Retiring in San Marcos, Texas

Retiring in San Marcos: overview

San Marcos is in Hays County, Texas, within the Austin & Central Texas region.

San Marcos is a Hays County city that the Census Bureau's 2019-2023 American Community Survey puts at 68,920 residents with a median age of 25.5 years. The low median reflects Texas State University, whose registration office is at 601 University Drive in San Marcos. Only 10.7 percent of residents, an estimated 7,367 people, are 65 or older. By that measure San Marcos is not a retirement town in the way Georgetown is, and a reader should not expect a city built around older residents.

The retirement case is narrower and more specific. Kissing Tree is a gated community that its developer markets to people 55 and older, the city has a hospital with a 24-hour emergency room, the City of San Marcos runs recreation programs aimed mainly at residents 60 and older, and the San Marcos River and Hill Country setting are a large part of the appeal. The tradeoffs are a school-district-heavy property tax bill, a documented flash-flood history on three waterways, and dependence on the Edwards Aquifer for the springs that feed the river. This profile sets out each of those with its year and source. It belongs to the Austin & Central Texas region, and the state-level context is in the Texas retirement taxes guide.

Cost of living in San Marcos

The ACS 2019-2023 five-year profiles estimate a median household income of $51,030 in 2023 dollars for San Marcos city, with 29,892 housing units. Owner-occupied homes are 30.5 percent of occupied units, so renters are the majority, which is typical of a university city. The median household income covers every household in a city with a large student population and is a weak guide to retiree budgets. These are survey estimates with margins of error, and a five-year period lags current conditions.

The same profiles estimate a median owner-occupied home value of $269,700, a median of $1,840 per month in owner costs for homes with a mortgage, and a median gross rent of $1,299 per month. Citywide medians include older and student-area housing, so they understate the cost of new construction aimed at retirees. Builders at Kissing Tree publish starting prices in the mid $300s for Brookfield Residential homes and the high $300s for David Weekley Homes, without an effective date, so treat those as a starting point to confirm with the builder.

The City of San Marcos operates its own electric, water and wastewater utility under the SMTX Utilities name. Ask the city utility for current residential rates for the specific address, because utility charges are a recurring cost that the Census medians do not isolate.

Property taxes in San Marcos

Property tax in San Marcos is levied by several taxing units on the value that the appraisal district assigns, and the largest shares usually come from the school district, the city and the county. For tax year 2025 the Texas Comptroller's property value reports, in versions dated January 28, 2026, list a City of San Marcos total rate of 0.6515 per $100 of taxable value (0.4868 for maintenance and operations and 0.1647 for debt), Hays County at 0.3999 per $100 (0.3573 general fund plus 0.0426 road and bridge), and San Marcos CISD at 1.0152 per $100 (0.6969 maintenance and operations and 0.3183 debt service). For example, adding those three 2025 rates gives 2.0666 per $100 before any special district, emergency services district or other unit that applies to a particular address.

The City of San Marcos Finance Department lists an adopted rate of $0.6515 per $100 for fiscal year 2026, with a no-new-revenue rate of $0.6278 and a voter-approval rate of $0.6941. For fiscal year 2027, which is the 2026 tax year, the city lists a proposed rate of $0.651500, a no-new-revenue rate of $0.635574 and a voter-approval rate of $0.683087. A September 1 City Council recap lists Ordinance 2026-38, which sets the 2027 rate at 65.1500 cents on each $100. Because the rate equals last year's while the no-new-revenue rate is lower, bills can still rise with appraised values. Rates change every budget year, and the Hays Central Appraisal District and the Hays County Tax Assessor-Collector publish the figures that appear on a bill.

Texas law requires every school district to give a $140,000 general residence homestead exemption and, for homeowners 65 or older or disabled, an additional $60,000, according to the Comptroller. Exemptions reduce taxable value; they are not payments. The City of San Marcos describes its own council action: a residential homestead exemption of $15,000, with the exemption for senior citizens and people with disabilities raised from $25,000 to $35,000. The city page ties that action to a February 2022 vote, so confirm the current amounts with the city or the appraisal district. Hays County and San Marcos CISD set their own optional exemptions, and the appraisal district can state the current schedule.

An owner 65 or older who qualifies for the age-65 homestead exemption also receives a ceiling on school district taxes, which the Comptroller describes as an amount that cannot increase while the owner owns and lives in the home, except when the home is improved. The ceiling covers school taxes only; it does not freeze city or county taxes. See the guides on homestead and age-65 exemptions and property taxes and appraisal districts. A buyer in a master-planned community should also ask whether a municipal utility district, public improvement district or similar assessment applies to the specific lot.

Insurance and risk in San Marcos

Flooding is the hazard the City of San Marcos itself emphasizes. Its floodplain page says flooding in the city is primarily caused by the San Marcos River, the Blanco River and Purgatory Creek, that floodwaters can cover many blocks up to three or four feet deep, and that flooding in all three areas can come with little warning. It cites an October 1998 flood that covered streets within 30 minutes of forming and a November 2001 flood in which the Blanco River flooded within an hour after a thunderstorm started. The page also points out that a property that did not flood recently can still flood in the future because the next flood could be worse.

The city advises residents to learn about flood insurance because homeowner's insurance policies do not cover flood damage. It offers information on the Special Flood Hazard Area, elevation certificates, flood depth data and historical flooding, and links to the FEMA Map Service Center, where a specific address can be checked against the current flood map. Location inside or outside a mapped floodplain changes insurance requirements and cost, so check an address before relying on a neighborhood's general reputation. FEMA describes its flood maps and the National Flood Insurance Program on its flood maps page.

Hail and wind are the other homeowner insurance concerns in Central Texas. The Texas Department of Insurance explains that if you have wind and hail coverage on your home policy, your insurance company should pay for hail damage, and it warns that it is illegal under state law to waive a homeowners deductible. Roof age and condition, and the size of the wind and hail deductible, are worth asking an agent about. No premium figure is given here because premiums depend on the insurer, the home and the year.

Healthcare access in San Marcos

CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital - San Marcos is at 1301 Wonder World Drive. The hospital's page says its 24-hour emergency room, surgery and intensive care units operate with a 20-bed emergency unit that sees an average of 30,000 patients annually, and that the hospital is a Level 4 Trauma Center, an Accredited Chest Pain Center and a Primary Stroke Center. The CHRISTUS emergency page adds that pediatric emergency care is available. The hospital page also lists a Level II NICU and Level II Maternal Care facility, and a women's center for mammograms and bone density studies.

Ascension Seton Hays in Kyle is a regional hospital in Kyle, Texas. Ascension describes it as having 24/7 emergency care and certification as a Level II trauma center and a Primary Stroke Center, and it lists maternity, imaging and specialty services on the campus. The Kissing Tree developer's own FAQ names Ascension Seton Hays and CHRISTUS Santa Rosa among nearby hospitals.

Drive times depend on the starting point and traffic, so test the route to the emergency room at the time of day you would travel. Medicare network participation by individual physicians and hospitals changes by plan and year; confirm that your doctors and the hospital accept your coverage. Specialty care for complex conditions may involve travel to larger systems in Austin or San Antonio.

Climate in San Marcos

San Marcos has the hot, humid-subtropical pattern of Central Texas. No San Marcos station was used for this profile; the National Centers for Environmental Information's 1991-2020 monthly normals for Austin Bergstrom Airport serve as a regional reference, not a San Marcos measurement. At that station the normal daily high averages 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit in January, 96.1 in July and 97.0 in August, and the normal daily low averages 37.7 in January.

Summers are the main comfort and cost issue, so ask about air-conditioning age and efficiency when comparing homes. Drought also shapes the experience of living near the river. The National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio office issues drought statements, and the current statement is the better guide than any summary here.

Lifestyle and recreation in San Marcos

The City of San Marcos Parks and Recreation department offers adult leisure and enrichment classes that it describes as primarily for residents 60 and older, with adults of any age welcome. Its list of active older adult programs includes adult pickleball open play, bingo, bowling socials, game day, trivia, a Senior Expo and a Senior Resource Directory, and the city operates the San Marcos Activity Center. The city also promotes the San Marcos River, natural areas and trails, and downtown San Marcos among its attractions.

Texas State University is part of the picture for retirees. The university's registration office says senior citizens 65 or older are eligible for free tuition for up to six credit hours per semester, subject to conditions: the student must enroll in a class that is not already filled with students who are paying full price, in a class for which the college receives tax support, and at an institution whose governing board has chosen to offer the program. Contact the registrar for the current rules.

Kissing Tree's developer describes a 20-acre amenity campus, an 18-hole semi-private golf course and trails planned to connect to the public Purgatory Creek trail system in Hays County. See the Kissing Tree profile for that community, and compare it with Sun City Texas in Georgetown if you are weighing a large 55+ community against a smaller college-town setting.

Housing in San Marcos

The ACS profiles count 29,892 housing units in San Marcos city. With renters in the majority, much of the stock is rental housing serving students and workers. For buyers 55 and older, the practical choices are resale or new homes in all-age neighborhoods, or the age-restricted community at Kissing Tree, which its developer says will have an estimated 3,150 homes at completion over about 12 to 15 years, with Traditional homes, Cottages and Villas and 48 floor plans.

Because the university drives so much of the city's rental market, and because the 65-and-over share is under 11 percent, a retiree should visit during a semester and during a break to see how traffic, noise and activity differ. Compare property tax rates and special districts by address, as the school district, city and county rates above apply to different parts of the area in different combinations.

Water, the Edwards Aquifer and the San Marcos Springs

San Marcos sits where the springs that feed the San Marcos River emerge, and the Edwards Aquifer Authority links springflow at San Marcos Springs to its drought management plan. The Authority's Critical Period Management plan has five stages that reduce permitted groundwater pumping as aquifer levels or springflows fall. It says Stage 1 is declared for the San Antonio Pool when the 10-day average springflow at San Marcos Springs falls below 96 cubic feet per second or the 10-day average at Comal Springs falls below 225, among other triggers.

The Authority regulates well owners with withdrawal permits and says it does not enforce lawn watering rules, which are enforced by the municipality. Its page lists the City of San Marcos among the providers to contact about local restrictions, so ask the water utility serving an address about current stage rules.

For retirees the practical point is that the river, the springs and municipal water supply are connected to drought conditions that can change within a season. Rely on the Edwards Aquifer Authority and the city utility for current conditions.

Getting to the airports

San Marcos does not have a commercial airport. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is a City of Austin facility, and San Antonio International Airport, at 9800 Airport Boulevard, is presented on a City of San Antonio website. Kissing Tree's developer says major airports in San Antonio and Austin are just up the road, but it does not publish a drive time, and road traffic varies by hour. Drive a trial trip at a realistic departure time before relying on convenience for frequent travel.

Retirement communities in and near San Marcos

• Kissing TreeA gated 1,300-acre master-planned community in San Marcos marketed to people 55 and older, with Traditional homes, Cottages and Villas, a 20-acre amenity campus called The Mix and a semi-private golf course.

Places near San Marcos

• WimberleyA small Hays County city on the Blanco River in the Texas Hill Country, where more than a quarter of residents are 65 or older, homes are costly relative to local incomes, there is no hospital in town, and the river's capacity for sudden, catastrophic flooding is a documented part of the community's history.

Guides relevant to San Marcos

• Golf and Texas retirement markets: what is included, what costs extra and who can play
• Hill Country retirement and water: aquifer stages, groundwater districts, utilities and what to ask a seller
• HOA, condo, club and special assessments for Texas retirees: what the charges are and what to ask
• Texas hail, wildfire, drought, heat and power outages: the inland hazards
• Texas healthcare geography and Medicare network considerations

See all 6 guides