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Spending in the Alamo City in January appeared flat compared to the same month last year, based on sales tax collections released by the Texas State Comptroller's Office.
Sales taxes from January were collected by the state in February and publicly reported this month.
Besides state sales taxes, the comptroller collects sales taxes for cities and then distributes the tax revenue back to them.
The more local consumers spend, the higher those city sales tax collections are. So, they can be a good indicator of how a local economy is doing.
San Antonio saw a return of $33 million in city sales tax revenue from the month of January or about 8% less than it did for the same month of 2025.
However, the comptroller reports the city sales tax rate for San Antonio was 1.250% in January 2025, but lowered to 1.125% Jan.1 2026, so a lower local sales tax collections must also factor in that change.
The picture was a bit rosier for the state as a whole. The comptroller reports it collected a total of $1.1 billion in state sales taxes from sales in the month of January, or an increase of 3.8% over the same month in 2025.
"Texas continues to show steady economic momentum," acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock said. "Sales taxes remain the backbone of our state budget, and these numbers reflect a resilient Texas economy that continues to outpace inflation and support responsible, conservative budgeting."
Statewide sales tax collections from retail trade sector were up more than 4% for the month of January, compared to January 2025.
Within the retail trade sector, the comptroller reports an increase of such collections of more than 10% from electronics and appliance stores. And the statewide restaurant sector saw a collections bump of 4%.
State sales tax collections from home improvement stores and home furnishing stores were down. Also down were collections from business spending, construction, and manufacturing.
Statewide state sales tax collections on hotel occupancy were down 11% and motor vehicle sales and rental taxes were down 1%.
