San Antonio is the 7^th  most populous city in the United States of America and the 2^nd most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1.3 million. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000-2010, and the second from 1990-2000. The city is located in the American Southwest, the south–central part of Texas, and the south western corner of an urban region known as the Texas Triangle.

San Antonio serves as the seat of Bexar County. The city has characteristics of other western urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas and a low density rate outside of the city limits. The city is the anchor municipality of the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area; the other principal city is its largest suburb, New Braunfels. Commonly referred to as Greater San Antonio, the metropolitan area has a population of just under 2.2 million based on the 2011 U.S. Census estimate, making it the 24^thlargest metropolitan area in the United States and 3^rd largest in the state of Texas.

San Antonio was named after Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, when a Spanish expedition stopped in the area in 1691. Famous for Spanish missions, the Alamo, the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, Marriage Island and host to SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas theme parks, the city is visited by approximately 26 million tourists per year according to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city is home to the four-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest in the country.