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Three economic indicators show San Antonio's local economy at the start of the fall season is slightly weaker this year than last.
The Texas Comptroller's Office reports sales tax collections for the month of September dropped more than 4% compared to the same month of 2025. The state allocated back to San Antonio more than $38 million for the month of September. Some of that 4% decline can be explained away since the city's sales tax rate lowered from year to year, from 1.250% to 1.25%.
Austin saw the highest increase in sales tax revenue among the state's biggest cities using the same comparison, up 14%. Dallas was up more than 10%, and Houston saw an increase of nearly 6%.
Revenue from sales taxes is a good indicator of a local economy because the more consumers and businesses spend, the higher those collections rise. None of those cities lowered their local sale tax rates. But still, San Antonio's 4% dip when compared to those double-digit increases in Austin and Dallas stands out.
The region's local economic arm, greater:SATX, said it wasn't able to comment on Monday about San Antonio's sales tax revenue in September.
State Comptroller Don Huffines said the collection of state sales taxes for the month of September was up 13%, compared to a year ago.
"Strong sales tax collections are encouraging and reflect continued economic growth across key sectors of the Texas economy,” Huffines said. “These healthy collections provide lawmakers with an opportunity during the next legislative session to continue making property tax relief a top priority and help Texans keep more of their hard-earned money.”
He said that 13% increase was the first back-to-back monthly double-digit increase in sales tax revenue seen since the pandemic. Statewide, retail, the largest sector of the economy, saw an 11% increase in the September annual comparisons. Restaurant sales tax revenue was up a little more than 2%.
But motor vehicle and rentals sales tax revenue were both down 1%. Motor fuel sales tax revenue was down 1%, while alcohol sales tax revenue was down 8%. Statewide, hotel occupancy tax revenue was down 21%, not a good sign for San Antonio's leisure and hospitality industry.
The weaker sales tax collections for San Antonio join a couple of other indicators that show the local economy appeared to lag a bit at the start of fall, as local residents also pay higher costs for gas and groceries.
San Antonio's unemployment rate in September was 4.3%, tying the statewide jobless average, but exceeding the national unemployment rate of 4%. Still, this unemployment rate was slightly higher than it was in September 2025, when it stood at 4.2%.
Another big part of a local economy are home sales. San Antonio's home sales and the median price of a home both dipped in September. Home sales were down 2% from a year ago, and the median home price took a similar-sized drop to $302,000.
