San Antonio rents and rental comps

The median asking rent across San Antonio, TX sits at $1,449/month, pulled from active rental listings in 17 zip codes. That's down 6.0% from a year ago.

Rents aren't uniform across the city. ZIP 78205 tops the list at $2,500/month. ZIP 78229 comes in lowest at $1,084/month. That's a 131% spread between the top and bottom zip codes, which is wide. City-wide averages won't tell you much about a specific property here.

A 2-bedroom rents for $1,202/month at the median. 1-bedrooms run about $890. 3-bedrooms come in around $1,738.

Listings take longer here. The average is 73 days on market, which gives renters more room to negotiate and means landlords should price carefully.

Rent-to-price math is tight in San Antonio. The gross figure sits at about 6.1% ($1,449/month against $284,000 median price). Most investors here are betting on appreciation, not monthly cash flow.

HUD's Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in the San Antonio metro is $1,280/month. City-wide asking rents run about 13% above that. Section 8 vouchers in this area often don't cover market rent without an exception payment standard.

San Antonio's rental market runs on military. Joint Base San Antonio spans three installations, and service members rotate every 2 to 4 years, which creates a constant stream of new renters. Most markets don't have that kind of demand floor. The city also catches Austin spillover. It's 80 miles south and meaningfully cheaper. Pearl District and downtown have absorbed real investment and get higher rents. The north side near the medical center holds up well. San Antonio is one of the steadier Texas markets. You won't see the wild swings Dallas and Austin get, but you also won't see the same peaks.

These numbers are city-wide averages. If you're pricing a specific property in San Antonio, pull comps from the same zip code. The spread is usually bigger than people expect.