As San Antonio officials continue to weigh how to respond to federal immigration actions, new data presented this week offers a clearer look at what is at stake locally: a workforce and economy in which immigrants play a significant role.
Immigrants make up about 12.7% of the San Antonio metro population, but accounted for more than one-fifth of its population growth between 2018 and 2023 and nearly 16% of its workforce, according to a report presented to San Antonio City Council’s Community Health Committee on Tuesday.
The report was commissioned by the City of San Antonio and conducted by the American Immigration Council. It examines the economic contributions of immigrants in the San Antonio area using federal Census data from 2018 to 2023 and was completed in December.
The presentation to the committee this week stems from a February resolution directing staff to examine how the city could respond to federal immigration actions, including concerns over an East Side warehouse purchased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of a broader plan to expand detention capacity nationwide.
Chelsie Kramer, a state organizer with the American Immigration Council, emphasized that the immigrant population plays a central role in the region’s growth and economy.
“This is not a niche population,” Kramer told council members. “Over 10% of your population here in the San Antonio metro area are immigrants, and so this is a very meaningful part of your population, which is why these discussions are so important.”
For the purposes of the analysis, immigrants were defined broadly as anyone born outside the United States, including naturalized citizens, green card holders, visa holders, refugees and undocumented residents.
Kramer said the impact shows up across key industries, with immigrants heavily represented in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and professional services — sectors that are critical to the region’s economy and often face worker shortages.
“These are industries that we consider foundational for the regional economy,” she said. “These are also often the ones experiencing the highest workforce shortages, which is why we see a lot of immigrants in these places.”
Kramer added that immigrants play a key role not just in filling jobs, but in sustaining them. In the manufacturing sector alone, immigrant workers helped create or preserve 15,800 jobs in the region that may have otherwise been eliminated or moved elsewhere.
“Without this workforce, some of those jobs may not exist here,” she said. “This is about economic retention, not just participation.”
In 2023, immigrant households in the San Antonio metro area generated an estimated $12.6 billion in total income, including nearly $3 billion in combined federal, state and local taxes, according to the report.
Kramer said the remaining income — about $9.6 billion — reflects money households are able to spend in the local economy.
“From a business perspective, this is a significant consumer base,” she said. “And a significant contributor to public revenues.”
That income also drives broader economic activity. Altogether, immigrants contributed about $25.6 billion to the region’s gross domestic product, or GDP — roughly 14.1% of the metro area’s total economic output.
GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced in a region, capturing not just what people earn, but how that money circulates as it is spent, reinvested and used by businesses to support jobs and operations.
Immigrants also play an outsized role in entrepreneurship, according to the report.
While they make up about 12.7% of the population, they account for more than 24% of business owners in the region — more than double their share of the population.
Kramer said that translates into thousands of businesses across the metro area, generating hundreds of millions in income and creating jobs beyond the immigrant community itself.
“They’re not just filling jobs, they’re also creating them,” she said. “And they’re not just creating jobs for immigrants, but creating jobs for all the residents here in the San Antonio Metro.”
Kramer said those contributions also help illustrate what could be at risk as immigration enforcement expands.
In parts of the state, she said employers are already beginning to see disruptions in industries — like construction — that rely heavily on immigrant labor.
“We’re seeing those economic impacts happening, especially in the southern part of the state and it’s starting to bleed up,” she said.” I don’t have specific numbers for here in San Antonio, obviously, but if it’s impacting one community, it’s eventually going to impact another.”
She added that those effects can extend beyond undocumented workers, shaping how businesses attract and retain high-skilled workers like lawyers, doctors and engineers across the workforce.
“Even though you may think it’s only focused on the undocumented population or refugees or asylees, or whatever population you throw in there, it is also going to negatively impact your legal immigration as well,” Kramer said.
Kramer said the report is intended to give local leaders a clearer understanding of how federal immigration policies could shape San Antonio’s economy — particularly in industries the city depends on for growth.
Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) said the data highlights how central immigrant communities are to the city’s future growth.
“If San Antonio wants to go to the next level, the immigrant community is so much a part of our city’s success,” she said.
Councilmember Teri Castillo (D5) said the data will be useful as the city discusses future policy discussions, particularly around workforce and housing.
