How much of an economic impact can just over 2,000 acres of land have?
Port San Antonio contributed $10.6 billion to Texas’ gross domestic product, according to a study released Friday from the Texas Comptroller’s office.
Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock spoke about the impact of ports of entry in Texas and San Antonio at press conference hosted by StandardAero, one of the businesses based at the Port San Antonio campus southwest of downtown.
“You would never think that the closure of an Air Force base would result in what we’re looking at here,” Hancock said.
The estimates from Hancock’s office were even higher than the numbers published by Port San Antonio earlier this year.
The comptroller’s numbers showed $10.6 billion in GDP and $20 billion in total output across the broader Texas economy.
GDP, or gross domestic product, is the direct value of goods and services produced in an area, in this case at the port. Total output looks at the economic impact of those goods and services and adds in their value in larger supply chains.
Port San Antonio estimated its direct output of goods produced at the port at $5.6 billion and the value of its broader economic activity at $9 billion.
Around 18,000 people worked at Port San Antonio in 2024.
The port estimated that another 13,000 jobs were induced or created indirectly by activity at Port San Antonio. The comptroller’s office estimated that indirect employment accounted for nearly 66,000 new jobs.
Both studies reviewed data from 2024.
Port San Antonio CEO Jim Perschbach said it wasn’t bad that those numbers are different. The figures Port San Antonio produced were more conservative and didn’t look as far outward.
“We wanted to focus on, really, our campus, not the outbound effect,” he said Friday, “In doing so, apparently we missed a huge portion of our economic input, which is the International inflows and ex-flows.”
The international trade based at Port San Antonio is an important part of its economic output, added Hancock. Port San Antonio is a net exporter, with StandardAero, Boeing and other aerospace companies sending goods to international consumers.
Hancock said Port San Antonio produces $1.2 billion worth of exports compared to just $49.9 million in imports, roughly a 24 to 1 ratio.
“We think about importing a lot, but here we are actually a net exporter across the state,” Hancock said, before pointing out the StandardAero facility he was speaking in. “Some of those may surprise you, unless you’re standing in this building.”
Texas was the largest state exporter in the country in 2024, according to the federal government.
Perschbach and Hancock noted the recent growth at Port San Antonio. The last time state officials studied Port San Antonio’s economic impact was in 2018.
Perschbach said that 2018 study showed the total economic impact — direct and indirect — at $5.6 billion. In 2024, the same measurement by the port showed a $9 billion impact and the same measurement by the state showed a $20 billion impact.
Hancock and Perschbach said educational efforts and investments were key to that growth.
“The other thing that’s occurred specifically here in San Antonio is the port has been an incubator for technology, for education,” Hancock said.
Perschbach credited the port’s investment in education, as well.
“All these companies that say ‘we need an educated workforce, we need people that are ready to go.’ That’s where we can spend the money,” he said.
Hancock pointed out that workforce development helped people get higher paying jobs at ports, like manufacturing and technical workers at StandardAero.
Perschbach added that the average wage at Port San Antonio is more than $100,000 each year. The median household income in San Antonio is $66,176, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
