Puro, but for Whom?: Economic Devastation in San Antonio
On May 30, 2026, the San Antonio Spurs won the NBA Western Conference Finals, advancing to the national championship after a twelve-year drought. Suddenly, San Antonio was thrust into the spotlight: Oxford Economics named it a “city to watch,” the City Council approved a historic expansion of the Spurs’ arena, and Oklahomans shouted, “¡Puro San Antonio!”
San Antonio lies in the Texas Triangle, a rapidly expanding region home to 70% of Texas’s population, encompassing Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston. The Texas Triangle generated 70% of Texas’ GDP in 2018, making up 6.3% of the total American economy. Many view this area as an economic mega-region, but is its assumed prosperity created equally?
A 2022 San Antonio Chamber of Commerce report found that San Antonio has a booming bioscience sector, with health care and bioscience industries generating $44 billion in Bexar County. However, the US Census American Community Survey shows persistent economic inequality. San Antonio is the third-poorest metro area in the United States despite its massive growth, with only Houston and Detroit having higher poverty rates. Behind the glamor of a booming industry and seven-foot-four’ Forward-Center lies a history of economic hardship that makes the City Council’s $489 million investment in sports and entertainment look like a clear-path foul.
San Antonio also struggles deeply with spatial economic segregation. The city’s limited wealth is heavily concentrated in affluent areas, creating pockets of opportunity while leaving less affluent neighborhoods with fewer resources. San Antonio ranked third on the 2015 Overall Economic Segregation Index, which measures the geographical distribution of households by income, education, and occupational status. Higher-ranking areas, such as San Antonio, have lower rates of economic integration in residential areas, creating deep disparities in resources, safety, home values, and schools across a single city.
Ongoing San Antonio trends compound a history of segregation through meager educational attainment. From 2015 to 2024, San Antonio saw significant gains in college attainment, as the percentage of the city’s residents aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher increased from 28% to 32%. However, nationally, San Antonio ranked 107th in educational attainment out of 150 metropolitan areas. Ranking as one of the nation’s poorest and least-educated cities, San Antonio requires greater effort from city officials to increase not only its economic equality, but also its competitiveness with cities like Austin and Dallas.
When a city has trouble expanding opportunity, even the most educated residents struggle to build a life there. University of Texas Health System–San Antonio, the city’s largest hospital system, struggles to retain recent graduates, echoing a larger “brain drain,” where local graduates leave the city in pursuit of employment opportunities. Local physicians refer to San Antonio as a “net exporter” of medical school graduates, as only 26% of the UT Health San Antonio Class of 2025 applied for residency in San Antonio. This trend is not confined to the medical field; recent college graduates from UT San Antonio, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, and Trinity University are overwhelmingly considering neighboring metro areas to build careers. Despite its growing population, strong universities, and rich culture, San Antonio has struggled to turn positive momentum into opportunity across the city.
When hearing these startling statistics, I’m sure one solution comes to mind: the San Antonio Spurs need a new sports arena! In late 2025, San Antonio voters passed Propositions A and B, paving the way for San Antonio’s Project Marvel. Project Marvel is a $1.3 billion investment that would move Spurs Sports and Entertainment downtown, demolishing the Institute of Texan Cultures to make space for the arena. The City of San Antonio will invest $489 million in the project. The propositions also expand San Antonio’s current entertainment district, investing $191.8 million into local coliseums and concert venues. As part of a nonbinding arena deal, the Spurs have agreed to invest $75 million into the San Antonio community over 30 years, attaching accountability to the city’s development, but the City Council has yet to agree on how these funds should be allocated.
The city’s new entertainment investment may seem positive for attracting new talent and promoting nightlife in San Antonio, but who fronts the bill? The City of San Antonio is looking at a $158 million deficit for fiscal year 2027 as the city fails to compete nationally for jobs and graduates—two problems a sports arena simply cannot solve. The City of San Antonio should prioritize investment in talent retention, economic equality, and higher education completion over Project Marvel; otherwise, Project Marvel may prove to be nothing more than a humiliating airball.
Image Credit
Photo by Matthew Lejune via Unsplash
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