The best kept secrets about living in San Antonio have been exposed through national reports on its new status as the fastest growing major city in America.
Lloyd Potter, Texas state demographer, says locals may have to get use to the national attention, loss of secrets, and population growth that comes with it.
“People may have thought of San Antonio being a sleepy, little south Texas city. I think it’s beginning to shed that,” said Potter, who also is a faculty member in the department of demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
According to U.S. census officials, San Antonio even surpassed its neighbor to the north, Austin, which often gets more national media attention through its tech industry, music scene, and celebrity sightings.
Not only did San Antonio outpace Austin growth from the summer of 2016 to the summer of 2017, it doubled it. Around 24,000 new people moved into the Alamo City, only around 12,000 for Austin.
Potter said San Antonio is cheaper to live in than Austin, but growth still mostly comes down to jobs.
“Certainly, there is a cost of living differential between Austin and San Antonio. Really, it’s going to have to do something with the availability of employment opportunities,” he said.
Potter says most of San Antonio’s newest residents are moving here from California.
New York, Illinois, and Louisiana are other top states people are relocating from, Potter said.
Brian Kirkpatrick can be reached at brian@tpr.org