San Antonio Map
San Antonio stands where the Texas coastal plain runs up against the Balcones Escarpment, and with about 1.53 million residents in 2024 it is the state's second city.
Where is San Antonio?
San Antonio is in south-central Texas, about 150 miles from the Rio Grande crossing at Laredo and far closer to Mexico than to the Oklahoma line. The Hill Country begins immediately northwest of the city and the coastal plain runs away to the southeast. It lies about 80 miles southwest of Austin, roughly 200 miles west of Houston, and some 275 miles south of Dallas.
San Antonio at a glance
| State | Texas |
| Counties | Bexar, Comal, and Medina counties |
| Population | 1,526,656 (2024 Census estimate) |
| Rank among US cities | No. 7 of the 100 largest |
| Time zone | Central Time |
| Region | South (West South Central division) |
Another 47,260 residents would lift San Antonio past Philadelphia into No. 6; 122,204 fewer would put it behind San Diego at No. 8. Within Texas it comes second of fourteen, behind Houston. Against Texas's 31.29 million residents, though, that is only about 4.9%. It reaches into three counties, of which Bexar County is much the largest: the city holds about 72% of that county's 2,127,737 people.
San Antonio in Texas
The city is the seat of Bexar County and edges into Comal and Medina counties; all three appear on the Texas county map. San Antonio and Austin have grown toward each other along the I-35 corridor until the gap between them is largely built up, and Houston completes the state's urban triangle. The Texas state page shows where the rest of the population sits.
The Balcones Escarpment and the springs
The Balcones Escarpment is a fault line running roughly northeast to southwest across Texas, and it is the reason a city grew here. Groundwater moving through the Edwards Aquifer hits the fault and surfaces as springs along its base — the headwaters of the San Antonio River rise inside the modern city. That water supported farming and settlement in a stretch of country that is otherwise semi-arid to the west. The escarpment also marks a hard change in landscape: limestone hills and canyons above it, flat blackland and brush country below.
Cities near San Antonio
Texas neighbors include Austin, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Corpus Christi on the Gulf. For the state's shape as a printable, see the blank Texas map.