San Antonio runs on people who arrive for a few months and then leave.
Lackland's 37th Training Wing, the largest in the Air Force, graduates more than 80,000 students a year. Brooke Army Medical Center staffs around 8,500. The South Texas Medical Center is nine institutions and over 30,000 employees clustered on the northwest side. And in July 2026, Toyota announced a $3.6 billion second assembly line at its south-side plant — 2,000 new jobs, and roughly double the footprint by 2030.
None of that is a tourist story. It's a steady flow of people who need somewhere furnished to live for 60, 90 or 180 days. That's the gap where a hotel costs too much and a 12-month lease asks for too much.
Here's what that market actually looks like right now.
What a month actually costs
On 6 August 2026 there were 44 homes listed on Homads for 30+ day stays in San Antonio. Asking prices ran from $750 a month for a private room on the far northwest side up to $12,000 for a large house. Half of them sat between roughly $2,900 and $4,800.
That's a real premium over the conventional market. RentCafe put the San Antonio apartment average at $1,264 as of 1 August 2026 — $1,087 for a one-bedroom, $1,384 for a two-bedroom. Furnished monthly homes ask two to three times that. The reasons are ordinary: the place comes with furniture, linens, a stocked kitchen, wifi and usually utilities, the host carries the vacancy risk between stays, and neither side signs up for a year.
Two things about that spread are worth knowing before you start looking.
The inventory here is house-heavy. Of the 39 homes inside the city limits, 26 have three or more bedrooms. Only five are one-bedrooms or studios. San Antonio's monthly stock is built for families relocating, for crews sharing a place, and for people who showed up with a dog and a car. If you're one clinician who wants a small quiet apartment near work, you'll have fewer options than the headline number suggests.
Under $2,000 is thin. Five listings. If that's your budget, the honest answer is a private room, a studio, or widening the search past the city line into Converse, Schertz or Universal City. Better to know that now than after a week of scrolling.
Numbers move. Everything above came off the live listings on 6 August 2026 — it's worth checking the current set before you plan around it.
Where to stay, depending on why you're here
San Antonio is wide and low-density, and drive time matters more than the map suggests. The useful way to narrow it down is by what you need to be near.
Fort Sam Houston and BAMC — east and northeast of downtown. ZIP 78202 (Dignowity Hill) and the near east side put you a short drive from the post and the hospital. Several hosts already label their listings this way, which tells you who's been booking them.
South Texas Medical Center — 78229 and the northwest. The Medical Center core is 78229, and the surrounding 78240, 78249 and 78251 hold most of the supply. If you're on contract at Methodist, University Health, UT Health or the Audie Murphy VA, start here. Loop 410 and 1604 traffic is the real constraint, not distance.
Lackland and Port San Antonio — west and southwest. 78227 and 78251. This is the thinnest part of the map for furnished stock, so it's the part most worth booking early.
Randolph and the airport — north and northeast. 78216, 78217, 78233. Sensible if you're commuting to Randolph or flying out most weeks.
Relocating, or working remote — Southtown, King William, Monte Vista. ZIP 78210 is the single biggest cluster in the city's Homads inventory — historic homes south of downtown, walkable, next to King William and the Blue Star. 78212 (Monte Vista and Tobin Hill) puts you near the Pearl and San Antonio College. If you want to actually enjoy living here for three months, this is the part of town to look at.
Bringing school-age kids — far northwest. 78249, 78250 and 78255, near UTSA and La Cantera, in Northside ISD. This is where the four- and five-bedroom houses are.
Why 30 days is the line that matters
San Antonio regulates short-term rentals — permits, fees, density limits, enforcement. That whole regime applies to rentals of less than 30 consecutive days (Ordinance 2024-06-13-0433, section 16-1107). A stay of 30 days or more sits outside it.
Texas has a matching rule on tax. Anyone with the right to occupy for 30 consecutive days counts as a "permanent resident" and is exempt from state and local hotel occupancy tax — 6% state, plus 9% city and 1.75% county in San Antonio. If you give the host written notice up front that the stay is 30+ days, no tax is due on any of it. If you don't, tax applies to the first 30 days and drops off on day 31.
So: agree the length in writing before you move in. And don't shorten a 31-day booking to 29 to save a weekend — it'll cost you more, not less.
Does the time of year matter?
Less than you'd think, and not in the direction you'd expect.
Two stretches dominate the calendar. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo runs most of February, and Fiesta takes over the city for eleven days in April. Nightly rates spike then. Monthly rates mostly don't — a host who's already committed a house for 90 days isn't repricing it for Fiesta week. If your dates are flexible, a stay that spans one of those windows is usually the better deal rather than the worse one.
Summer is the other factor, and it's practical rather than financial. June through September sits above 95°F for long stretches. Ask what the electricity bill actually was last August before you agree to a stay where utilities aren't included.
Who's actually renting here
Four groups, and they want different things.
Travel clinicians on 13-week contracts at the Medical Center. They want a short drive, in-unit laundry, parking, and an end date that matches the contract.
Military families mid-PCS, waiting on base housing or on a closing date. They want three bedrooms, a fenced yard, a school district, and some flexibility on the back end.
Corporate and project workers — Toyota and its 23 on-site suppliers on the south side, construction and energy projects, USAA and Valero assignments. Often booked and paid by an employer rather than by the renter.
Insurance and ALE placements — households displaced by fire or water damage, placed by an adjuster, with a timeline nobody knows at the start.
One thing those four have in common: none of them knows their exit date precisely at the point of booking. If you're a host here, that's the thing worth designing your listing around.
Where to start
Everything currently available for 30+ day stays in San Antonio sits on one page: Mid-term rentals in San Antonio, TX. Filter by beds, price and amenities, and message hosts directly — there's no commission taken on either side.
If you're new to the format, or trying to explain it to an employer or an adjuster, What are mid-term rentals? covers the basics.
Listing counts and prices in this article were read from live Homads data on 6 August 2026 and will change.