San Antonio — friendly small-town feel in a major city

San Antonio is a beautiful and unique city — with more than 1.3 million people, it's the 7th largest city in the U.S. and the 2nd largest city in Texas, but the city has managed to retain much of the small-town friendly feel that has made it 'home' for so many transplants. With many great school systems within San Antonio and in the outlying smaller towns, San Antonio is a wonderful place to raise a family. Summers are hot, winters are relatively mild (it has snowed 31 times in the past 122 years), and the San Antonio metropolitan area offers all the big-city amenities without the big-city feel.

The city was named for San Antonio de Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691. Famous for Spanish missions, the Alamo, the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, and host to SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme parks, the city is visited by approximately 26 million tourists per year according to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city is home to the four-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, a family-oriented event held every February, and one of the largest stock shows in the country.

San Antonio – 'Military City USA'
San Antonio has a strong military presence – it is home to Fort Sam Houston, Lackland Air Force Base, Randolph Air Force Base, and Brooks City-Base, with Camp Bullis and Camp Stanley outside the city. Kelly Air Force Base operated out of San Antonio until 2001, when the airfield was transferred over to Lackland AFB and the remaining portions of the base became Port San Antonio, an industrial/business park. San Antonio is home to five Fortune 500 companies and to the South Texas Medical Center, the only medical research and care provider in the South Texas region.

Diversified economy
We have a diversified economy with four primary focuses: financial services, government, health care, and tourism. Twenty million tourists visit the city and its attractions every year, contributing substantially to the city's economy. Tourism also brings new annual revenues to the City of San Antonio and other governmental entities with the hotel & motel tax, sales taxes and other revenues from hospitality agreements and contracts.

San Antonio's economy has remained strong during the current economic crises in our country and throughout the world; we have the lowest unemployment rate in Texas, holding at about 7% in the summer of 2011, compared to a national rate of more than 9% and a State of Texas unemployment rate of 8%. Because of our diversified economy and the strong biotechnology and health care industry, San Antonio has been able to maintain an even financial keel and continues to maintain its 'recession-proof' economy.

Cost of living in San Antonio
We enjoy a cost of living that is consistently one of the lowest among comparably-sized cities in the US. Housing remains more affordable than in other large cities in Texas and throughout the country, with the current median home price at about $135k.

Information above courtesy of Wikipedia – Please click here to learn more about San Antonio.

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