San Marcos has ranked in various studies warning against the financial impacts of COVID-19 in college towns. Local businesses are overjoyed with the return of students, but many said the closure of the river was much more of a contributor in business slowdown.
San Marcos ranked 10th on Business Insider’s list of the 30 college towns in the U.S. that could be hit especially hard financially if their universities didn’t reopen this fall due to the novel coronavirus or must close again after reopening. It also ranked ninth in a SmartAsset study of college towns most economically impacted by COVID-19.
The annual economic impact of the university on Hays County from direct spending by Texas State, its employees and students was $1.1 billion per year in 2014 and 17,000 jobs. Forty percent of the total population are students.
