How much is San Antonio contributing to Texas' growth?

SAN ANTONIO – Texas is growing by 1,000 people every day. It's the state with the most significant growth in the country as confirmed by the 2018 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

San Antonio, between 2016 and 2017, grew more than any other city in the country.

“We are adding more people than any other state,” said Lloyd Potter, Texas' demographer.

The latest U.S. Census Bureau population estimates report shows Texas gained nearly 400,000 people between 2017 and 2018.

Here's a breakdown of the growth: 50% of the new people is new babies, 22% is people moving from other states and 28% is international immigrants.

San Antonio attributed to that growth in a major way. 

“Look at the skyline of San Antonio. There is more construction cranes than I've ever seen,” Potter said.

Between 2016 and 2017, San Antonio gained 24,208 people with a total population 1,511,946 people.

“Real growth in residential property in the urban core,” Potter said. “You are seeing a lot of younger people finding San Antonio to be much more interesting.”

Potter attributes that growth to people moving to San Antonio for jobs from across the country and within Texas. He said a lot San Antonians are making a lot of babies compared to the rest of the state.

“We are a fairly young population, meaning we don't have many old people dying and more young people who are in the childbearing years, so we have a lot of children,” Potter said.

This kind of growth is good for the economy, but Potter said there are also cons.

He said one of the negative side effects of that growth locally is if the city can keep up with its infrastructure, particularly dealing with traffic and congestion.

The city needs to focus on two crucial aspects, according to Potter: increasing our water supply and growing our education programs.

“More people means more water and more industry means more demand for water,” Potter said. “We'll also have more and more young people that will need to be educated.”


About the Author:

Sarah Acosta is a weekend Good Morning San Antonio anchor and a general assignments reporter at KSAT12. She joined the news team in April 2018 as a morning reporter for GMSA and is a native South Texan.