San Antonio: South Texas Powerhouse Helping Fuel Texas’ Economic Momentum
This article originally appeared in the July 2026 edition of Development Incentives Quarterly.
Authored by: Justin Heather
San Antonio is carving out a prominent role in Texas’ continued economic leadership, blending its military heritage, strategic location and robust incentives toolbox to attract high-value investment in advanced manufacturing. As the state celebrates another strong year in project wins (14 Governor’s Cups in a row), the Alamo City and Bexar County exemplify how targeted local tools – like tax abatements, Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZs), enterprise zones, and workforce partnerships – drive substantial investment.
Military City USA is making a run at Manufacturing City USA
In the past five years, San Antonio has seen substantial growth in the manufacturing sector. This growth is due in no small part to the partnership between the City of San Antonio and Bexar County and their consistent offering of economic development incentives to support economic growth of the manufacturing industry. A few examples demonstrate the importance of such incentives.
Between 2019 and 2021, Bexar County and San Antonio offered incentive packages for serial investments by Navistar, Inc. and Navistar Manufacturing San Antonio LLC. The more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing plant and support functions represent investments of over $275 million and the creation of around 650 new jobs in the region by Navistar. For the 2019 acquisition for construction of a manufacturing plant, the city and county offered a 10-year tax abatement on real and personal property, the creation of the Navistar TIRZ, various fee waivers, reimbursement for the agriculture exemption rollbacks, grants, and various public infrastructure improvements reimbursements. Bexar County and San Antonio provided additional incentives in 2021 for Navistar’s expanded footprint, bringing the company’s total tax relief to approximately $14.4 million.
JCB broke ground in 2024 on its new $500 million North American factory in San Antonio, which is expected to create over 1,500 new jobs in the first five years. In addition to incentives from the state, San Antonio and Bexar County also offered packages to induce JCB’s expansion. Bexar County’s package, valued around $12 million, includes a 10-year abatement of ad valorem taxes on real and personal property, reimbursement for the agriculture exemption rollback, a jobs grant, and up to $5 million for reimbursement of public infrastructure improvements. For its part, the city provided an estimated $10.4 million in tax abatement, a $2.35 million Economic Development Incentives Fund grant, and fee waivers valued at about $1.5 million. The city also designated the site a Texas Enterprise Zone (TEZ) project, which makes the company eligible for up to $3.75 million in sales and use tax refunds.
