San Antonio's economy: how is it doing?

A good housing market is dependent on a good local economy. And the economy of San Antonio, Texas, seems to be doing well.

Out of 366 metropolitan areas, the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of $82 billion in 2010. This metropolitan area includes eight counties, the most populated ones being Bexar, Guadalupe, and Comal Counties.

The figures were compiled and recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The GMP is similar to the Gross National Product, representing the total output of goods and services in a metropolitan area. Although the San Antonio-New Braunfels metro area ranked 38th out of 366 markets, this means the economic output increased by 3.56% from 2009. In comparison, the national rate was 2.5% in 2010.

More good news for job seekers in San Antonio: it is rated one of the best cities for creating new retail jobs, according to a study conducted by American City Business Journals. For the last five years, 96,100 retail jobs have been added in San Antonio. This adds up to a growth rate of 4.12% according to the data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 Mission San Jose was a successful generator of jobs in San Antonio in the 1700s