San Antonio’s rental market is changing. The size of the renter population is growing, rents are rising faster than renter incomes, and fewer rental units are affordable to low-wage workers. At the same time, the city is preparing for major new development in and around downtown, including areas to the east and west. These changes raise an important question: How can San Antonio grow while ensuring that people with the lowest incomes can continue to afford a home and remain connected to their communities?
Texas Housers’ 2026 San Antonio City Council District Renter Profiles offer a closer look at the housing conditions renters face across the city. Drawing on data from the American Community Survey and local and state housing agencies, the profiles provide a snapshot of renter households, housing costs, subsidized housing, and other indicators of housing need in each of the city’s 10 council districts.
This year, we’ve expanded the profiles with two additional handouts examining changes over the past three years and the past decade. Together, these resources show not only where San Antonio renters are today, but how their needs are changing and where greater investment is needed.
1. The district profiles: Housing needs vary across San Antonio
The 2026 profiles show that renters face affordability challenges throughout San Antonio, but the nature and severity of those challenges differ by neighborhood.
District 2 has the city’s largest number of subsidized housing units, with 8,454, yet still 54% of renter households are cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing. Meanwhile, Districts 8, 9, and 10 together account for over one-third of the city’s renters but only about 10% of its subsidized housing units. Districts 2, 3, 4, and 5 collectively contain 60% of San Antonio’s subsidized housing units but under one quarter of the city’s renters. District 4, in particular, has seen substantial recent growth in subsidized housing, adding 1,017 units between 2025 and 2026.
These disparities tell a larger story about where affordable housing is concentrated and who has access to it. Subsidized housing can help households with low incomes afford rent, but where that housing is located also affects access to jobs, transportation, services, and other opportunities. Expanding housing choice means ensuring that affordable options exist across the city, including in higher-income Northside neighborhoods – not just in areas where subsidized housing is already concentrated.
The profiles also highlight the importance of preserving existing rental housing. More than a third of San Antonio’s rental units were built before 1980, including nearly 70% in District 5. Preserving and rehabilitating this aging housing stock, while ensuring homes remain safe and affordable, is essential to meeting the city’s housing needs and preventing the loss of affordable options.
Each district profile includes a “Puro” fact highlighting a local housing trend we’ve identified, from changes in renter households to the availability of subsidized housing and the affordability of rents for minimum-wage workers.
2. The three-year trends: Rents are rising faster than incomes
The 2024-2026 handout looks beyond a single-year snapshot to show how renter households and housing conditions have changed across San Antonio’s 10 council districts.
Citywide, median gross rent rose 11.4% between 2024 and 2026, outpacing median renter household income growth of about 10%. That gap may appear modest, but it adds to the pressure on households already struggling to keep up with housing costs. In line with this trend, the share of renter households that are cost-burdened increased from 49% to 51% and the share that are severely cost-burdened rose from 24% to 25%.
These trends vary by district. Renter household growth, rent and income changes, and subsidized housing gains and losses look different across the city, highlighting the importance of local data in understanding where housing pressures are growing and where investment is needed.
San Antonio added 2,270 subsidized housing units between 2025 and 2026. This net increase includes 2,788 additional Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) units, offset by declines of 463 voucher units and 55 public housing units. Voucher and public housing figures are based on Opportunity Home San Antonio’s monthly occupancy data.
Each program plays a distinct role in keeping housing affordable. LIHTC developments add affordable units, but rents often remain out of reach for the lowest-income households. Public housing provides deeper affordability, while Housing Choice Vouchers expand renters’ options in the private market – though rising rents and source-of-income discrimination limit those choices. San Antonio needs all three to preserve and expand affordability and housing choice across the city.
These changes are especially important as Opportunity Home San Antonio advances a plan to reposition much of its public housing portfolio over the next decade, raising concerns about loss of tenant protections, potential displacement, and residents’ rights during redevelopment.
3. The decade in review: More older renters, fewer affordable options
The 10-year handout shows how dramatically San Antonio’s rental landscape has shifted since 2016.
The number of renter households grew by nearly 40,000, from about 225,600 to 265,200. Over the same period, the share of renter households headed by someone age 65 or older increased by about 13%. San Antonio’s renter population is growing and changing, reinforcing the need for housing that serves people at different stages of life, including older adults living on fixed incomes.
At the same time, the supply of rental units affordable to minimum-wage earners has fallen. The number of these units declined from 18,413 in 2016 to 12,508 in 2026 – a loss of 5,905 units. The share of renter households with children also declined by 19%, while the share of renter households with a college-educated householder increased by about 18%.
These changes point to a rental market that is becoming more expensive and serving a changing population, even as the need for deeply affordable housing remains.
Where San Antonio goes from here
San Antonio is at an important moment. Plans for a new downtown Spurs arena and sports and entertainment district, along with development around a new downtown Missions ballpark, could reshape large areas east, west, and within the downtown core. These projects create an opportunity to invest in the city’s future, but that future must include the people who already live and work here.
The city needs a deliberate commitment to preserving existing affordable housing and producing new homes that people with the lowest incomes can afford, especially in and around areas experiencing major development. As new stadiums and entertainment districts reshape these neighborhoods, the stability of existing residents must be a top priority. People who have built their lives and communities in these areas should be able to remain and benefit from investment without being displaced. Downtown service workers should also have the opportunity to live near their jobs rather than be priced out of the neighborhoods they help sustain. As renter households grow on the Northside, the city must ensure that new housing includes a range of affordable options and that voucher holders can find landlords willing to rent to them.
That effort must extend beyond new construction. San Antonio also needs to preserve and rehabilitate its aging affordable housing stock and strengthen tenant protections that help renters remain safely and stably housed.
The Renter Profiles are a tool for residents, advocates, and policymakers to understand these needs and make informed decisions. We encourage community members and local leaders to use the data to ask where affordable housing is being built, who can afford it, what existing homes are at risk, and whether renters across every district have a genuine choice about where to live. As San Antonio grows, affordable housing must be a core part of the plan, not an afterthought.
