Fredericksburg Kerrville New Braunfels Boerne Bandera Population (2017): Schertz 2.5 million San Antonio Seguin Population growth (2010–17): Hondo 14.9 percent (Texas: 12.1 percent) Uvalde Floresville Median household income: (2017): $56,774 (Texas: $59,206) Jourdanton National MSA rank (2017): No. 24* Kauffman Startup Index rank (2017): No. 6* At a Glance • San Antonio has a rich heritage and history. It was the largest city in Texas from 1860 to 1930, when it fell behind Houston and Dallas. It has remained Texas’ third-largest metro area. • While housing costs are lower in San Antonio relative to other large Texas metros, its median household income is only slightly lower than the state figure. • The area’s diversified economy—particularly its business and financial services firms, tourism industry and medical research complex—will continue to provide economic stability. • Tight labor markets and difficulties attracting skilled workers will make growth in high-wage industries more challenging. Amarillo Plano Irving Lubbock Dallas Fort Worth El Paso Longview Midland Arlington Tyler Odessa Round Rock The Woodlands New Braunfels Beaumont Port Arthur Austin Houston San Antonio Sugar Land Edinburg *The San Antonio–New Braunfels metropolitan statistical area (MSA) encompasses Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe, Kendall, Medina and Wilson counties. The Kauffman Startup Activity Index, a measure of business creation in the 40 largest Mission U.S. metropolitan areas, is further explained in the appendix. McAllen San Antonio–New Braunfels: Home of the Alamo and Cradle of Texas Liberty HISTORY: A Military Service and Health Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway—fueled the city’s Research Center Emerges economic growth and spurred additional railroad con- Spanish expeditions explored the area of present-day nections to other parts of the country by 1900. However, San Antonio in 1691 and 1709. A town grew out of the San Antonio’s population fell behind that of Houston San Antonio de Béxar Presidio and San Fernando de and Dallas by 1930, and San Antonio has since remained Béxar. Th e presidio was built to defend the San Anto- the third-largest urban area in Texas. nio mission, and San Fernando was the fi rst chartered Th e First United States Volunteer Cavalry—later civil settlement in Texas. In 1773, San Antonio de Béxar known as the Rough Riders—was organized in San An- became the capital of Tejas, Spanish Texas. It was the tonio during the Spanish–American War. In World Wars site of several battles during the Texas Revolution from I and II, San Antonio served as an important military October 1835 to April 1836, most notably the 13-day center for the Army and Air Force. Today, three large siege of the Alamo. Bexar County was established by the military installations—Fort Sam Houston and Lackland Republic of Texas following the departure of Mexican and Randolph Air Force bases—provide employment troops, and San Antonio became its seat in 1837.1 for many of the area’s residents. In 1860, San Antonio surpassed Galveston to become A 418-bed military hospital began operations in the largest city in Texas and, following the Civil War, 1938 and expanded during World War II. In 1946, with it thrived as a center for the cattle industry. Th e 1877 Fort Sam Houston chosen as site of the U.S. Army arrival of San Antonio’s fi rst railroad—the Galveston, Medical Field Service School, the hospital was renamed Chart 9.1: San Antonio's Industrial Composition Is Diverse 1. 6 Mature Transportation Health Food services Star equipment services 1. 4 manufacturing Education Retail Recreation 1. 2 Construction 1. 0 Business and financial services 0.8 Transportation Biomedical Energy and Government and logistics mining 0.6 Publishing and information Defense and Location quotient in 2017 Agribusiness security 0.4 Advanced materials 0.2 Transitioning Emerging 0.0 –2.0 –1. 5 –1. 0 –0.5 0.0 0.5 1. 0 1. 5 Percentage-point change in employment share, 2010–17 NOTE: Bubble size represents cluster share of metropolitan statistical area employment. SOURCES: Texas Workforce Commission; Bureau of Labor Statistics. Section 9: San Antonio—New Braunfels 53 Brooke Army Medical Center. It marked the beginning The higher LQs of food services, recreation, edu- of the area’s ties to medical research. cation, health services (the largest cluster) and retail reflect their outsized role in the San Antonio area. The metro’s largest private employer is the supermarket INDUSTRY CLUSTERS: Tourism chain HEB, with 20,000 employees. The second- and and Health Dominate third-largest industry clusters, retail and food services, Location quotients (LQs), which compare the rela- are tied to the region’s strong tourism industry. San tive concentration of various industry clusters locally Antonio is a top U.S. convention city. Local attractions and nationally, can be used to assess key drivers in an draw millions of visitors annually, and tourism and the area’s economy. An LQ exceeding 1 indicates that a travel industry together generate billions of dollars in specific industry cluster is more dominant locally than economic impact each year.3 nationally. Industry cluster growth is measured by the Employment expanded 32 percent in food ser- percentage-point change in its share of local employ- vices and 18 percent in recreation during the 2010–17 ment between 2010 and 2017 (Chart 9.1).2 period—the two clusters make up nearly 14 percent Clusters in the top half of the chart have a larger of all metro jobs (Chart 9.2). San Antonio is home to share of employment relative to the nation and, thus, an two of the region’s premier theme parks—SeaWorld, LQ exceeding 1. These clusters are generally vital to the the largest of three such theme parks in the U.S., and area’s economy and can be expanding relatively rapidly Fiesta Texas, a 200-acre amusement park. Other notable (“star”) or slowly (“mature”). Those in the bottom half attractions include the River Walk and the Alamo. are less dominant locally than nationally and, hence, The government cluster reflects the presence of have LQs below 1. “Emerging” clusters are fast growing; three military installations, which together employ those growing slowly or declining are “transitioning.” more than 80,000 people.4 The military bases support Chart 9.2: Transportation, Food Services and Energy Lead Growth Among Large Clusters Machinery mfg (0.4%) 88 Transportation & logistics (2.7%) 61 Glass & ceramics (0.3%) 54 Food svcs (10.1%) 32 Energy & mining (5.4%) 30 Business & financial svcs (9.3%) 29 Information technology & telecom (3.8%) 25 Transportation equipment mfg (1.2%) 25 Health svcs (13.7%) 22 Chemicals (0.7%) 22 Total 21 Retail (11.4%) 20 Defense & security (2.6%) 19 Recreation (3.8%) 18 Utilities (0.1%) 18 Construction (5.1%) 16 Computer mfg (0.2%) 16 Wood products (0.9%) 15 Education (9.5%) 6 Electrical equipment mfg (0.0%) 3 Government (6.6%) 0 Fabricated metal mfg (0.4%) –1 Agribusiness (1.2%) –3 Primary metal mfg (0.1%) –5 Advanced materials (1.2%) –6 Publishing & information (1.0%) –9 Biomedical (0.9%) –16 Textiles (0.2%) –21 –40 –20 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percent change in employment, 2010–17 NOTES: Percent change in employment is shown in whole numbers. Each cluster's share of total jobs is shown in parentheses (rounded to one decimal place). SOURCES: Texas Workforce Commission; authors' calculations. 54 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Table 9.1: Pay in San Antonio's Dominant Clusters Lags U.S. Cluster San Antonio U.S. 2010 2012 2014 2016 2017 2017 Food services 17,780 17,627 17,770 18,496 18,606 18,963 Health services 49,084 48,431 48,407 51,534 51,479 56,001 Education 45,739 43,601 44,070 44,933 45,491 49,322 Transportation equipment manufacturing 58,582 58,576 62,677 69,627 75,418 73,569 Construction 49,188 50,803 52,645 56,073 56,524 60,742 Recreation 33,154 32,242 33,189 33,625 34,189 41,467 Retail 30,289 30,880 31,129 31,982 31,803 31,216 Business and financial services 73,828 76,897 76,366 78,046 78,614 100,785 Clusters with location quotient > 1 43,766 43,232 43,549 45,334 45,662 – Clusters with location quotient < 1 59,739 61,313 62,135 63,466 63,354 – Average earnings (total) 45,740 45,856 46,417 47,905 48,185 55,375 NOTES: Clusters are listed in order of location quotient (LQ); clusters shown are those with LQs greater than 1. Earnings are in 2017 dollars. SOURCES: Texas Workforce Commission; Bureau of Labor Statistics; authors' calculations. employment in the defense and security and health ed 54 percent, while transportation equipment manu- clusters. San Antonio has ranked in the top 10 among facturing grew 25 percent during the period, thanks in U.S. metro areas in terms of the largest concentrations part to continued growth in area suppliers for a Toyota of federal government and military workers.5 USA plant that began operations in 2006. The plant The health services and biomedical sectors also produces the Toyota Tundra, a full-size pickup, and have a strong foothold in the area, with a combination added the Tacoma truck in 2010. Toyota employs 2,800 of private and government operations. Employment in workers at its facility. health-related institutions (private and government) Business and financial services, the metro’s accounts for almost 14 percent of San Antonio’s work- fifth-largest cluster, accounts for 9.3 percent of the local force, a larger proportion than in other major Texas workforce—roughly equivalent to its national presence.