoor festival on the bank of the Trinity River, where more than 10,000 people were caught in the open: more than 400 were hurt and 60 seriously enough to be hospitalized, though no one died at the festival. The storms went on to kill one driver in a swollen creek in western Tarrant County and 19 people in Dallas County, most of them in floodwater, and the National Weather Service puts the damage at about $2 billion, one of the costliest hailstorms in history. Cotality counted more than 235,000 Texas homes hit by damaging hail in 2025, far more than in any other state, with the risk concentrated in Dallas-Fort Worth and the other Texas Triangle metros. Tornadoes have hit the center of the city. At 6:18 pm on 28 March 2000 a tornado touched down near Castleberry High School, about 4 miles west of downtown, and tracked east along West 7th Street, nearly destroying the Cash America building and heavily damaging Mallick Tower before it weakened over downtown, where debris broke 80% of the windows in the Bank One building and 1,300 of the 5,000 in the Union Pacific Resources building. Two people died and about 80 were injured, 6 of them hospitalized; the Texas Tech damage survey rated it F2. A second tornado later that evening did F3 damage in Arlington and Grand Prairie without a death, and NOAA counts the storms of 28 and 29 March across the South at $690 million ($1.27 billion in 2024 dollars). Flooding shaped the city's form. In May 1949 a night of 6 to 12 in of rain overflowed the Trinity, killing 10 people and leaving more than 13,000 homeless, and the Army Corps of Engineers later built the 27 miles of levees of the Fort Worth Floodway, which the Tarrant Regional Water District maintains. The Corps' $1.16 billion Central City project, known locally as Panther Island, is to carry the river around downtown through new bypass channels and protect more than 2,400 acres; work on the northern half of the channel is due to begin late in 2026 and the project to be finished in 2032. Flash floods on the creeks are the more frequent danger: on 21 and 22 August 2022, 9.56 in (243 mm) fell at Meacham over the two days, 5.11 in (130 mm) of it on the 22nd, and the National Weather Service measured 8.41 in in Fort Worth, with flooding reported from Como and the John T. White neighborhood to West 7th Street; the city's 2016 floodplain plan counted more than $1 billion of stormwater improvements needed. Heat is the constant. The normals give Meacham 24.1 days a year at or above 100F (37.8 C). The summer of 2026 has been among its hottest: 55 days at 100F or above through 27 September, fourth in its record after 72 in 2011, 64 in 2023 and 62 in 1998, and 31 in a row from 3 August to 2 September, the longest run it has recorded; its highest reading is 112F (44.4 C), on 12 July 1998 and 4 September 2000. At DFW Airport the National Weather Service counts 52 days of 100F in 2026 through 22 September, tied for fifth, against the record of 71 in 2011. Cold is rare and badly handled. Winter Storm Uri took Meacham to -2F (-18.9 C) on 16 February 2021, tying 31 January 1949 for the lowest in its record, and DFW Airport also fell to -2F, the lowest there since 1953, with 5.0 in (12.7 cm) of snow over the storm. ERCOT cut power across the state grid from 15 to 18 February and about 4.5 million customers lost it at the worst; Texas counted 246 deaths from the storm, 11 of them in Tarrant County. In January 2026 Winter Storm Fern brought 2.4 in (6.1 cm) of snow and sleet to DFW Airport and a low of 11F (-11.7 C) at Meacham on the 25th.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $66,176 USD (2024) | $82,503 USD (2024) | Fort Worth |
| Unemployment rate | 4.7% (July 2026) | 4.6% (July 2026) | Fort Worth |
| Sales tax | 8.25% | 8.25% | Even |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 37% | Even |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer San Antonio and Fort Worth sit under one province's or state's income tax, so the two cells describe the same tax and any difference between them is one of method rather than of tax. The two cells agree to the dollar here. The Advantage column is Even for that reason, and the essay below says the same thing. | $13,449 USD | $13,449 USD | Even |
BLS counted 1,191,700 nonfarm jobs in the San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA in August 2026 (not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), up 6,100 or 0.5% on the year. Professional and business services grew fastest (+4.8%, to 162,400), then construction (+2.9%) and trade, transportation and utilities (+2.8%), while information (-7.7%), government (-3.1%, to 181,800) and private education and health services (-2.0%, to 180,300) shrank; federal government employment fell 6.7%, from 38,700 to 36,100. Trade, transportation and utilities is the largest sector at 216,300 jobs. The seasonally adjusted series (SMS48417000000000001) was 1,195,900 in August 2026, 0.8% above August 2025. BLS's federal line is far smaller than the base itself: the Texas Comptroller counts 74,713 direct employees at Joint Base San Antonio in 2025, 33,256 of them active-duty military, and estimates the base supported 223,349 Texas jobs and $33.9 billion of the state's GDP ($53.5 billion of output). Greater SATX, the regional economic development group, calls it the largest joint base in the US military. UT San Antonio, formed when UTSA and UT Health San Antonio merged in September 2025, calls health care and biosciences, a $44.1 billion sector, the city's largest industry. H-E-B, USAA, Valero Energy and iHeartMedia are all headquartered in the city.
Main sectors: Military and federal installations: Joint Base San Antonio (Fort Sam Houston with Brooke Army Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base with the Air Force's basic military training and the 16th Air Force, and Randolph Air Force Base with the Air Education and Training Command), Health care and biosciences (the South Texas Medical Center, University Health, UT Health San Antonio and UT San Antonio, Methodist Hospital, the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital), Tourism and hospitality (Visit San Antonio counts $23.4 billion of economic impact and more than 150,000 jobs in 2024), Trade, transportation and utilities, the metro's largest sector by payroll jobs (H-E-B, headquartered in the city; CPS Energy; San Antonio International Airport's cargo), Financial services, energy and media headquarters (USAA, Valero Energy, iHeartMedia).
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax. On 17 September 2026 the City Council voted 7 to 4, with Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones in the minority, to raise the city's own rate for the first time since 1992, as part of a plan to close a $158 million deficit over two years that also includes cuts, fee increases and a second rate increase planned for fiscal 2028. The fiscal 2027 rate is 56.288 cents per $100 of taxable value: 35.138 cents for maintenance and operations, two cents more than before, and 21.150 cents for debt service. The two outlets that gave a figure for the average homestead disagree: KSAT put it at about $49 more a year on a taxable value of $231,356, and the San Antonio Report at $35.43 on a $234,000 home. Senior and disabled homeowners with a tax freeze, about 47% of the city's homesteads, are unaffected (KSAT). The county, school district, University Health, San Antonio River Authority, Alamo Colleges and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.
BLS counted 1,222,100 nonfarm jobs in the Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine Metropolitan Division in August 2026 (not seasonally adjusted, preliminary), up 17,800 or 1.5% on the year. Professional and business services grew fastest (+5.0%, to 159,300), then mining, logging and construction (+4.8%, to 92,100), leisure and hospitality (+4.4%, to 145,500) and transportation and warehousing (+2.1%, to 102,600), while financial activities (-2.0%), information (-1.8%) and government (-0.6%, to 136,000) shrank; federal employment fell 9.0%, from 16,700 to 15,200. Manufacturing held at 110,000, of which aerospace product and parts manufacturing was 23,600, up 1.3%. The seasonally adjusted series (SMS48231040000000001) was 1,223,400 in August 2026, 1.5% above August 2025. The Texas Comptroller credits Lockheed Martin with about 49,000 direct and indirect workers in Fort Worth and a $9 billion regional impact, and 25,579 direct employees across Texas, and counts 4,553 direct and 21,266 total jobs and $2.75 billion of state GDP for Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in 2025. Hillwood's annual report puts AllianceTexas's economic impact at $12.9 billion in 2025 and $142.9 billion since it opened in 1989, and Hillwood says the Comptroller has recognized it as the primary inland port for the southwestern United States. American Airlines, with 103,440 staff in 2024, and BNSF Railway, with about 36,000, are both headquartered in the city (Wikipedia).
Main sectors: Aerospace and defense (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which builds the F-35 at Air Force Plant 4; Bell Textron, headquartered in the city; Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, the former Carswell Air Force Base), Airlines and freight rail (American Airlines, headquartered in the city, with its largest hub at DFW Airport; BNSF Railway, headquartered in the city), Logistics and advanced manufacturing at AllianceTexas in far north Fort Worth, which Hillwood says holds 602 companies and 73,134 jobs, Trade, transportation and utilities, the division's largest sector by payroll jobs (289,300 in August 2026), Health care and education (JPS Health Network, Cook Children's Medical Center, Texas Christian University and its medical school).
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Tax Foundation puts Texas's effective property tax rate on owner-occupied homes at 1.40%, and school districts must exempt $140,000 of a homestead's value from their tax. On 15 September 2026 the City Council adopted a $3.33 billion operating budget for fiscal 2027 unanimously and raised the city's rate by 3.565 cents to 70.565 cents per $100 of taxable value on a 7 to 4 vote, to help close a $94 million shortfall. The city says the average homeowner's bill will still fall, by $8.19 to $1,643.64 on a home valued at $232,925, because the Tarrant Appraisal District has not reappraised residential property since 2024 and the average value dropped; the city's total taxable value rose only 0.89%, to $130.2 billion (Fort Worth Report, Community Impact, CBS Texas). The budget also raises stormwater, water, sewer, solid waste and environmental fees by about $7 a month for the average resident. The county, school district, JPS hospital district, Tarrant County College and other levies on the same bill belong to the housing layer.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | San Antonio | Fort Worth | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | VIA buses on 95 routes (three Primo rapid lines, 21 frequent and 70 standard) with 511 buses and 5,984 stops, VIA Link on-demand rideshare zones and paratransit (138 vehicles), across San Antonio, 13 smaller cities and unincorporated Bexar County; there is no rail, and the Green Line, the first of two Advanced Rapid Transit bus lines, is under construction | Trinity Metro buses (147 fixed-route and 76 demand-response vehicles), the 27.2-mile TEXRail commuter line with 9 stations from T&P Station downtown through North Richland Hills and Grapevine to DFW Airport Terminal B (opened January 2019), the Trinity Railway Express to Dallas run with DART, ZIPZONE on-demand zones and the downtown Blue Line circulator; Fort Worth is the only full member, with Forest Hill, Grapevine, North Richland Hills and River Oaks partial members | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 2.4% (2024) | 0.7% (2024) | San Antonio |
| Walk or cycle to work | 2.5% (2024) | 1.1% (2024) | San Antonio |
| Airport | San Antonio International Airport (SAT), about 8 miles north of downtown and with no airline hub, handled 10,740,694 passengers in 2025, 3.2% fewer than the record 11,094,278 of 2024, and a record 274,847,470 pounds of air cargo, up 15.7%, per the airport's year-end statistics report, which puts the passenger decline down to economic uncertainty and the federal government shutdown. The airport is building Terminal C, which it says will add more than 850,000 square feet and up to 18 domestic and international gates by mid-2028. | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), about 20 miles northeast of downtown Fort Worth and midway between the two cities, handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, 2.5% fewer than 2024's 87,817,864, per the airport's December 2025 traffic report; American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, carried 82.6% of them, and TEXRail runs from downtown to Terminal B. Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, owned by the city about 5 miles north-northwest of downtown, has no scheduled airline service and serves general aviation; its 1933 American Airways hangar is on the National Register of Historic Places (Wikipedia). | Not directly comparable |
VIA carried 30,665,700 unlinked trips in 2025 and about 105,800 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026 (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher), against 78.0 million for Houston's METRO and 52.8 million for DART. Bexar County voters created VIA in 1977 with a half-cent sales tax, and a city-only Advanced Transportation District approved in 2004 adds more. The VIA Rapid Green Line will run along San Pedro Avenue from San Antonio International Airport through downtown to Brooks Transit Center, with dedicated bus lanes and new signal-protected crossings. It is a $481 million project, $268 million of it a federal grant the Federal Transit Administration committed in December 2024; construction began in the summer of 2025, work is active along San Pedro, and the FTA's revenue service date is April 2028. The east-west Silver Line, from the Frost Bank Center area to General McMullen Drive, is in design and projected for late 2030.
Trinity Metro carried 6,180,600 unlinked trips in 2025, 4,554,400 of them by bus and 906,800 on TEXRail, and about 22,100 a weekday in the second quarter of 2026, 2,800 of them on TEXRail (APTA ridership reports, as cited by Wikipedia; APTA's PDFs refused the fetcher), against 30.7 million for VIA in San Antonio, 52.8 million for DART and 78.0 million for Houston's METRO. The Trinity Railway Express, which Trinity Metro runs with DART between downtown Fort Worth and downtown Dallas, carried 1,337,600 trips in 2025 (APTA, same source). The system is paid for by a half-cent sales tax Fort Worth has levied since 1984, half what DART's and METRO's cities pay. TEXRail runs every 30 minutes until 7 pm and hourly after, and a 2.1-mile extension to the Medical District on the Near Southside, estimated at about $167 million, is due to break ground by the end of 2026 and open in 2029 (Wikipedia).
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF, August 2026). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of San Antonio's rate was 18.0% (268,665 of 1,496,335), Bexar County's 15.8% and the metro's 14.5%. The South Texas Medical Center on the Northwest Side covers more than 900 acres around the medical school that opened there in 1968 and holds the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Medical Center and a dozen other hospitals; a UTSA study cited by the San Antonio Report in 2022 put its annual economic effect on the region at $24.5 billion. University Health, the Bexar County Hospital District, runs University Hospital there, a 716-bed teaching hospital and a Level I trauma center for adults and children, and the 300-bed Women's & Children's Hospital that opened on the same campus in 2023; it plans to open two community hospitals elsewhere in the county in 2027. Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston has about 8,500 staff. UT Health San Antonio, the clinical arm of UT San Antonio, counts more than 2.5 million patient visits a year. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
No single school district covers the city. Northside ISD, the largest in the San Antonio area with about 98,000 students, faced a $35 million deficit in March 2026, down from nearly $108 million, and its superintendent said closures were possible but not expected for 2026-27 (KSAT). North East ISD lost about 2,000 students in 2025-26, now serves about 55,000, closed three campuses the year before and will accept students from anywhere in the region from 2026-27 (San Antonio Report). San Antonio ISD has closed 25 schools in the last decade and in March 2026 voted to close Rhodes Middle School and hand three other campuses to a charter operator, Third Future Schools, citing falling enrollment and state accountability ratings. Districts say they cannot yet tell how many students the state's new education savings accounts, which help pay private school tuition from 2026-27, will draw away. UT San Antonio, formed on 2 September 2025 when UTSA merged with UT Health San Antonio, has about 40,000 students and 17,000 employees and calls itself the third-largest public research university in Texas by research spending, and the Alamo Colleges District runs five community colleges.
Living there
San Antonio is the second city of Texas and the seventh-largest in the country, and unlike Dallas it is still growing inside its own limits: it added 14,359 residents in 2024-25, the third-largest gain of any US city, and 8.0% since 2020. The military has shaped it for three centuries, and Joint Base San Antonio, with 74,713 direct employees, sits beside the South Texas Medical Center and a tourism trade Visit San Antonio values at $23.4 billion as the pillars of the economy. Household income is lower than in Dallas or Austin, and 18.0% of residents have no health insurance. VIA runs buses only, 2.4% of workers take them and 68.2% drive alone, and the Green Line along San Pedro Avenue, the city's first rapid transit line, is due in April 2028. Summers are long and dry rather than humid, with 122 days a year at 90F or above and 75 at 100F in 2023, and water is the killer: the creeks rise within minutes, and a single night of rain on 12 June 2025 drowned 13 people. The open questions are fiscal and civic: the council raised the city's property tax rate for the first time since 1992 on a 7 to 4 vote the mayor opposed, with a second increase planned, and the big school districts are shrinking, closing campuses and competing for each other's students as the state's education savings accounts begin.
Health care
Care is paid for through employer or marketplace insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, and Texas is one of the ten states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (KFF). It had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024: 16.7%, or 5,152,427 of 30,799,312 people, against 8.2% nationally and 12.0% in Georgia, the next highest, on the ACS 2024 1-year estimates. The City of Fort Worth's rate was 18.9% (189,692 of 1,003,516), Tarrant County's 16.9% and the metro's 16.2%. JPS Health Network, the Tarrant County Hospital District, runs John Peter Smith Hospital, the county's public hospital, a Level I trauma center and the only psychiatric emergency site in the county; on 16 April 2026 it broke ground on a $1.5 billion replacement hospital at South Main and East Morphy streets, part of a $2.5 billion building plan backed by an $800 million bond from 2018, which will take it from 582 beds to more than 740 when it opens in 2030 (Fort Worth Report). Cook Children's Medical Center has 452 licensed beds and a Level II pediatric trauma center (Wikipedia). TCU's Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine took its first class in 2019. This file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
Fort Worth is served by Fort Worth ISD and, in parts, by fourteen other districts, among them Keller, Northwest, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Crowley and Arlington (the 2020 Census school district map, as cited by Wikipedia). Fort Worth ISD is now under state control: after a campus received a fifth straight failing rating, Education Commissioner Mike Morath decided in October 2025 to intervene, and on 24 March 2026 he replaced the elected trustees' authority with a nine-member board of managers led by Pete Geren and named Peter Licata, formerly of Broward County, superintendent. It is the second-largest takeover in Texas history, after Houston ISD's. The board opened by saying roughly 63% of students do not read at grade level and 29% are proficient in math (Fort Worth Report). The district, built for 90,000 students, had 67,315 in 2025-26 on Texas Education Agency data and projected about 66,500 for 2026-27; it has lost more than 12,000 in five years and in May 2025 approved closing 18 campuses by June 2029 (CBS Texas). Texas Christian University (12,980 students in fall 2025) is about 4 miles from downtown, and the city also holds Texas Wesleyan University, UNT Health Fort Worth and Texas A&M University's law school and downtown campus.
Living there
Fort Worth has grown faster than any other US city of a million people: 11.9% since 2020, and 19,512 residents in 2024-25, a gain second only to Charlotte's; it passed a million in 2024. It is the western half of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro and works differently from Dallas: its economy leans on aircraft, airlines and freight, from the F-35 line at Lockheed Martin's plant and Bell's helicopters to the headquarters of American Airlines and BNSF and the warehouses and factories of AllianceTexas, and household income, at $82,503, is higher than in Dallas, Houston or San Antonio. It is built for the car: 74.9% of workers drive alone and 0.7% take transit, the lowest share of any city this site compares, though TEXRail runs to DFW Airport. Violent crime, at 375 per 100,000 on the FBI's counts, is the lowest of the Texas cities here. Summer is long and hot, with 24 days a year at 100F or above and 31 in a row in 2026, and hail and tornadoes are the costly weather. Texas takes no income tax, and 18.9% of residents have no health insurance. The open questions are the costs of growth: the council raised its property tax rate in September 2026 to cover a $94 million gap as appraisals stalled, the state took over the shrinking Fort Worth ISD in March 2026, and the Panther Island flood channels around downtown are not due until 2032.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Both cities are in Texas and both were priced at Freddie Mac's 7.03% rate for 24 September 2026, so the rate and the state's rules are the same on both sides: no transfer or mortgage tax, no rent control, and for a homestead a $140,000 school exemption and a 10% annual cap on appraised value. The prices are different measures. San Antonio's is the San Antonio Board of REALTORS' median sale price for Bexar County, $280,999 in August 2026, 3.1% below a year earlier, a county figure because no city median could be found; the city holds 72% of the county's residents. Fort Worth's is the North Texas Real Estate Information System's median of single-family houses sold inside the city, $327,000 in August, 0.9% below, on 805 sales. Zillow's index, which models every home in each city, stood at $247,453 for the City of San Antonio and $295,800 for the City of Fort Worth in August, so on a measure that is the same in both the gap is about the same, $48,347 against $46,001. At 20% down, San Antonio's $224,799 loan costs about $1,500 a month and Fort Worth's $261,600 loan about $1,746. Property tax is $4,390 a year in San Antonio and $5,044 in Fort Worth with a homestead, and insurance is budgeted at $250 and $350 a month, both estimates between published averages, the Fort Worth one raised by North Texas hail, and neither with a flood policy in it. The three lines come to about $2,116 and $2,516, roughly 38% and 37% of each city's 2024 median household income; of the $400 gap about $246 is the mortgage, $100 the insurance and $54 the property tax. The rents are on the same series, Apartment List's September medians for each city: a one-bedroom at $957 in San Antonio and $1,141 in Fort Worth, a two-bedroom $1,179 and $1,317. Zillow's observed rent index was $1,386 and $1,615 in August.
The definitions match: both cities' figures are the FBI's summarized counts for 2025, divided by Census Vintage 2025 populations and read on 30 September 2026. Fort Worth is the lower on violence and property, San Antonio on homicide. San Antonio's 8,241 violent offenses come to 532 per 100,000 against Fort Worth's 375 on 3,859, the lowest rate of the Texas cities this site compares, and its 60,693 property offenses to 3,920 against 2,226 on 22,886. Homicide runs the other way: 106 in San Antonio, about 6.8 per 100,000, against 78 in Fort Worth, about 7.6, and Fort Worth's was the one violent measure that rose in 2025, from 72. The police departments' own counts do not settle it. SAPD's report ran from January to November 2025, 99 homicides against 119 a year earlier, and no full-year figure was found; FWPD counted 36 murders from January through August 2026 against 54 in the same months of 2025. Both are falling. Violent offenses dropped 10% in San Antonio in 2025, and are 37% below the 2022 peak of 13,105, and 17% in Fort Worth, 29% in four years. Motor vehicle theft fell in both, from 19,090 in 2023 to 9,527 in San Antonio and from 5,157 in 2024 to 3,616 in Fort Worth. Both sets of counts come from a feed last refreshed on 15 September and can still be revised.
San Antonio has the milder winter and the longer hot season; Fort Worth the colder winter and more of the hottest days. January averages 11.2 C at San Antonio International against 7.7 C at Meacham, with 14.0 nights a year at or below freezing against 32.8, and July 29.3 C against 29.5 C. San Antonio's normals count 122.4 days a year at 90F or above against 105.5, but Fort Worth's count 24.1 at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 17.7. San Antonio gets 822 mm of rain, the least of the Texas cities this site compares, and Fort Worth 898 mm; snow is 0.5 cm against 4.1 cm, the Fort Worth figure DFW Airport's. The worst recent summers are close: San Antonio International had 75 days of 100F in 2023, and Meacham 55 in 2026 through 27 September, 31 of them in a row. The hazards differ in kind. San Antonio's is the flash flood off the Balcones Escarpment: 11.26 in (286 mm) fell at the airport on 17 October 1998, and on 12 June 2025 a storm over the Northeast Side killed 13 people, 11 of them along Beitel Creek. Fort Worth's costly one is hail. The Mayfest storm of 5 May 1995 dropped hail up to softball size on more than 10,000 people at a festival by the Trinity, hurting more than 400, and did about $2 billion of damage across Tarrant and Dallas counties, and on 28 March 2000 a tornado tracked into downtown and killed two. Fort Worth's creeks flood as well: 9.56 in (243 mm) fell at Meacham over two days in August 2022. Winter Storm Uri took San Antonio International to 9F (-12.8 C) and Meacham to -2F (-18.9 C) in February 2021 while ERCOT cut power across the state grid, and Texas counted 16 of its 246 deaths in Bexar County and 11 in Tarrant.
The two labor markets are almost the same size and growing at different speeds. BLS counted 1,191,700 nonfarm jobs around San Antonio and 1,222,100 in the Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine division, Fort Worth's half of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, in August 2026, 0.5% and 1.5% more than a year earlier. Unemployment is on the same unadjusted basis in both, 4.7% around San Antonio and 4.6% in the Fort Worth division in July, against 4.4% nationally. Both lean on defense, in different ways. The Texas Comptroller counts 74,713 direct employees at Joint Base San Antonio in 2025, 33,256 of them on active duty, and 4,553 at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth; Fort Worth's defense work is mostly industrial, Lockheed Martin's F-35 line at Air Force Plant 4, with about 49,000 direct and indirect workers in the city on the Comptroller's count, and Bell Textron's headquarters. Federal jobs fell 6.7% around San Antonio on the year and 9.0% in the Fort Worth division. San Antonio's other anchors are health care and biosciences, which UT San Antonio calls a $44.1 billion sector and the city's largest industry, and the headquarters of H-E-B, USAA, Valero Energy and iHeartMedia. Fort Worth's are American Airlines and BNSF Railway, both headquartered in the city, and AllianceTexas in the far north, with 73,134 jobs by its developer's count. Neither profile carries a wage figure. City median household income was $66,176 in San Antonio and $82,503 in Fort Worth in 2024, and the metros' $78,112 and $92,733. The state's taxes are shared: no income tax, so $100,000 pays $13,449 in both for 2025, and 8.25% sales tax. The property tax stacks are alike in shape. San Antonio's seven units add to 2.290174 per $100 and Fort Worth's six to 2.18908, and neither school district, Northside ISD or Fort Worth ISD, grants anything beyond the state's $140,000; Fort Worth's water district grants nothing at all. So the same $327,000 house pays $5,340 in San Antonio and $5,044 in Fort Worth, and the Bexar County median of $280,999 would pay $4,131 on Fort Worth's stack against $4,390.
Neither city has much transit, and San Antonio's buses carry about five times Fort Worth's whole system. In 2024, 2.4% of San Antonio workers took transit and 2.5% walked or cycled, against 0.7% and 1.1% in Fort Worth, the lowest transit share of any city this site compares; 68.2% of San Antonio's workers drove alone against 74.9%, and 11.1% and 10.5% worked from home. VIA carried 30,665,700 trips in 2025, all by bus. Trinity Metro carried 6,180,600, 906,800 of them on TEXRail, the 27.2-mile commuter line from downtown Fort Worth to DFW Airport, and runs the Trinity Railway Express to Dallas with DART. San Antonio's first rapid transit line is under construction: the VIA Rapid Green Line, a $481 million project with a $268 million federal grant committed in December 2024, will run on dedicated bus lanes along San Pedro Avenue from the airport through downtown and is due in April 2028. Fort Worth's next step is a 2.1-mile TEXRail extension to the Medical District, estimated at about $167 million, due to break ground by the end of 2026 and open in 2029. Transit takes 0.875% of the sales tax in the City of San Antonio and half a cent in Fort Worth, which it has levied since 1984. The airports are far apart. DFW, American's largest hub, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Fort Worth, handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, and American, which carried 82.6% of them, is headquartered in Fort Worth. San Antonio International, with no airline hub, handled 10,740,694 and is building Terminal C, with up to 18 gates, for mid-2028.
Coverage is Texas's problem in both cities, at about the same level. The state has not expanded Medicaid and had the highest uninsured rate of any state in 2024, 16.7%; the City of San Antonio's rate was 18.0% and the City of Fort Worth's 18.9%, and Bexar County's 15.8% against Tarrant's 16.9%. Each county's public hospital is a line on the tax bill. University Health runs University Hospital in the South Texas Medical Center, 716 beds and a Level I trauma center for adults and children, and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston has about 8,500 staff. JPS Health Network runs John Peter Smith Hospital, Tarrant County's Level I trauma center and its only psychiatric emergency site, and broke ground on 16 April 2026 on a $1.5 billion replacement that will take it from 582 beds to more than 740 in 2030; Cook Children's Medical Center has 452 licensed beds. Neither profile verified a wait time. The schools are shrinking in both, and Fort Worth's largest district is run by the state. Fort Worth ISD, built for 90,000 students, had 67,315 in 2025-26 and has approved closing 18 campuses by June 2029, and since 24 March 2026 it has been governed by a board of managers the Education Commissioner appointed after a campus failed for a fifth straight year. No single district covers either city. Northside ISD, the largest in the San Antonio area with about 98,000 students, faced a $35 million deficit in March 2026, North East ISD lost about 2,000 students in 2025-26, and San Antonio ISD has closed 25 schools in a decade. UT San Antonio, formed by a merger with UT Health San Antonio in September 2025, has about 40,000 students; TCU has 12,980 and a medical school that took its first class in 2019.
What people underestimate is that these are two of the three US cities that grew most in 2024-25, and both are still filling in their own limits. Fort Worth added 19,512 residents, second only to Charlotte, and San Antonio 14,359, third; Fort Worth grew 11.9% from 2020, the fastest of the twelve US cities of more than a million, and San Antonio 8.0%, the next. San Antonio is still the larger, 1,548,422 against 1,028,117. So $4,390 and $5,044 are bills for an address inside each city and one school district, Northside ISD in Bexar County and Fort Worth ISD in Tarrant, and the edges add charges neither figure includes. In San Antonio's extraterritorial jurisdiction Bexar County has created 24 special improvement districts for new subdivisions, 22 of them levying 0.54159 per $100, the City's own rate. In Fort Worth the newer subdivisions on the northern and western edges often sit in a public improvement district, where each lot in Walsh Ranch's first phase owes $482 to $1,559 a year, and in Keller ISD, the district the second most residents live in, the same $327,000 house pays $5,149. Both cities raised their own rates in September 2026, on 7 to 4 votes. San Antonio's council, on the 17th, took the City's from 54.159 cents to 56.288 for fiscal 2027, its first increase since 1992, to help close a $158 million deficit over two years, with a second increase planned for fiscal 2028. Fort Worth's, on the 15th, took the City's from 67 cents to 70.565 to help close a $94 million shortfall, and says the average homeowner's bill will still fall a little because the appraisal district has not reappraised houses since 2024.
Better here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,116 a month on the Bexar County median, against $2,516 on Fort Worth's single-family median at the same 7.03% rate.
- There were 106 homicides in 2025, about 6.8 per 100,000, against 78 in Fort Worth at about 7.6.
- January averages 11.2 C with 14.0 nights a year at or below freezing, against 7.7 C and 32.8 at Meacham, and the normals count 17.7 days at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 24.1.
- Joint Base San Antonio had 74,713 direct employees in 2025, and H-E-B, USAA, Valero Energy and iHeartMedia have their headquarters in the city.
- VIA carried 30,665,700 trips in 2025 against Trinity Metro's 6,180,600, and 2.4% of workers took transit against 0.7%.
- Home insurance is budgeted at $250 a month against $350 in Fort Worth, where hail is the routine cost, and rent is lower on the same series, $1,179 for a two-bedroom against $1,317.
Worse here
- Violent crime ran 532 per 100,000 in 2025 against 375 in Fort Worth, and property crime 3,920 against 2,226, on the same FBI counts.
- City median household income was $66,176 in 2024 against $82,503 in Fort Worth, and the metro's $78,112 against $92,733.
- The seven taxing units would take $5,340 a year on a $327,000 homestead where Fort Worth's six take $5,044, an effective 1.63% against 1.54%.
- San Antonio International handled 10,740,694 passengers in 2025 with no airline hub, against 85,660,127 at DFW.
- The metro's 1,191,700 nonfarm jobs grew 0.5% in the year to August 2026, against 1.5% in the Fort Worth division, and federal jobs fell 6.7%.
- Flash floods come within minutes: 13 people died on 12 June 2025, 11 of them along Beitel Creek, and a homeowners policy does not cover rising water.
Choose San Antonio if
- you want to own at about $2,116 a month on the county's median rather than $2,516
- you are posted to Joint Base San Antonio, or work in military medicine, health care, insurance at USAA, or tourism
- you want an 11.2 C January and would take 122.4 days a year at 90F for it
- you want to get around by bus, with a rapid transit line due in 2028
The San Antonio guide · Neighborhoods · San Antonio rent vs buy · San Antonio mortgage calculator
Better here
- Violent crime ran 375 per 100,000 in 2025, the lowest of the Texas cities this site compares, against 532 in San Antonio, and property crime 2,226 against 3,920.
- City median household income was $82,503 in 2024 against $66,176, so the higher carry is about the same share of it, 37% against 38%.
- The Fort Worth division's 1,222,100 nonfarm jobs grew 1.5% in the year to August 2026, three times San Antonio's 0.5%.
- DFW, American's largest hub, handled 85,660,127 passengers in 2025, and TEXRail runs to it from downtown.
- The city added 19,512 residents in 2024-25, the second-largest gain of any US city, and grew 11.9% from 2020 against San Antonio's 8.0%.
- On the same $327,000 house the six taxing units take $5,044 a year, against $5,340 from San Antonio's seven.
Worse here
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,516 a month, against $2,116 on the Bexar County median, and Zillow's index for the City of Fort Worth stood at $295,800 against $247,453 for the City of San Antonio.
- January averages 7.7 C with 32.8 nights a year at or below freezing, and Uri took Meacham to -2F (-18.9 C) in February 2021.
- In 2024, 0.7% of workers took transit, the lowest share of any city this site compares.
- Fort Worth ISD has been run by a state-appointed board since 24 March 2026, and the board says roughly 63% of its students do not read at grade level.
- Home insurance is budgeted at $350 a month against $250, because North Texas hail is the costly routine hazard.
- Homicides rose from 72 to 78 in 2025, about 7.6 per 100,000 against 6.8 in San Antonio.
Choose Fort Worth if
- you work in aerospace, defense manufacturing, airlines, freight rail or logistics
- you want the lower violent and property crime rates, on figures built the same way
- you fly often and want a hub airport with a train from downtown
- you want the faster-growing job market and the higher incomes, and can pay about $400 a month more to own
The Fort Worth guide · Neighborhoods · Fort Worth rent vs buy · Fort Worth mortgage calculator
San Antonio or Fort Worth, in short
Is San Antonio or Fort Worth cheaper to live in?
San Antonio, in dollars, and neither against local pay. Both cities were priced at the same 7.03% mortgage rate of 24 September 2026, so the figures net directly, though the prices are different measures. The San Antonio Board of REALTORS' median for all of Bexar County was $280,999 in August 2026 and the NTREIS single-family median inside Fort Worth $327,000; Zillow's index for each city, $247,453 against $295,800, keeps the order. At 20% down the mortgage is about $1,500 against $1,746. Property tax is $4,390 a year against $5,044 with a homestead, and insurance $250 a month against $350, so the three lines come to about $2,116 in San Antonio and $2,516 in Fort Worth, roughly 38% and 37% of each city's median household income, $66,176 and $82,503. Renting is cheaper in San Antonio on the same series, Apartment List's September medians: $1,179 for a two-bedroom against $1,317. Income tax is nil in both and sales tax 8.25% in both.
Is San Antonio or Fort Worth safer?
Fort Worth, on violence and property, and San Antonio on homicide, on figures built the same way. Both are the FBI's summarized counts for 2025 divided by Census estimates, read on 30 September 2026. Violent offenses ran 532 per 100,000 in San Antonio against 375 in Fort Worth, and property offenses 3,920 against 2,226. Homicide was 106 in San Antonio, about 6.8 per 100,000, against 78 in Fort Worth, about 7.6. Both improved in 2025, violent offenses dropping 10% in San Antonio and 17% in Fort Worth, and FWPD's own count for January through August 2026 was 36 murders against 54 a year earlier. Every rate here is a count divided by a Census estimate rather than a published rate, and the counts can still be revised.
Which has the better weather, San Antonio or Fort Worth?
They fail differently. San Antonio is the milder in winter, 11.2 C in January against 7.7 C with 14.0 freezing nights against 32.8, and its heat lasts longer, 122.4 days a year at 90F or above against 105.5. Fort Worth has more of the extreme days, 24.1 a year at or above 37.8 C (100F) against 17.7, and 55 at Meacham in 2026 through 27 September. San Antonio is the drier, 822 mm of rain against 898 mm. Fort Worth's costly hazards are hail and tornadoes, which is why its insurance is budgeted at $350 a month against $250. San Antonio's is the flash flood: the creeks rise within minutes, and a single storm on 12 June 2025 killed 13 people. In both, flood cover is a separate policy.
Which city's property tax is higher, San Antonio's or Fort Worth's?
Fort Worth's bill is higher and San Antonio's rate. The state frame is the same: a $140,000 homestead exemption from the school levy and a 10% annual cap on a homestead's appraised value that starts after purchase. San Antonio's seven units add to 2.290174 per $100 and Fort Worth's six to 2.18908, and in both the school district, Northside ISD at 1.0049 and Fort Worth ISD at 1.0291, grants the state's $140,000 and nothing more. In San Antonio, Bexar County, University Health and the City take 20% off a homestead, the county's Road and Flood Control Fund $3,000 and 20%, the River Authority 4% and the college district 1% with a $5,000 floor. In Fort Worth, Tarrant County, the City and JPS Health Network take 20%, Tarrant County College 1% with the same floor, and the Tarrant Regional Water District nothing. So on the two medians Fort Worth's $327,000 pays $5,044 and the Bexar County $280,999 pays $4,390, but on the same $327,000 house San Antonio's stack would charge $5,340. Without a homestead the two medians would owe $6,435 and $7,158. Both cities raised their own rates for the coming year in September 2026.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places in Texas: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth, Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Character
- Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More (all states, SUB-EST2025) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: City population, Character
- Annual Resident Population Estimates and Components of Change for Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas and Their Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (CBSA-EST2025-ALLDATA) · US Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, San Antonio Police Department (TXSPD0000): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Crime in San Antonio dropped 13% in 2025, SAPD report says · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- San Antonio sees 20% drop in homicides in 2025, new report shows · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012921 San Antonio International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 52.2F, July 84.8F and August 85.5F from the monthly series, and annual mean 69.6F, precipitation 32.38 in, snowfall 0.2 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, San Antonio International Airport (USW00012921), 1946-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 11.26 in on 17 October 1998, 9.87 in on 25 May 2013, 6.11 in on 12 June 2025, 75 days at or above 100F in 2023 and 23 in a row from 30 July to 21 August 2023, 59 in 2009, 58 in 2022, 24 in 2026 through 22 September, 111F on 5 September 2000, 6.2 in of snow from 14 to 18 February 2021 and 9F on 15 February 2021, 6F on 23 December 1989, 0F on 31 January 1949, 13.2 in of snow on 12 January 1985
- October 1998 Flood Event (South Central Texas) · National Weather Service, Austin/San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours, Climate normals
- Weather and Climate Billion-Dollar Disasters to affect the U.S. from 1980-2024 (events list) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- October 1998 Central Texas floods · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 12 years ago, San Antonio's Highway 281 was submerged by record flooding during Memorial Day weekend · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Texas flash floods kill 2 in San Antonio · CBS News · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- It's San Antonio's deadliest flood year in 27 years. What's going on? · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character
- February 2021 Winter Storm-Related Deaths, Texas (mortality surveillance report) · Texas Department of State Health Services · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts · The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Main sectors
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for San Antonio city and the San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Bexar County, San Antonio city and the San Antonio-New Braunfels MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care, Character
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA (LAUMT484170000000003), Bexar County, the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin MSAs, and the US rate (LNU04000000), not seasonally adjusted · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA: total nonfarm (SMU48417000000000001, SMS48417000000000001) and supersectors (SMU484170xx00000001) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Joint Base San Antonio (Texas military installations economic impact, 2025) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Health care, Character
- Why SATX (Joint Base San Antonio, Military City USA) · Greater SATX Regional Economic Partnership · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Visit San Antonio celebrates National Travel and Tourism Week 2026 · Visit San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Character
- UTSA and UT Health San Antonio complete merger to become The University of Texas at San Antonio · UT San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Health care, Education
- USAA (headquarters) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- H-E-B (headquarters) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Valero Energy (headquarters) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- iHeartMedia (headquarters) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- City Sales and Use Tax (city rate table) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Transit Sales and Use Tax (San Antonio MTA, effective January 1, 1978; San Antonio ATD, effective April 1, 2005, raised January 1, 2026) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Transit system, Transit ridership
- City's proposed plan: Collect sales tax for 4 years before revenue goes to VIA · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Texas Tax Rates & Rankings · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000, Tax notes
- 2025 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- 2026 Tax Brackets and Federal Income Tax Rates · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Property Tax Exemptions · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- San Antonio approves first property tax hike in 34 years · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- San Antonio council passes FY 2027 budget with higher property tax revenue and fees · News 4 San Antonio · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- San Antonio approves first tax increase in more than 30 years · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- VIA Metropolitan Transit (routes, fleet, stops, history, Green and Silver lines) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- Template:American transit ridership (APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- Construction Updates, VIA Rapid Green Line · VIA Metropolitan Transit (Keep SA Moving) · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Character
- When will San Pedro construction be complete? Here's what VIA says about progress on the Green Line. · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Character
- San Antonio locks down federal funding for $480M Green Line · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership, Sales tax
- December & Year End 2025 Statistics · San Antonio International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- December 2024 Statistics (2024 passenger record) · San Antonio International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Terminal Development Program (ELEVATE/SAT) · San Antonio International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- San Antonio International Airport (location, airlines, 2025 statistics) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- San Antonio Medical Foundation marks 75th anniversary · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Health care, Main sectors
- About Us · University Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- University Hospital · University Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- University Health (University Hospital beds, Women's & Children's Hospital) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Northside ISD faces $35 million deficit, but does not anticipate layoffs · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Education
- Like other San Antonio districts, NEISD drops its boundaries · San Antonio Report · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- San Antonio ISD cites declining enrollment, poor academics for school closure · KSAT · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Alamo Colleges District (five colleges) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Crime Data Explorer summarized agency data, Fort Worth Police Department (TX2201200): violent crime, property crime, homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson, 2021-2025 · FBI · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Character
- Dallas sees drop in violent crime while Fort Worth sees increase in homicides · Spectrum News · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- After 'puzzling' spike in homicides, Fort Worth leaders look to new police chief · Fort Worth Star-Telegram (via Yahoo News) · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Homicides
- Eddie Garcia marks one year as Fort Worth police chief, shares reasons behind city's drop in violent crime · WFAA (via Yahoo News) · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00013961 Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Climate normals, Climate hazards, Character, January 45.8F, July 85.1F and August 85.2F from the monthly series, which carries no snowfall normal for this station, and annual mean 65.9F, precipitation 35.34 in and the counts of days at 90F and 100F and nights at freezing from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020 for the same station
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00003927 Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Annual snowfall, Climate normals, 1.6 in of snow, January 46.3F, July 85.7F, 37.01 in of precipitation, 20.3 days at 100F and 29.2 nights at freezing, the last three from dataset=normals-annualseasonal-1991-2020
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (USW00013961), 1946-1953 and 1992-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character, 55 days at or above 100F in 2026 through 27 September, 72 in 2011, 64 in 2023 and 62 in 1998, 31 in a row from 3 August to 2 September 2026, 112F on 12 July 1998 and 4 September 2000, -2F on 16 February 2021 and 31 January 1949, 4.45 in on 21 August 2022 and 5.11 in on 22 August 2022, 11F on 25 January 2026
- Global Historical Climatology Network daily summaries, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (USW00003927), 1953-2026 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, -2F on 16 February 2021, 5.0 in of snow on 14 and 17 February 2021, 2.4 in of snow and sleet on 24 and 25 January 2026
- Dallas/Fort Worth: Annual and Consecutive 100 Degree Days (last updated 22 September 2026) · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Mayfest Hailstorm, May 5, 1995 · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Cotality 2026 Report: Hail risk now rivals major hurricanes (2026 Severe Convective Storm Risk Report) · Cotality · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- March 28, 2000: 10th Anniversary, a review of the March 28, 2000 tornadoes affecting Fort Worth and Arlington (from NWS Storm Data) · National Weather Service, Fort Worth/Dallas · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Damage Survey and Assessment of Fort Worth Tornado, 28 March 2000 · Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- 2000 Fort Worth tornado outbreak · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Flood Protection · Tarrant Regional Water District · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Panther Island bypass project moves forward after Trinity River dams, flood storage delays · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character
- 'Boom, here we're hit with it again.' How historic rains flooded homes and neighborhoods across Tarrant County · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Fort Worth city, Tarrant County and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year table B27001 (health insurance coverage) for the 50 states, DC, the US, Tarrant County, Fort Worth city and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Health care, Character
- Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine, TX Metropolitan Division (LAUDV482310400000003), the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA (LAUMT481910000000003), Fort Worth city (LAUCT482700000000003), Tarrant County (LAUCN484390000000003) and the US rate (LNU04000000), not seasonally adjusted · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Current Employment Statistics, Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine, TX Metropolitan Division: total nonfarm (SMU48231040000000001, SMS48231040000000001), supersectors (SMU4823104xx00000001) and aerospace product and parts manufacturing (SMU48231043133640001) · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth (Texas military installations economic impact, 2025) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Character
- AllianceTexas Drives $142.9 Billion in Economic Impact for North Texas · Hillwood · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Character
- United States Air Force Plant 4 (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, F-35 production) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors
- American Airlines (headquarters, DFW hub, employees) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market, Airport passengers
- BNSF Railway (headquarters, employees) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Bell Textron (headquarters) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Main sectors
- Special Purpose District Sales and Use Tax (Fort Worth Crime Control District, effective October 1, 1995) · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- Fort Worth passes $4.35B budget and property tax rate increase · Community Impact · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- Slightly lower property tax bills part of Fort Worth's $3.33B budget for 2027, leaders say · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Fort Worth proposes property tax rate bump, cost cuts to close $94M shortfall for 2027 · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Character
- Trinity Metro (service area, members, services, fleet, citing the APTA Transit Ridership Reports, Q4 2025 and Q2 2026) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- TEXRail (length, stations, opening, frequency, ridership, Medical District extension) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership, Airport passengers
- DFW Total Passengers, December 2025 (calendar year 2025 vs 2024) · Dallas Fort Worth International Airport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (ownership, general aviation, history) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers, Climate normals
- Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions · KFF · retrieved Supports: Health care
- A new era: JPS breaks ground on $1.5B hospital · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Health care
- JPS Health Network (Tarrant County Hospital District, John Peter Smith Hospital) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Cook Children's Medical Center · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Texas Education Agency Appoints Board of Managers and Names New Superintendent to Lead Fort Worth ISD · Texas Education Agency · retrieved Supports: Education
- 'We failed our kids': New Fort Worth ISD board signals urgency as state takeover begins · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- As enrollment drops, FWISD to shift bilingual, special ed services closer to campuses · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: Education, Character
- Fort Worth ISD board gives final approval to close 18 schools amid budget woes, enrollment decline · CBS Texas · retrieved Supports: Education
- Fort Worth, Texas (school districts serving the city, citing the 2020 Census school district reference map for Tarrant County; colleges and universities) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education
- Texas Christian University (fall 2025 enrollment, location, School of Medicine) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Education, Health care
- San Antonio home sales rise 4% in August as prices hold steady · San Antonio Board of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: Bexar County: 2,068 home sales in August 2026, up 8.8% on the year, at a median price of $280,999, down 3.1%, and an average of $336,979, down 2.6%, The San Antonio area MLS: 3,104 sales, up 4%, at a median of $299,275 and an average of $372,989, released 10 September 2026, The release's table: an area median of $310,000 in August 2025 and $313,995 in August 2024, although its prose calls the median unchanged on the year, 5.87 months of inventory, 16,940 active listings and an average of 82 days on the market, 5,024 active residential rental listings at an average monthly rent of $1,832, down 2%, SABOR's membership serving Atascosa, Bee, Bexar, Frio, Karnes, Kendall, La Salle, Maverick, McMullen, Medina, Uvalde, Val Verde and Wilson counties
- South Texas market report: monthly releases · San Antonio Board of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: The monthly MLS releases for January through August 2026, reporting the San Antonio area and Bexar County and no City of San Antonio figure
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $247,453 for the city of San Antonio (region 6915) in August 2026, $253,000 in August 2025, so a fall of 2.2% over the year
- Zillow Home Value Index, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical single-family value of $249,206 in the city of San Antonio in August 2026, against $254,823 a year earlier, down 2.2%, A typical condominium value of $167,371 in the same month, against $174,092, down 3.9%, from the condominium file at https://files.zillowstatic.com/research/public_csvs/zhvi/City_zhvi_uc_condo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv
- San Antonio Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: A median rent of $957 for a one-bedroom and $1,179 for a two-bedroom in the city of San Antonio, and $1,121 across all bedroom sizes, Rents down 0.2% over September and down 4.3% over the past 12 months, against -2.1% for the state
- Apartments for rent in San Antonio, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: Average listed rents of $1,069 and up for a studio, $1,141 and up for one bedroom, $1,477 and up for two, and $1,887 and up for three or more
- FY 2026 fair market rents, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $1,177 for one bedroom, $1,426 for two and $1,830 for three, as gross rents including utilities, Housing Choice Voucher programs in the metro using Small Area Fair Market Rents set by ZIP code
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, all homes plus multifamily, smoothed, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,386 for the city of San Antonio in August 2026, against $1,406 a year earlier, down 1.39%
- 2025 official tax rates and exemptions · Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Bexar County 0.276331, Road and Flood Control Fund 0.023668, Hospital District 0.276235, City of San Antonio 0.541590, Northside ISD 1.004900, San Antonio ISD 1.155200, Alamo Community College District 0.149150, San Antonio River Authority 0.018300, Homestead exemptions of $5,000 or 20% for Bexar County, the Hospital District and the City; $3,000 and 20% for the Road and Flood Control Fund; $5,000 or 1% for the college district; $5,000 or 4% for the River Authority; $140,000 for Northside ISD; $140,000 and 0.01% for San Antonio ISD, San Antonio Municipal Utility District No. 1 at 0.20, twelve emergency service districts at up to 0.10, and 24 special improvement districts, 22 of them at 0.541590, The Downtown Public Improvement District at 0.15, and 0.09 on condominiums, Official tables from 2005 to 2025 and none yet for 2026, from https://www.bexar.org/1591/Tax-Rates
- 2024 actual tax rates and 2025 actual tax rates, as of 5 December 2025 · Bexar Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: The same 2025 rates to the sixth decimal, and each unit's 2024 rate beside it: the City, the county, the Road and Flood fund, the Hospital District, the college district and Northside ISD unchanged, and the River Authority up from 0.017870, Local option homestead exemptions not less than $5,000, and the Road and Flood fund's $3,000 homestead exemption, Redbird Ranch water districts at 1.00 per $100
- 2025 tax rate calculation worksheets: City of San Antonio · Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved Supports: A debt rate of 0.21150 per $100 within the City's 0.54159, leaving 0.33009 for maintenance and operations, The same 0.54159 adopted for the 2024 tax year
- Valuing property: limitation on residence homestead value increases · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A residence homestead's appraised value may not rise more than 10% a year once the owner has qualified in the preceding and current year
- Property tax protests and appeals · Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts · retrieved Supports: A protest deadline of 15 May or 30 days after the appraisal district mails the notice of appraised value, whichever is later
- 2020 block assignment files, Texas: unified school districts and places · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: Read with the 2020 redistricting file's block populations, at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/data/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/Texas/tx2020.pl.zip, Of the City of San Antonio's 1,434,625 residents in 2020: 468,901 in Northside ISD, 368,830 in North East ISD, 298,175 in San Antonio ISD, 59,802 in Harlandale ISD, 56,792 in Edgewood ISD and 45,376 in South San Antonio ISD, 298,175 of San Antonio ISD's 300,690 residents inside the city, and 468,901 of Northside ISD's 665,676
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Texas · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 498.979 square miles and a water area of 5.735 square miles for San Antonio city
- Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) · City of San Antonio Planning Department · retrieved Supports: The ETJ as the unincorporated land within five miles of the City's boundaries and not within another city's limits or ETJ, The area in which the City may annex land, with the consent of the landowner or voter approval, Senate Bill 2038, effective 1 September 2023, establishing a petition and election process for releasing property from a city's ETJ
- ETJ planning · City of San Antonio Planning Department · retrieved Supports: Two Military Protection Areas, within five miles of Camp Bullis and the Lackland Training Annex, developed as a direct result of a 2017 state law curtailing unilateral annexation by Texas cities
- Annexation and growth management policy, adopted 31 August 2023 · City of San Antonio Planning Department · retrieved Supports: Senate Bill 6 (2017) curtailing the annexation powers of cities in counties of more than 500,000 people, such as San Antonio, and requiring landowner or voter approval, Elections called in 2018 for areas within five miles of Camp Bullis-Camp Stanley and Lackland Air Force Base-Medina Training Annex, where owners chose land use controls rather than annexation, Chapter 382 public improvement districts created by the county with the City's written consent as the most common special district request
- Public improvement districts and special districts · City of San Antonio Planning Department · retrieved Supports: Special districts in the City's ETJ, including Chapter 382 public improvement districts, also called special improvement districts, water control and improvement districts and fresh water supply districts, Districts created by the county at a landowner's request with the City's consent, conditioned through development agreements
- Our history · CPS Energy · retrieved Supports: The nation's largest public power, natural gas and electric company, serving more than 996,000 electric and 399,000 natural gas customers, $10.6 billion in revenue generated for the City of San Antonio since 1942, Acquired by the City of San Antonio on 24 October 1942
- Edwards Aquifer · San Antonio Water System · retrieved Supports: About 47%, some 154,000 acre-feet, of the water SAWS customers used in 2025 came from the Edwards Aquifer, Permitted withdrawals subject to cutbacks of zero to 44% in critical periods
- Water supplies · San Antonio Water System · retrieved Supports: In 1995 all of San Antonio's water came from the Edwards Aquifer; SAWS now manages 13 supply projects from seven sources
- Stage 3 watering rules · San Antonio Water System · retrieved Supports: Stage 3 rules in effect on 30 September 2026: landscape watering once a week, on the customer's day, from 5 to 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight
- Stormwater fee · San Antonio Water System · retrieved Supports: SAWS bills the City of San Antonio's stormwater fee on the City's behalf, Residential rates of $3.75 a month up to 2,750 square feet of impervious area, $4.94 to 4,220 square feet and $10.45 above it
- Solid waste rates and fees · City of San Antonio Solid Waste Management Department · retrieved Supports: Monthly totals of $19.76, $25.26 and $35.75 for the small, medium and large garbage cart, including the $3.00 solid waste and $2.00 parks environmental fees, The fee shown and collected on the CPS Energy bill, with no additional fee for the recycling and organics carts
- June 11 to 12, 2025 San Antonio area flood event · National Weather Service, Austin/San Antonio · retrieved Supports: 13 fatalities from flooding across the San Antonio area, 12 in the Beitel Creek basin and one in the Leon Creek basin, 15 vehicles swept into Beitel Creek from the Loop 410 frontage road near Perrin Beitel Road, 3.98 inches of rain in one hour at San Antonio International Airport, the highest hourly rate on record since 1934
- San Antonio, TX · Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas · retrieved Supports: The flood of 9 and 10 September 1921, which put up to twelve feet of water downtown and killed at least fifty-one people, and the Olmos Dam and river bypass built after it
- Home, flood, wind: which policies do you need? · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: Most home policies do not cover floods; a flood policy covers damage from rising water
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 24 September 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.03%, up from 6.95% the week before and 6.30% a year earlier
- Texas homeowners insurance market overview · Texas Department of Insurance · retrieved Supports: A statewide average homeowners premium of $3,489 a year
- How much is homeowners insurance in San Antonio, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average San Antonio premium of $2,866 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026, An average of $2,222 a year for $200,000 of dwelling cover
- Texas homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average San Antonio premium of $4,565 a year for $500,000 of dwelling cover, $300,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 20 February 2026
- Renters insurance in Texas · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average San Antonio renters premium of $167 a year, $14 a month, for $30,000 of personal property, updated 23 September 2026
- Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, San Antonio city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $60 among San Antonio owner-occupied units that pay one, 110,122 of 295,530 owner-occupied units, or 37.3%, paying such a fee, and 4,864 paying $500 or more a month
- Homeownership Incentive Programs (HIP) · City of San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services Department · retrieved Supports: HIP 80: $1,000 to $30,000 as a 0% interest, no-payment second loan, the first $15,000 forgiven over five years and the rest over ten, on an existing home up to $260,000 or a new one up to $284,000, with 2026 income limits of $56,350 for one person to $80,500 for four, HIP 120: $1,000 to $15,000, 75% forgiven over ten years and 25% perpetual, on an existing home up to $301,700 or a new one up to $332,800, with income limits of $84,500 for one person to $120,700 for four, A HUD-approved eight-hour homebuyer class, a home inside the city limits and a $500 minimum earnest money deposit
- HIP 80 and HIP 120 general information · City of San Antonio Neighborhood and Housing Services Department · retrieved Supports: Both programs for income-eligible first-time homebuyers buying a primary residence, which must pass a HIP property review and inspection, The remaining balance repaid in part on a change of ownership, a sale or a cash-out refinance, from this sheet and the HIP 120 sheet at https://www.sa.gov/files/assets/main/v/5/nhsd/documents/hip120-generalinformation.pdf
- NTREIS monthly MLS summary report, August 2026 · North Texas Real Estate Information System and the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, via the MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: A median single-family sale price of $327,000 in the City of Fort Worth in August 2026 on 805 sales, against $330,000 on 884 sales in August 2025, and an average of $377,572, A median townhouse sale price of $365,000 on 20 sales, against $319,990 on 21, and a median condominium sale price of $330,000 on 16 sales, against $260,000 on 11, 3,086 active single-family listings and 3.6 months of inventory in the City of Fort Worth, A median single-family lease of $2,195 a month on 470 leases, against $2,150 on 453 a year earlier, A median single-family sale price of $343,000 in Tarrant County on 1,736 sales, and $352,250 in the Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine metropolitan division, City figures by property type only, with no all-types median; report produced 7 September 2026
- Housing market reports · MetroTex Association of REALTORS · retrieved Supports: Monthly reports featuring data from the Texas A&M Real Estate Research Center, based on listings of properties physically located within the specified geographic areas
- Fort Worth Rent Report, October 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: A median rent of $1,141 for a one-bedroom and $1,317 for a two-bedroom in the city of Fort Worth, and $1,336 across all bedroom sizes, Rents down 0.2% over September and down 1.7% over the past 12 months, against -2.1% for the state
- Apartments for rent in Fort Worth, TX: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: Average listed rents of $1,279 and up for a studio, $1,352 and up for one bedroom, $1,661 and up for two, and $2,066 and up for three or more
- FY 2026 fair market rents, Fort Worth-Arlington, TX HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved Supports: FY 2026 fair market rents of $1,473 for one bedroom, $1,723 for two and $2,273 for three, as gross rents including utilities, The FMR area as Johnson, Parker and Tarrant counties
- Rates and exemptions: 2025 tax rates per $100 valuation, and detail · Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector · retrieved Supports: 2025 rates per $100: Tarrant County 0.186200, City of Fort Worth 0.670000, Fort Worth ISD 1.029100, Keller ISD 1.085200, Tarrant County College 0.112280, JPS Health Network 0.165000, Tarrant Regional Water District 0.026500, Maintenance and debt splits: Tarrant County 0.173000 and 0.013200, City of Fort Worth 0.522500 and 0.147500, Fort Worth ISD 0.786900 and 0.242200, Keller ISD 0.755200 and 0.330000, Tarrant County College 0.096280 and 0.016000, JPS 0.155100 and 0.009900, water district 0.026500 and none, from https://entityportal.tarrantcountytx.gov/ratesExemptions.asp, Homestead exemptions of 20% (minimum $5,000) for Tarrant County, the City of Fort Worth and JPS Health Network, 1% (minimum $5,000) for Tarrant County College, none for the Tarrant Regional Water District, and $140,000 for Fort Worth ISD and Keller ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD at 1.245700, Crowley ISD at 1.255200 with a 10% local option, Emergency Service District 1 at 0.074348, Far North Fort Worth MUD at 1.000000 and Live Oak Creek MUD at 0.942000, Fort Worth public improvement district assessments per $100: PID 1 Downtown 0.125, PID 6 Park Glen 0.155 residential, PID 7 Heritage 0.145 residential, PID 11 Stockyards 0.12, PID 12 Chapel Hill 0.14, PID 14 Trinity Bluff 0.10, PID 15 Sun Valley 0.24, PID 19 Historic Camp Bowie 0.10, PID 20 East Lancaster Avenue 0.266, PID 21 Las Vegas Trail 0.10
- 2025 tax rates per $100 valuation for Tarrant County, last updated 8 October 2025 · Tarrant Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: The same 2025 rates and homestead exemptions for the county, the City, the hospital district, the college, the water district and every school district in the county, Northwest ISD at 1.0841 per $100 for 2025, No 2026 table yet: https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2026TaxRates.pdf returned not found, from https://www.tad.org/resources/rates
- Residential property data, 2026 appraisal roll · Tarrant Appraisal District · retrieved Supports: 255,731 single-family accounts inside the City of Fort Worth in Tarrant County, 121,356 of them in Fort Worth ISD, 33,569 in Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD and 32,861 in Keller ISD, 120,071 of the 121,356 City of Fort Worth and Fort Worth ISD single-family accounts carrying the Tarrant Regional Water District
- Tarrant water district lowers property tax rate, but cities will pay more for water use · Fort Worth Report · retrieved Supports: The water district's taxing district, established in 1949, is primarily in Fort Worth and funds operation and maintenance of the 27-mile Fort Worth Floodway
- Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) · City of Fort Worth Development Services · retrieved Supports: The ETJ as the unincorporated land within five miles of the city limits, where the City can regulate some activities, Water control and improvement districts, fresh water supply districts and municipal utility districts in the ETJ, under the City's MUD policy of 2005
- Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) layer, City of Fort Worth open data boundaries · City of Fort Worth · retrieved Supports: The ETJ's polygons summing to 164,965 acres, about 258 square miles, with the latest edit dated 1 September 2026
- Public Improvement Districts (PIDs) · City of Fort Worth · retrieved Supports: Fifteen districts listed: 1 Downtown, 6 Park Glen, 7 Heritage, 11 Stockyards, 12 Chapel Hill, 14 Trinity Bluff, 15 Sun Valley, 16 Walsh Ranch/Quail Valley, 17 Rock Creek Ranch, 18 Tourism, 19 Historic Camp Bowie, 20 East Lancaster Avenue, 21 Las Vegas Trail, 22 Veale Ranch and 23 Panther Island, PIDs 16 and 17, formed in 2016, supporting streets, drainage, water, sewer and other infrastructure; PID 22 Veale Ranch established in 2023 for a 60-year term; PID 23 established in 2026
- Fort Worth Public Improvement District No. 16 (Walsh Ranch/Quail Valley): annual service plan update, fiscal year 2027, 25 August 2026 · City of Fort Worth and MuniCap · retrieved Supports: Fiscal 2027 annual installments per lot in Improvement Area 1 of $482.14 for a 35-foot lot, $597.93 for 50 feet, $737.46 for 60 feet, $940.24 for 70 feet and $1,558.83 for a custom lot, Assessments bearing interest at the rate on the district's bonds, 4.63%, repaid over twenty annual installments, eighteen of them outstanding
- Central City · Tarrant Regional Water District · retrieved Supports: The rerouting of a section of the Trinity River due north of downtown, with flood water storage at Gateway Park, The Army Corps of Engineers building the bypass channel, three isolation gates, a dam, a pump station and ten flood water storage areas; the water district, the City and the state building the rest
- Army Corps awards contract for first half of major $1.2B Fort Worth flood control, development project · Tarrant Regional Water District, republishing WFAA of 24 September 2026 · retrieved Supports: A $169,431,703 contract with Walsh Construction Company for the north bypass channel, An 800-acre island, and 2,400 acres of land protected from flooding
- $403M coming to Panther Island · Tarrant Regional Water District, republishing the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of 19 January 2022 · retrieved Supports: A 1.5-mile bypass channel connecting the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River north of downtown Fort Worth
- Gas Wells and Gas Compressor/Well Pad Sites layers, planning and development map service · City of Fort Worth · retrieved Supports: 2,351 gas wells, 1,955 of them producing, 287 abandoned, 84 water disposal, 13 permitted and 12 applying, in a layer last edited in December 2025, 529 gas compressor and well pad sites, from layer 9
- Gas well drilling · City of Fort Worth Development Services · retrieved Supports: The Barnett Shale as a natural gas reserve under a 15-county area, about 1.5 miles below the surface, No well drilled closer than 600 feet to a residence, religious institution, public building, hospital, school or public park without a waiver from the protected use owners or City Council approval
- Garbage service · City of Fort Worth Environmental Services · retrieved Supports: Monthly rates of $13.75, $19.50 and $25.75 for the 32-, 64- and 96-gallon garbage cart, shown as effective 1 January 2024, Solid waste fees billed on the Fort Worth water bill as a sanitation fee, with recycling and yard waste collected at no additional charge
- Stormwater utility fee · City of Fort Worth · retrieved Supports: Residential rates from 1 January 2026 of $3.65 a month up to 1,300 square feet of hard surface, $7.29 to 2,475, $10.94 to 3,394 and $14.58 above it, on the monthly water bill
- How much is homeowners insurance in Fort Worth, TX? · Insure.com · retrieved Supports: An average Fort Worth premium of $4,290 a year for $300,000 of dwelling cover, $100,000 of liability and a $1,000 deductible, updated 27 May 2026, An average of $3,342 a year for $200,000 of dwelling cover
- Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Fort Worth city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median monthly association fee of $55 among Fort Worth owner-occupied units that pay one, 85,299 of 210,450 owner-occupied units, or 40.5%, paying such a fee, and 7,153 paying $500 or more a month
- Homebuyer Assistance Program (HAP) · City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services · retrieved Supports: Up to $25,000 of interest-free assistance toward the down payment and closing costs, as a forgivable loan: forgiven after ten years in the home, or after five on $14,999 or less, Income limits updated July 2026 of $61,800 for one person to $88,250 for four, First-time buyers, or anyone who has not owned a home in three years; an eight-hour homebuyer class; a contribution of $1,000 or 2% of the price, whichever is less; a home inside the city limits; a sales price no more than 95% of the area median, under the HOME rules