Founded on the banks of the San Marcos River, San Marcos is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited sites in the Americas.
San Marcos was listed in 2010 as the “Best Places to Raise your Kids” in Business Week’s fourth annual survey. It was also dubbed as the fastest-growing city in the United States by the United States Census Bureau in 2013 and 2014. In December 2013 Business Insider’s list of the “10 Most Exciting Small Cities In America,” San Marcos ranked #9.
San Marcos’ central location encourages a strong infrastructure making it ideal for a variety for industry sectors to thrive. The city combines competitive business incentives, a high quality of life, a great network to tap into with varied industries, support for SMEs, a healthy tax system, and talented workforce. Its strategic infrastructures boasts regional airports and proximity to major international airports and access to major roadways like IH-10, IH-35, SH-130, and SH-183.
Along with its easy access to air travel, the city has ready access to several freight routes that run north/south and east/west respectively. The excellent access points of the area allows faster growth economically, bringing about new entrants to and from the city.
San Marcos houses the Texas State University and the Aquarena Center. Its rivers are popular recreational areas and are frequented by residents and tourists for tubing, canoeing, swimming, and fishing. Every first Saturday of June, the Texas Water Safari starts.
The most anticipated social event is the Summer in the Park concert series that has been hosted by the San Marcos Performing Arts Commission and the San Marcos Parks and Recreation Department for more than 20 years now. The event plays live music at an outdoor setting every Thursday night from June to August.
Taking after the same setting, local entrepreneurs launched an ongoing outdoor concert series in 2012 called Foodstock (a play on the popular concert, Woodstock).
San Marcos supports a variety of sports dedicated to youth programs. Two popular sports are baseball and soccer.
The Youth Baseball Softball Association offers baseball leagues to ages 14 and under where kids learn basic baseball skills, teamwork, and following directions.
The San Marcos Area Youth Soccer, a Texas non-profit, tax exempt organization formed to promote, foster and advance the cause of soccer for youth at all levels of play within its territory, provides administrative services, promoting and stimulating interest in the game of soccer.
San Marcos has extended hiking trails with parks or nature preserves that connects to creeks.
and rivers San Marcos River and the Blanco River.
The San Marcos River flows from the San Marcos Springs where it is home to several threatened or endangered species.
The river begins at San Marcos Springs, and several other bodies of water making it ideal for the first leg of the Texas Water Safari.
The city is on the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio and is the seat of Hays County. Its population was 44,894 in 2010. In 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population at 54,076.