These Are The 10 Worst San Antonio Suburbs For 2018

Not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround San Antonio.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which San Antonio ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the San Antonio area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to San Antonio proper, although Terrell Hills certainly tries.

Of course, not all suburbs of San Antonio are created equally, which is precisely why we set out to find the best ones. So without further ado…

We examined the 28 biggest suburbs of San Antonio to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t necessarily find them on the worst places to live in Texas lists, these ten places are a little too far downwind of San Antonio in terms of quality of life.

Here are the 10 worst suburbs around San Antonio for 2018:

1. Lytle (Photos)
2. Lakehills
3. Castroville (Photos)
4. Kirby (Photos)
5. Lake Dunlap
6. Balcones Heights
7. Converse
8. Leon Valley
9. New Braunfels (Photos)
10. St. Hedwig

Read on to see how we determined the places around San Antonio that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger.

Or, if you’re thinking of moving to elsewhere in Texas check out the best places in Texas overall or the worst.

And remember, there are some good places to live around San Antonio too.

Editor’s Note: If you see a slight difference between the worst in state rankings and this suburb ranking, it’s because of the methodology. We needed a way to include more places, so we eliminated crime and commute times as criteria for this analysis.

For more Texas reading, check out:

• 10 Best Places To Live In Texas
• 10 Cheapest Places To Live In Texas
• 10 Most Dangerous Places In Texas

Determining The Worst Suburbs Around San Antonio for 2018

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.

We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the most recent American Community Survey data, this is the criteria we used:

• High unemployment rate
• Low median household incomes
• Low population density (no things to do)
• Low home values
• A lot of high school drop outs
• High poverty
• High rate of uninsured families

FYI: We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of San Antonio.

Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 28 suburbs to evaluate around San Antonio.

We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 28 in each category, where 1 was the “worst”.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality of life index.

And finally, we crowned the city with the worst quality of life index the “Worst Suburb near San Antonio.” We’re lookin’ at you, Lytle.

Read on below to learn more about what it’s like to live in the worst of the worst. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from worst to best.

1. Lytle

Population: 2,810
Unemployment Rate: 6.6%
Median Home Price: $90,600
Median Income: $55,536
More on Lytle: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

We’ll get the ball rolling with Lytle, the absolute worst place to live around San Antonio according to the data.

And in the world of worst rankings, Lytle beat the competition pretty handily thanks to scoring in the bottom 15% in three major categories. Income is the 4th worst in the San Antonio area, and to make matters worse, the city ranks 2nd worst when it comes to home values.

But hey, at least it’s cheap to live there. But there’s a reason for that… it’s Lytle.

You won’t feel bad about not having a great income for the area, there aren’t a bunch of places to spend your money anyway.

2. Lakehills

Population: 5,304
Unemployment Rate: 5.6%
Median Home Price: $134,300
Median Income: $57,227
More on Lakehills: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Welcome to Lakehills. Home to KMart, Big Lots, and a lot of gas stations.

This city is 27.3 miles to San Antonio. Income levels here are the 5th lowest in the metro area, where families bring in about $57,227 a year, which doesn’t go a long ways even on a shoestring budget.

But on the bright side, there are a lot of fast food joints in the area.

3. Castroville

Population: 2,910
Unemployment Rate: 9.6%
Median Home Price: $162,700
Median Income: $59,038
More on Castroville: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Back up the highway we go for the third worst San Antonio suburb you can live in. You might have expected to see Castroville on here. While the cost of living is low, your entertainment and work options are limited. And that’s an understatement.

In terms of numbers, it’s in the worst 15% for insurance, and the adult high school drop out rate is poor compared to other San Antonio suburbs.

But at least there are nice parks to bring the kids during the day.

4. Kirby

Population: 8,441
Unemployment Rate: 5.3%
Median Home Price: $82,500
Median Income: $44,063
More on Kirby: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

If you live in Kirby, most likely you struggle to make ends meet every month. It ranks as the 2nd lowest San Antonio suburb when it comes to residents making money.

Not only that, but this is the 12th worst unemployed suburb you can live in if you choose to live near San Antonio. Remember, we looked at 28 cities for this study.

Kirby is about 8.4 miles to downtown.

5. Lake Dunlap

Population: 2,372
Unemployment Rate: 3.8%
Median Home Price: $122,400
Median Income: $54,079
More on Lake Dunlap: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Lake Dunlap has the distinction of being a San Antonio suburb. Which means that’s about all it has going for it.

All snarkiness aside, Lake Dunlap has the 4th lowest home values in the metro San Antonio area, where the median price is $122,400. To put that into perspective, in Terrell Hills, the median income is $180,128, which is the best in the area.

Lake Dunlap has an unemployment rate of 3.8% which ranks 20th worst.

6. Balcones Heights

Population: 3,017
Unemployment Rate: 3.3%
Median Home Price: $100,600
Median Income: $30,962
More on Balcones Heights: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Balcones Heights has 3,017 residents that probably know it’s a pretty crummy place to live when you look at the data. (Or, if you’ve ever been there, you don’t need to look at the data.)

Incomes are towards the bottom and the poverty rate sits at 19.1%.

7. Converse

Population: 21,169
Unemployment Rate: 6.7%
Median Home Price: $133,300
Median Income: $63,240
More on Converse: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Ah, Converse. You rank as the 7th worst place to live around San Antonio.

It’s the place with the 4th most out of work residents in the San Antonio metro area (6.7%).

8. Leon Valley

Population: 10,990
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%
Median Home Price: $147,000
Median Income: $57,817
More on Leon Valley: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Leon Valley is a city about 5.6 miles from San Antonio, but San Antonio probably wishes it was further away. It ranks as the 8th worst burb for 2018.

You’d be hard pressed to find a worse place to live. Leon Valley has the 7th most uninsured people, 6th worst incomes, and has the 7th highest unemployment rate (6.5%) in the entire San Antonio metro area.

Homes only cost $147,000 for a reason. That’s cheap for San Antonio standards.

9. New Braunfels

Population: 67,097
Unemployment Rate: 4.4%
Median Home Price: $177,200
Median Income: $61,618
More on New Braunfels: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

If you absolutely have to live near San Antonio, then New Braunfels might be a place for you to consider as it’s only the 9th worst San Antonio suburb.

About 4.4% of residents are out of work.

10. St. Hedwig

Population: 2,200
Unemployment Rate: 6.7%
Median Home Price: $179,500
Median Income: $75,035
More on St. Hedwig: Add A Comment | Data | Jobs

Rounding out the ten worst San Antonio suburbs to call home is St. Hedwig.

Located 19.5 miles outside the city, St. Hedwigs is a real pit when you look at the data. Its residents have the 4th highest unemployment rate (6.7%), and poverty is far above the area average.

The areas around San Antonio where the dream is more of a nightmare for 2018

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding San Antonio with Lytle casting itself ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around San Antonio aren’t all bad. Terrell Hills takes the cake as the best place to live around San Antonio.

For more Texas reading, check out:

• 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Texas
• These Are The 10 Richest Cities In Texas
• 10 Safest Places In Texas
• 10 Worst Places To Live In Texas

Detailed List Of The Worst San Antonio Suburbs

Rank	City	Population	Unemployment Rate	Median Home Price	Median Income
1	Lytle	2,810	6.6%	$90,600	$55,536
2	Lakehills	5,304	5.6%	$134,300	$57,227
3	Castroville	2,910	9.6%	$162,700	$59,038
4	Kirby	8,441	5.3%	$82,500	$44,063
5	Lake Dunlap	2,372	3.8%	$122,400	$54,079
6	Balcones Heights	3,017	3.3%	$100,600	$30,962
7	Converse	21,169	6.7%	$133,300	$63,240
8	Leon Valley	10,990	6.5%	$147,000	$57,817
9	New Braunfels	67,097	4.4%	$177,200	$61,618
10	St. Hedwig	2,200	6.7%	$179,500	$75,035
11	Boerne	13,066	5.4%	$225,600	$61,259
12	Live Oak	15,021	4.3%	$123,500	$61,873
13	Schertz	37,597	4.4%	$179,000	$77,139
14	Windcrest	5,709	7.9%	$171,800	$75,972
15	Bulverde	4,859	7.0%	$271,600	$88,750
16	Selma	8,866	3.4%	$164,800	$78,157
17	Castle Hills	4,367	3.4%	$261,600	$88,482
18	Scenic Oaks	5,870	4.1%	$340,700	$131,969
19	Cibolo	25,256	5.9%	$206,900	$91,827
20	Timberwood Park	26,388	3.9%	$294,000	$110,440
21	Cross Mountain	2,760	6.0%	$355,300	$124,849
22	Helotes	8,329	2.0%	$273,000	$114,063
23	Garden Ridge	3,730	4.4%	$442,100	$117,258
24	Alamo Heights	7,814	4.9%	$513,900	$110,980
25	Hollywood Park	3,257	3.3%	$294,100	$96,071
26	Shavano Park	3,442	2.9%	$594,900	$161,964
27	Fair Oaks Ranch	8,582	2.4%	$421,000	$125,119
28	Terrell Hills	5,190	2.0%	$635,100	$180,128