Last verified: June 2026 · OPM 2026 General Schedule locality tables
San Antonio calls itself Military City USA, and the federal economy here is built on two white-collar pillars: military medicine and cyber. Joint Base San Antonio, the largest joint base in the Defense Department, combines Fort Sam Houston, home to Brooke Army Medical Center, the military's flagship hospital and Level 1 trauma and burn center, with Lackland Air Force Base, home to the 16th Air Force and the Air Force's cyber and intelligence enterprise, and Randolph Air Force Base, home to Air Education and Training Command. NSA Texas adds a major signals-intelligence presence, and the Western District courthouse and the Audie Murphy VA round it out. The 2026 locality rate is 18.78%.
Like other military-heavy metros, San Antonio pays a modest locality, 18.78%, because the rate tracks local private-sector wages, not federal density. What changes the math is Texas: there is no state income tax and no local income tax, and the cost of living is low, so take-home pay stretches further than the locality number suggests. The catch is property tax, among the highest effective rates in the country, which is the real cost of homeownership here.
San Antonio presents a familiar military-metro pattern with a Texas twist: a modest sub-19% locality, but no state income tax and a low cost of living that more than offset it. The real questions are how the 18.78% rate plus no income tax nets out for your grade, which side of the city your duty station sits on, and how the high property tax fits the budget.
This guide is organized around the pillars that shape the decision here: where the workforce lives across the city, the car-dependent commute math, Texas's no-income-tax picture and high property tax, and the homebuyer assistance, including a program built for veterans and public servants.
San Antonio's federal footprint is built on military medicine, cyber, and training, with one of the deepest concentrations of military jobs anywhere. The anchors below map to where federal households land.
The Fort Sam medical complex. Fort Sam Houston and the surrounding medical complex on the near north and northeast hold BAMC, the military's medical training campus, and a deep federal-civilian health workforce.
The Lackland cyber corridor. Lackland and the west side hold the 16th Air Force, the cyber and ISR enterprise, and NSA Texas, a growing cluster of cyber, intelligence, and defense-contractor jobs.
The 2026 locality adjustment for the San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall locality area is 18.78%, a modest rate for such a federally dense region, which OPM applies on top of base General Schedule pay for every federal civilian whose duty station falls inside the San Antonio area.
The table below shows approximate Step 1 figures: the true General Schedule base, then the San Antonio total. The rate is modest, but Texas has no state income tax, so the gap between gross and take-home is smaller than in income-tax states, and the low cost of living stretches it further. Your exact pay depends on grade, step, and the current OPM tables, so confirm before any financial decision.
| GS Grade (Step 1) | Approx. Base | With 18.78% Locality |
|---|---|---|
| GS-9 | ~$52,700 | ~$62,600 |
| GS-11 | ~$63,800 | ~$75,800 |
| GS-12 | ~$76,500 | ~$90,800 |
| GS-13 | ~$90,900 | ~$108,000 |
| GS-14 | ~$107,400 | ~$127,600 |
| GS-15 | ~$126,400 | ~$150,100 |
Federal, veteran, and university households ring a large city, clustering by their duty station. The walkable core is downtown and the Pearl, the medical complex sits on the near north, Randolph anchors the northeast suburbs, and the far north draws families to newer housing.
Large multi-family property groups across the metro offer Preferred Employer Programs for federal civil servants and credentialed university students. Typical structural benefits include waived security deposits, waived application and administrative fees, and lease clauses that allow penalty-free breaks for reassignment, relocation, or program changes.
Ask a property manager directly whether a federal GS offer letter or active university ID qualifies for a PEP rate before signing.
It is worth being clear about the trade-off here. San Antonio is one of the deepest military and federal-medical markets in the country, but the locality is a modest 18.78%, and the appeal is not the locality rate, it is the combination of no state income tax, a low cost of living, and an enormous, stable federal job base in medicine, cyber, and training.
The thing to watch is property tax, which is high enough to change the buy-versus-rent calculation. Running the locality-adjusted pay against real San Antonio prices, the property tax, and the no-income-tax effect is exactly what this guide is built to do.
Here is the honest part: San Antonio is the largest U.S. city without rail transit, so for most duty stations a car is the default, though the pre-tax transit benefit still applies to VIA fares.
Texas has no state income tax and no local income tax, which is the headline advantage for federal workers weighing San Antonio against income-tax metros. The trade-off is property tax: Bexar County effective rates generally run in the range of about 1.8% to 2.2% depending on the school district, among the highest in the country, and it is the real cost of homeownership here. A homestead exemption and recent state relief help. Sales tax is 8.25%, the state cap. Confirm current figures with a professional.
First-time homebuyer program availability and funding levels change frequently. TDHCA's My First Texas Home, the TSAHC Homes for Texas Heroes program for veterans and public employees, and the City of San Antonio's incentive program each operate with limited funding cycles, eligibility caps that shift, and purchase price limits that vary by program window. Verify current status with the official program site before factoring assistance into a purchase budget.
San Antonio has a deep stack of free public land and cultural infrastructure that functions as quiet income, from the River Walk to a UNESCO World Heritage chain of Spanish missions. Most newcomers underuse it.
San Antonio's family infrastructure pairs a low cost of living and a strong military-family network with a mix of suburban school districts, major universities and medical centers, and a deep Tejano cultural heritage, though school quality varies by district. Research early.
San Antonio may be the single best veteran market in the country, with an enormous active and retired military population, a huge VA presence, and a federal economy in medicine, cyber, and training that hires heavily. Non-competitive hiring authorities like the Veterans' Recruitment Appointment (VRA) and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act (VEOA) streamline the path from active service into a GS career, with the 18.78% locality adjustment immediately applied.
Texas has no state income tax on any pay, including military retirement, a meaningful advantage for retiring service members, and the region's veteran-services network is among the deepest anywhere. UTSA, UT Health, and the other campuses maintain student-veteran offices with Yellow Ribbon integration, and the military-medicine, cyber, and training enterprises actively recruit transitioning service members into civilian roles.
The San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX locality pay area sits at 18.78% for 2026, per the OPM General Schedule locality tables.
It applies to every federal civilian GS employee whose duty station falls inside the San Antonio area. The rate is modest given how military-dense the region is, because locality pay tracks local private-sector wages, not federal jobs, but no state income tax and a low cost of living change the take-home math.
Military medicine and cyber.
Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston is the military's flagship hospital and a Level 1 trauma and burn center, anchoring a vast federal medical and training workforce. Lackland hosts the 16th Air Force and the service's cyber and intelligence enterprise, with NSA Texas alongside, a fast-growing federal cyber cluster.
For medical and cyber professionals, that is a deep GS and contractor job base.
It is the real advantage. Texas has no state income tax and no local income tax, so the gap between gross pay and take-home is smaller than in income-tax states, which partly compensates for the modest 18.78% locality.
The trade-off is property tax: Bexar County effective rates are among the highest in the country, generally around 1.8% to 2.2%, so the cost shifts from your paycheck to your home, and it is the main thing to model before buying.
San Antonio is the largest U.S. city without rail transit, so for most duty stations a car is the default.
VIA Metropolitan Transit runs buses and the Primo rapid lines, with advanced rapid-transit lines in development, and eligible federal employees can use the pre-tax transit benefit for VIA fares. Downtown, the River Walk, and the Pearl are genuinely walkable, but the metro is built around its freeways and loops.
It depends on the duty station around a large city.
Near Fort Sam and the medical complex: Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills, the near north. Near Lackland and NSA Texas: the southwest. Near Randolph: Schertz, Cibolo, Universal City.
Walkable core: downtown, Southtown, the Pearl; families: Stone Oak and the far north.
The landscape combines state and local help:
Programs have income and price limits and funding cycles, so verify current terms on the official site.
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a research university with a major cybersecurity program tied to the region's cyber hub, leads, alongside UT Health San Antonio, tied to the military-medicine complex.
They are joined by Trinity University, St. Mary's, and Texas A&M-San Antonio. Several maintain student-veteran offices with Yellow Ribbon integration.
Transitioning service members can use non-competitive federal hiring authorities to move into civilian roles.
With military medicine, cyber, training, and a huge VA, San Antonio is arguably the deepest veteran market in the country, and Texas has no state income tax on any pay, including military retirement.
HomeScoop maps your federal locality pay against actual rents and prices across the walkable core downtown and the Pearl, the Fort Sam medical complex on the near north, the Lackland and NSA Texas corridor on the southwest, and the Randolph suburbs in the northeast. We lay the school district lines over each address, factor Texas's no-income-tax advantage and the high property tax into the household budget, and show the bus and driving commute from each option to your duty station or campus. Intelligence layer, not a listings platform. We calculate, compare, and surface, so you arrive at the lease signing or the offer with the math already done.
Compare San Antonio Neighborhoods →