Although San Antonio is generally considered among the nation’s most affordable major cities, a new list ranked it among the worst for financial distress — but it’s not the only Texas city that appears to be going through it.
According to a WalletHub ranking published February 18, San Antonio is the sixth most financially distressed city in the United States based on a multitude of factors. The ranking took into account credit scores, the number of people with accounts in distress, the average number of accounts in distress, the change in bankruptcy filings between September 2024 and 2025, and search engine interest for the terms “debt” and “loans” across 100 cities.
Cities could score a maximum of 16.66 points in each of the six metrics, adding up to a total financial distress score. Additionally, the table showed where each city stacked up to the others on individual metrics. With a total score of 61.24, the biggest contributors to San Antonio’s ranking were search engine interest for the terms “debt” and “loans,” as well as the change in the number of bankruptcy filings and the average number of accounts in distress.
Austin is less financially distressed than San Antonio, Dallas-area city sinks to the bottom
In the No. 9 spot was Austin, which had pitfalls similar to San Antonio and an overall score of 59.49. However, the Texas city to rank the lowest out of the 100 on the list was the Dallas-area suburb of Irving at No. 64. Irving scored a 34.42 and didn’t struggle as much with searches for “debt” and “loans,” nor did it have very many people with accounts in distress or a high average of accounts in distress. Where Irving did rank highly was on the change in bankruptcy filings between September 2024 and September 2025, coming in even worse than San Antonio in that regard.
Houston nears No. 1 spot for most financially distressed U.S. city
Dallas itself ranked even worse than San Antonio, but it still wasn’t the most financially distressed Texas city. At No. 4, the state’s biggest metro area had an overall score of 66.12, with high searches for “debt” and “loans” and a No. 3 ranking in the change in bankruptcy filings…