# The San Antonio Renter

> Our signature aggregated data asset: median credit minimum by class and submarket, share accepting guarantees, average fee stack, and concession depth. Every stat dated with n.

URL: https://sanantonioapartmentlocators.com/guide/san-antonio-renters-report/
Last-Modified: 2026-08-01

Guide

# The San Antonio Renter's Report

Our signature aggregated data asset: median credit minimum by class and submarket, share accepting guarantees, average fee stack, and concession depth. Every stat dated with n.

Last reviewed August 1, 2026 · 7 min read

![The San Antonio metro, the market the Renter's Report measures](/images/featured/san-antonio-skyline-seen-at-a-distance-in-flat-day.webp)

## What this is

The San Antonio Renter’s Report is our aggregated view of how apartment screening and cost actually work in this market. It answers, with numbers rather than adjectives, the four questions renters keep asking: what credit score do properties want, what does the apartment really cost per month, who accepts a guarantee, and how deep are concessions right now.

It exists because that knowledge was sitting in people’s heads and in a CRM. That is operational. It is not authoritative, and it is not much use to a renter who will never call us. Converting it into a dated, versioned dataset made it both. The screening tables published on 

credit issues

[/credit-issues/ →](/credit-issues/)

 come straight out of it.

![Median credit minimum by property class, with sample counts and dates](/images/content/aggregated-data-dashboard-showing-median-credit-mi.webp)

## What is in it

| Output | What it tells you |
| --- | --- |
| Median credit minimum by class | Which property classes are realistic at your band |
| Median credit minimum by submarket | Where the flexible stock actually sits geographically |
| Share at each income multiple | How common 3x vs 3.5x vs 2.5x really is |
| Share accepting guarantees | Whether a guarantor is a viable strategy in your band |
| Average mandatory fee stack, in dollars | What to add to any advertised rent |
| Share considering an eviction with zero balance vs any balance | The single most useful rental-history statistic |
| Concession depth by submarket | Where the deals are, and how deep |

Each carries **“n = \[count\], verified \[month/year\]”**. Where our coverage in a submarket is too thin to publish a median honestly, we say “across the communities we work with” and give a range instead of manufacturing a number.

## How the data is collected

Community by community. For each one we record: submarket and class, management company, credit minimum, income multiple, eviction lookback and whether it is balance-dependent, broken-lease policy, property-debt policy, felony and misdemeanor lookback by offense class, which guarantees and deposit alternatives are accepted, the current concession and its expiry, and the full mandatory fee stack, plus the date it was last verified and by whom.

![The fields recorded for every community in the Screening & Cost Index](/images/content/screening-and-cost-index-field-list-showing-credit.webp)

There is nothing sophisticated about the method. It is phone calls and site visits, written down. The discipline is in re-verifying, because a screening number six months old is not a fact, it is a guess with a date attached to it.

> **We publish aggregates, never the raw file**
> 
> The aggregates rank, get cited, and help renters who never contact us. The underlying file is why we can answer a question about a specific property in an afternoon. Publishing it would end that advantage and help nobody.

## What the July 2026 refresh shows

Three movements worth noting from the current edition.

**Credit floors have softened at the margin.** With vacancy near 10%, some communities holding a 620 have moved to 580 or added case-by-case review. Not universal, not permanent, floors move back up when occupancy recovers, but real right now, and only visible if somebody asks.

**Fee stacks have not softened.** Rents came down; the mandatory monthly stack did not. It therefore represents a larger share of your total monthly cost than it did in January, which makes comparing on advertised rent more misleading than usual.

**Concession depth widened at the top of the market.** Class A rents are down roughly 3.2% year over year and the luxury-to-mid-tier gap has compressed to about $180 a month. Newer lease-ups are competing hardest.

Guarantee acceptance is the other figure worth watching, and it varies by management company far more than by class, see 

guarantees and deposit alternatives

[/guide/guarantees-and-deposit-alternatives-san-antonio/ →](/guide/guarantees-and-deposit-alternatives-san-antonio/)

.

## What it deliberately does not contain

**No invented counts.** A number that cannot be produced on request is misrepresentation under TREC advertising rules and actionable under the Texas DTPA and FTC endorsement guidelines. Where we do not have the coverage, we say so.

**No named properties.** Aggregates only.

**No safety or demographic commentary.** We compare submarkets on rent, commute and inventory age. Not on who lives there. That is a Fair Housing line, see 

Fair Housing and how we work

[/fair-housing/ →](/fair-housing/)

.

## Cadence and use

The Report publishes each January and refreshes each July. Cite it with attribution and a link. Journalists, relocation offices and university housing teams are welcome to it, and if you need a cut we have not published, ask.

For renters, the more useful version is the same data applied to your own file rather than the market median. That is free, 

start here

[/get-started/ →](/get-started/)

.

![Marlene Quade](/images/avatars/marlene-quade.webp)

Written by

Marlene Quade

[/about/marlene-quade/ →](/about/marlene-quade/)

Lead Agent & Author

Lead agent and author at San Antonio Apartment Locators, specializing in second-chance and complicated-file placements across Bexar County.

Licensed Texas Real Estate Agent (Spirit Real Estate Group, LLC, TREC #9003398)

Straight answers

## Common questions

What is the San Antonio Renter's Report?

A twice-yearly aggregated data asset drawn from our San Antonio Screening & Cost Index, published each January and refreshed each July. It covers median credit minimums by property class and submarket, average mandatory fee stacks in dollars, the share of communities accepting third-party guarantees, and concession depth.

Where does the data come from?

From the communities we work with directly, collected by phone and in person, community by community, and written down with the date and who confirmed it, supplemented by public market data for rents and vacancy. Every figure carries a sample count and a verification month.

Does the Report name specific properties?

No. Only aggregates are published. The raw file stays private, and named communities with confirmed criteria go to renters on their verified list with the confirmation date attached. Publishing a named list would help nobody and would age badly.

Can I cite the Renter's Report?

Yes, with attribution and a link. Journalists, relocation offices and university housing teams are welcome to use it. If you need a figure broken out differently, by submarket, unit type, or property class, ask and we will pull it at no cost, provided our coverage supports the cut honestly.

Question not answered here?

Send it over with your file details and we will answer it against current property standards, not a general rule of thumb.

Get Started, Free

[/get-started/ →](/get-started/)

## Related guides

### Best Time of Year to Lease in San Antonio

December-February carries the deepest San Antonio concessions; May-August is peak PCS and school demand. A winter lease can beat June by $2,000-$3,000 on the same unit.

[Best Time of Year to Lease in San Antonio →](/guide/best-time-of-year-to-lease-san-antonio/)

### Current San Antonio Move-In Specials

How San Antonio move-in specials really work, why concessions are year-one only, and how to find unadvertised ones. Every listing carries a confirmation date.

[Current San Antonio Move-In Specials →](/guide/current-san-antonio-move-in-specials/)

### Fair Housing & How We Work

Our Fair Housing commitments and the free-to-renter model: no steering, no safety framing, brokerage and TREC license, NAAL membership, IABS and Consumer Protection.

[Fair Housing & How We Work →](/guide/fair-housing-and-how-we-work/)

### Guarantees & Deposit Alternatives in San Antonio

How Insurent, The Guarantors, Leap Easy, Rhino, Jetty, and Liberty Rent unlock San Antonio apartments across all three screening scenarios, and typical cost.

[Guarantees & Deposit Alternatives in San Antonio →](/guide/guarantees-and-deposit-alternatives-san-antonio/)

Next step, when you want one

## See how the free service works

Nothing here needs you to contact us. When you are ready, our pre-qualification is free and tells you which properties will review your file before you spend an application fee.

Get Started, Free

[/get-started/ →](/get-started/)