San Antonio consumers are feeling the pinch this quarter, and it is starting to show in the data. The city’s consumer mood slid further into negative territory as residents reported shakier confidence in their household finances. The Metropolitan Consumer Sentiment Index clocked in at 92.16 for the quarter that ended March 31, putting the Alamo City behind several other major Texas metros and stirring new worries for local retailers and builders.
According to the San Antonio Business Journal, the MCSI, the metro-level index produced in partnership with Morning Consult, pegged San Antonio at 92.16 for the period ending March 31, 2026. The outlet notes that scores above 100 mark net positive sentiment, so the latest reading points to more pessimists than optimists when it comes to local consumers.
How the metro index works
The Metropolitan Consumer Sentiment Index was created by American City Business Journals and Morning Consult to zoom in on conditions in individual cities rather than just tracking the national mood. Morning Consult explains that the MCSI relies on its always-on survey engine, drawing on more than 5,000 daily interviews and rolling those responses into quarterly metro scores that local leaders use to assess spending risk.
Where San Antonio stands among Texas metros
Reporting from the San Antonio Business Journal shows the Alamo City lagging Texas peers including Austin, Dallas and Houston in this latest quarter. While some of those metros held in or closer to the positive zone above 100, San Antonio stayed stuck below that line. That kind of gap matters, because consumer confidence often shows up quickly in everyday behavior, from how often residents go out to eat to whether they commit to bigger-ticket buys that keep retail and construction payrolls healthy.
Local and national headwinds
Nationally, The Conference Board reported that U.S. consumer confidence in March was on the muted side, with its headline index reading 91.8. That backdrop can make metro-level jitters feel even more pronounced. Texas-focused data from the Texas Real Estate Research Center point to cooling home-sales activity and mixed job gains across the state’s largest metros, conditions that can make households think twice before opening their wallets for local spending…