San Antonio STR Market 2026. What the Data Shows for Investors in Texas’s Largest Leisure and Convention City

San Antonio short-term rentals averaged a 45.7% occupancy rate across 5,712 active listings in 2025, according to StaySTRA market data. That number might not sound dramatic on its own. But set it next to Austin’s 38.5% and Dallas’s 35% over the same period, and the picture sharpens considerably. The city that most Texas STR investors skip over is, by the numbers, the one filling beds most consistently.

I have been watching Texas markets from my desk in Santa Fe for the better part of four decades, and San Antonio has always struck me as the state’s most misunderstood investment city. Investors chase Austin for the tech cachet and Dallas for the sheer scale. San Antonio just quietly keeps doing what it does: drawing nearly 39 million visitors a year to the River Walk, the Alamo, Fiesta, Spurs games, and one of the busiest convention centers in the South. That visitor mix is exactly why the data looks the way it does.

San Antonio STR Revenue and ADR in 2025

The average San Antonio short-term rental generated $2,791 per month in 2025, with an average daily rate of $200. Think of ADR like the sticker price on a car. It tells you what hosts are asking and getting, but it does not tell you how often the car sells. Occupancy is the sell-through rate, and San Antonio’s 45.7% annual average means properties are booked roughly every other night across the full year.

RevPAR (revenue per available rental night) landed at $83 for February 2026, which reflects the post-holiday dip. On an annualized basis, the math works out closer to $91 when you factor in peak months pulling the average up.

Where things get interesting is the revenue distribution. Not every listing earns $2,791. The median San Antonio STR brought in $1,717 per month in February 2026, while the 75th percentile hit $3,143 and the 90th percentile reached $4,994. That spread tells you something important: the top quarter of operators are pulling nearly double what the median earns. Property selection, pricing strategy, and location within the metro all matter enormously here.

How San Antonio Compares to Austin and Dallas

Texas STR investors love comparing cities, so let me lay the numbers side by side. All figures are from StaySTRA tracking data as of early 2026.

*Dallas 2025 occupancy reflects the full year before the steep early-2026 compression to 35%.

Austin commands higher nightly rates (that $284 ADR versus San Antonio’s $217 is a real gap), but Austin also carries 63% more active listings competing for those bookings. The supply saturation story in Austin is well documented at this point. San Antonio’s smaller listing pool relative to its visitor volume creates a more favorable supply-demand balance.

Dallas, meanwhile, saw its listing count surge 36% in a single year (from roughly 3,500 to nearly 4,800), and occupancy has cratered accordingly. San Antonio’s supply growth has been far more measured.

Stay with me on the revenue math. San Antonio’s $2,791 monthly average translates to roughly $33,500 in estimated annual revenue per property. Austin edges ahead at around $35,600, while Dallas trails at about $25,600. But consider this: San Antonio’s median home price and entry costs sit well below Austin’s, which means the return on invested capital can actually favor San Antonio even when the raw revenue numbers are slightly lower.

Seasonality in San Antonio Is Flatter Than You Would Expect

Here is where San Antonio really separates itself from typical leisure markets. Resort towns like Gulf Shores or the Outer Banks can see a 5x or even 7x swing between peak and trough months. San Antonio’s swing is remarkably contained.

The January low of $2,113 sits at 64% of the July peak of $3,318. That is a 1.6x swing. Compare that to Gulf Shores, where the January-to-June ratio stretches to 7.2x. For an investor running cash-flow projections, San Antonio’s floor matters more than its ceiling. You can underwrite the property knowing that even the slowest month still produces north of $2,000.

Don’t let that January number scare you, either. A 38% occupancy rate in the dead of winter, when many leisure markets crater into the teens, reflects the fact that San Antonio is not purely a summer destination. Convention traffic, Spurs games, holiday River Walk events, and weekend tourism from Houston and Dallas all prop up the off-season in ways that pure beach or mountain markets cannot match.

Why San Antonio’s Demand Mix Creates Stability

The roughly 39 million visitors San Antonio draws each year do not all come for the same reason, and that is the structural advantage. Think of it like a three-legged stool. If one leg wobbles, the other two keep it standing.

Leg one: leisure tourism. The River Walk is the most-visited attraction in Texas. The Alamo draws visitors year-round. The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park welcomed 1.55 million visitors in 2025 alone, a 21% jump from 2024. These are not seasonal spikes. They are baseline demand generators.

Leg two: conventions and business travel. The Henry B. González Convention Center hosts more than 300 events annually, bringing over 750,000 delegates to downtown San Antonio. In June 2026 alone, the city is hosting both HITEC (the world’s largest hospitality technology event) and the Meeting Professionals International World Education Congress back to back. Convention attendees fill hotels, and the overflow fills short-term rentals, particularly larger units near the River Walk that can accommodate small group travel.

Leg three: regional drive-to traffic. More than 70% of San Antonio’s visitors come from Texas and neighboring states. That insulates the market from international travel disruptions and airline pricing swings. When Houston, Dallas, or Austin residents want a weekend away, San Antonio is a two-to-four-hour drive. That proximity creates a steady stream of short-stay bookings (the median length of stay is 3 nights, with an average booking lead time of just 26.8 days).

Downtown and River Walk Versus Suburban San Antonio

Not all 5,712 listings in the San Antonio market perform equally, and geography is a major driver of that performance gap. The revenue distribution data hints at this: the 90th percentile earns $4,994 per month while the 25th percentile brings in just $766. That is a massive spread.

Properties within walking distance of the River Walk and downtown core command premium nightly rates. Convention delegates, tourists visiting the Alamo, and weekend visitors from other Texas cities all gravitate toward the walkable downtown corridor. These properties also benefit from higher occupancy during convention weeks, when a single large event can fill downtown inventory for three to five nights.

Suburban San Antonio listings, particularly those farther from the I-35 and I-10 corridors, tend to compete on price rather than location. They serve a different guest profile: longer-stay travelers, relocating workers, and budget-conscious visitors who prioritize space over walkability. The revenue ceiling is lower, but operating costs (including acquisition price) are also significantly lower.

For investors evaluating San Antonio, the question is not just “should I buy here?” but “where within the metro should I buy?” The StaySTRA San Antonio Airbnb Calculator can help model revenue by specific address and property type.

San Antonio STR Regulations and Permit Requirements

San Antonio has a structured STR permitting system administered by the city’s Development Services Department. Here is what investors need to know before acquiring a property.

Permit fee: $1,300 one-time application fee. The permit is valid for three years and is non-transferable (meaning it does not convey with a property sale).

Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT): Operators must collect and remit a combined 10.75% occupancy tax: 9% to the City of San Antonio and 1.75% to Bexar County. This must be reported monthly, even in months with zero rental activity.

Multifamily cap: In multi-family buildings, no more than 12.5% of total units can operate as Type 2 (non-owner-occupied) STRs by right. Exceeding that threshold requires a special exception from the Board of Adjustment.

Bexar County distinction: Properties within unincorporated Bexar County (outside San Antonio city limits) do not require a city STR permit, though they still must register for HOT purposes. This creates a regulatory arbitrage opportunity that some investors have already noticed, though inventory outside city limits is thinner.

Compared to Austin’s $836 license fee with a two-year term, San Antonio’s $1,300 for three years works out to roughly $433 per year versus Austin’s $418. The costs are comparable. The regulatory environment in San Antonio is firm but not hostile. The city wants STRs permitted and taxed, not eliminated.

What the Booking Data Tells Us About Guest Behavior

Two numbers from the StaySTRA data jumped out at me. The median length of stay is 3 nights, but the average is 6.7 nights. That gap between median and mean tells you the distribution is right-skewed: most guests stay a long weekend, but a meaningful chunk of bookings run a week or longer. Those longer stays are likely relocation guests, traveling nurses at San Antonio’s large medical complex, or extended business travelers. They are lower-margin per night but higher-margin per booking because turnover costs drop.

The 26.8-day average booking lead time is also worth noting. That is short enough to suggest a significant portion of bookings are spontaneous (weekend trip decisions, last-minute convention overflow), but long enough that dynamic pricing tools have a window to optimize rates. If you are operating in San Antonio without a pricing tool, you are leaving money on the table during the 300-plus convention events alone.

Should You Invest in San Antonio STRs in 2026?

The data does not make decisions for you, but it does narrow the field. San Antonio offers a combination that is genuinely hard to find in other Texas markets: higher occupancy than Austin or Dallas, a deep and diverse demand base, contained seasonality, a manageable regulatory framework, and entry costs below Austin’s premium pricing.

The estimated $33,500 in annual revenue per average property is not going to make anyone rich overnight. But paired with San Antonio’s lower acquisition costs and the stability of that demand floor, the cash-on-cash returns can be competitive with flashier markets. The 90th-percentile operator pulling nearly $60,000 a year shows what is possible with the right property in the right location.

I have watched enough markets over 40 years to know that the unsexy, consistent performers tend to outlast the boom-and-bust darlings. San Antonio may not generate the cocktail-party excitement of an Austin investment, but the numbers suggest it does not need to.

We do our best to keep our data accurate and up to date, but markets move fast and we are only human. Always verify current figures directly with local sources before making investment decisions.

Run the Numbers on a San Antonio Property

If San Antonio is on your shortlist, the next step is modeling revenue for a specific property. The StaySTRA San Antonio Airbnb Calculator lets you plug in an address and get revenue projections based on actual booking data from comparable listings. You can also explore the full San Antonio STR market dashboard for updated occupancy, ADR, and revenue trends.

For a broader view of how Texas markets stack up, check out the Austin STR market data we published earlier this sprint.