San Antonio Sees Highest Six-Figure Job Growth in Texas

In Central Texas, Austin is often looked to when talk turns to job growth. The city has certainly made waves with big names like Elon Musk moving in, but other Texas cities are making big job news and breaking records.

While Austin is the number one city that people are relocating to for work, San Antonio is experiencing the largest six-figure job growth. According to a study by Stessa, a real estate software company, factors including COVID-19 have led to an increase in wages across the country. These factors have pushed employers in many industries to pay their workers more to draw talent and offset inflation.

While lower-wage jobs have also seen some increase in pay in order to remain competitive and combat labor shortages, it doesn’t come close to matching the rate that high-wage job pay has increased, especially in San Antonio.

According to the report, “twenty years ago, only 0.7% of American workers were in jobs that typically paid more than $100,000 per year. By 2015, that share was 3.8%. And in the last five years alone, the percentage of American workers in six-figure jobs more than doubled to 7.9% in 2020”.

Where San Antonio ranks

The San Antonio-New Braunfels metro region saw a 163% increase in six-figure jobs from 2015 to 2020, according to the data published by Stessa. The Alamo City ranked at number seven in terms of large metropolitan areas with the most growth in high-paying jobs across the U.S between 2015 and 2020.

Previously, many six-figure jobs have had coastal geographical elements, concentrating in places like New York and California. But while those states have a high volume of six-figure jobs, that doesn’t mean these areas are seeing noteworthy growth in high-wage jobs. In fact, other cities are emerging as alternatives to areas like New York where the cost of living is higher, and one of those alternatives is San Antonio.

Data breakdown for San Antonio 6-figure job growth

• ↑ 163.0% ︳Increase in 6-figure jobs in San Antonio from 2015-2020

• 5.7% ︳Total percentage of people working 6-figure jobs in San Antonio in 2020 

• 21,590 ︳Total San Antonians making 6 figures in 2015

• 56,780 ︳Total San Antonians making 6 figures in 2020

Other Texas cities

San Antonio beat Austin in terms of six-figure job growth. While Austin has more six-figure jobs total, the rate they are growing puts Austin at number 15 on the list. Austin’s percentage change in six-figure jobs between 2015 and 2020 was 101.1%, which is actually below the national average of 110%.

The study also separately looked at the data for small and midsize metropolitan areas. San Angelo in West Texas came in third overall with a 400% increase, if you were interested in moving to a smaller Texas town for work.

Popular 6-figure jobs in San Antonio

According to an article by the career website Zippia that analyzed 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics, some of the most common high paying jobs in San Antonio are general operations managers (16,140 people) software developers (5,850 people), computer systems analysts (4,430 people) and financial managers (3,600 people).

The career with the highest six-figure salary in San Antonio is anesthesiologists, who earn an average salary of $235,630.

Cost of living San Antonio

When you’re considering moving for your career, you might be trying to figure out the best place to live in Texas. The San Antonio cost of living is considerably lower than other major Texas cities. For example, Best Places calculated that Austin is 44.1% more expensive than San Antonio overall.

Though comparatively more affordable, the San Antonio housing market has seen an increase in popularity that will likely continue to drive home prices up. If you plan on moving to the city for work, now is a good time to browse listings and consider your options so you can lock in a good price.

Companies moving to San Antonio

The comparatively lower cost of living and real estate also attracts companies that want room to grow and expand, which in turn creates more job opportunities as businesses open offices and factories in town. According to the city of San Antonio’s website, there are a variety of benefits that entice businesses to move to San Antonio, including low taxes and low utility costs.

San Antonio’s location makes it an international gateway with connections to prominent highways and commerce corridors. The city also has a large focus on education, with 31 higher education institutions, creating a talented pool of candidates for companies in town to hire from.

In 2021, major companies like Skipcart established a presence in the city. Founded in Boerne, Skipcart (a technology delivery platform for grocers, retailers, and restaurants) announced they were moving their headquarters to downtown San Antonio.

According to CultureMap San Antonio, Matthews International Corporation (a high-tech custom equipment company) plans to develop its North American divisional headquarters on San Antonio’s east side.

“This is a significant first step for Matthews to invest and grow in the San Antonio region,” said Greg Babe, Matthews International Chief Technology Officer, in a company press release. “Working with individuals across the community, we feel that San Antonio offers an environment for our employees to thrive and our business to serve our growing client base.”

This sentiment is shared by many of the businesses who have set their sights on San Antonio, and the results are the promise of more jobs being added locally. Many of the companies moving to the city are in the more common six-figure fields like tech and engineering, which is good news for job seekers.

Request a Relocation guide 

Those looking for a great six-figure job in Texas should certainly consider San Antonio. Not only is San Antonio seeing the strongest 6-figure job growth of any major city in the state, but it’s also more affordable than cities like Austin and Dallas.

To top it all off, San Antonio is a city full of incredible history and culture, making it a vibrant place to live and work. If you’re thinking about making the move, request a free relocation guide from Realty San Antonio today.