San Antonio, TX zoning districts
43 districts, 43 with a written citation. Each row says what the district permits by primary use.
City of San Antonio Unified Development Code (UDC), Chapter 35, Article III (Zoning), Division 2 (Base Zoning Districts, Secs. 35-310.01 – 35-310.19) and Sec. 35-311 (Use Regulations / Use Matrix, Tables 311-1 residential and 311-2 nonresidential). San Antonio is a listed-use (Euclidean) model: Sec. 35-311(a) — 'No use shall be permitted … unless the use is listed as a permitted or specific use permit in this section.' A use listed as permitted-by-right requires only administrative approval; a Specific Use Permit (S) requires a public hearing (mapped to 'conditional'); a use absent from a district's column is prohibited there as a primary use. Base district codes and their governing Sec. 35-310.xx section numbers were validated 2026-07-13 against the live City zoning layer (field Base; ArcGIS COSA_Zoning FeatureServer layer 12; 45 distinct Base values, 41 real base districts + OCL/UZROW/UNKNOWN markers). Cited-evidence only (June 12 ruling): districts whose primary-use classification cannot be grounded in a retrievable Ch. 35 source resolve honest-null (permissions null, low confidence, bespoke-district-review-required), never guessed. SA's 'flex' pattern districts (UD) and holding/planned districts (DR) are honest-null by design, and that is CORRECT.
How to read the permissions
By right — allowed without discretionary approval. Conditional use — allowed only with a specific approval. Not permitted — not allowed as a primary use. Not resolved — the ordinance does not settle it in a way we would state as fact.
These describe the district. A specific parcel can also be affected by overlays, corridors, flood zones and site conditions.
| District | Residential | Commercial | Industrial |
|---|---|---|---|
|
C-1
Light Commercial District (C-1)
commercial neighborhood
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10 (C-1 Light Commercial). Neighborhood commercial with greater vehicular traffic than NC; buffer between residential and C-2/C-3; building size limited to 5,000 sf; includes retail/grocery/nursery, boarding house (lodging, not residential per P4) (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Commercial by-right, category commercial-neighborhood. Residential authored 'prohibited' as the standard case: dwellings are not a listed C-1 primary use — the only residential pathway is the per-tract 35D101 legacy carve-out (MF-33 on 1965-converted, never-rezoned C-1 tracts), which the base code alone cannot confirm. See OPEN-QUESTION 1. Industrial → prohibited. | |||
|
C-2
Commercial District (C-2)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10 (C-2 Commercial). Community commercial uses, unlimited building size, 25 ft height limit; liquor store, gas station, indoor gaming, auto lube/tune, appliance sales & repair, dry cleaning (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Commercial by-right, category commercial-mixed. Residential authored 'prohibited' as the standard case (dwellings not a listed C-2 primary use; only the per-tract 35D101 1965-conversion carve-out grants MF-33 by-right, not confirmable from the base code) — see OPEN-QUESTION 1. Industrial → prohibited. | |||
|
C-2NA
Commercial Nonalcoholic Sales District (C-2NA)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10(d) (C-2NA). Identical to C-2 except on-premises alcohol sales prohibited; use profile mirrors C-2 (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Commercial by-right, category commercial-mixed. Residential prohibited standard-case (35D101 carve-out also names C-2NA — OPEN-QUESTION 1). Industrial → prohibited. Exact key authored (P12). | |||
|
C-2P
Commercial Pedestrian District (C-2P)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10(b)(2) (C-2P Commercial Pedestrian). Identical to C-2 except 35 ft max front setback, rear-parking and window requirements (form standards, not a use change) (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Use tri-state mirrors C-2: commercial by-right, residential prohibited (standard-case), industrial prohibited. Category commercial-mixed. Exact key authored (P12). | |||
|
C-2PNA
Commercial Pedestrian Nonalcoholic Sales District (C-2PNA)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10 (C-2PNA Commercial Pedestrian Nonalcoholic Sales; live Base value). C-2P form standards + C-2NA alcohol restriction; use tri-state mirrors C-2 (commercial by-right, residential prohibited standard-case, industrial prohibited), category commercial-mixed. Exact key authored (P12). | |||
|
C-3
General Commercial District (C-3)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10 (C-3 General Commercial). Most intensive commercial — regional shopping/power centers; no building-size limit, 35 ft height; bar/nightclub, amusement park, indoor theater, auto repair/sales, hotel (lodging, not residential per P4), home-improvement center (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Commercial by-right, category commercial-mixed. No dwelling primary use → residential prohibited. Industrial not a primary use → prohibited. | |||
|
C-3NA
General Commercial Nonalcoholic Sales District (C-3NA)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10(d) (C-3NA). Identical to C-3 except alcohol sales prohibited; use tri-state mirrors C-3: commercial by-right, residential prohibited, industrial prohibited. Category commercial-mixed. Exact key authored (P12). | |||
|
C-3R
General Commercial Restrictive Alcoholic Sales District (C-3R)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.10(d) (C-3R). Identical to C-3 except on-premises alcohol sales prohibited; use tri-state mirrors C-3: commercial by-right, residential prohibited, industrial prohibited. Category commercial-mixed. Exact key authored (P12). | |||
|
D
Downtown District
commercial core
|
By right | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.11 (D Downtown). Concentrated downtown retail/service/office/mixed uses in the central business district; no building-size or height limit, parking waived; permitted uses explicitly include 'residential uses', hotel, bar/tavern, indoor theater, art gallery/studio, offices (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Residential AND commercial by-right → both by-right, category commercial-core. Industrial not a listed primary use → prohibited. Nuisance mechanically medium-intensity (commercial by-right, no by-right industrial) — no override needed, unlike Austin/Dallas downtown cores. | |||
|
DR
Development Reserve District
special
Lower confidence — verify against the ordinance before relying on it.
|
Not resolved | Not resolved | Not resolved |
| UDC Sec. 35-352 (DR Development Reserve). A TEMPORARY holding classification for newly-annexed property; development-scale uses are deferred until the tract is rezoned to a permanent base district (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4). Permitted-use set is not classifiable from the code alone → category special, honest-null (permissions null, low confidence, bespoke-review), mirroring Austin's DR. NOTE: 'DR' also appears as a SpecDistrict value; on the Base layer it is the Sec. 35-352 holding district. | |||
|
FR
Farm and Ranch District
agricultural
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.17 (FR Farm and Ranch; a 'flex' zoning district). Preserves rural character via larger minimum lot sizes; provides areas for agricultural operations and natural resource industries; prohibits incompatible land uses (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4). Farm/rural single-family dwellings by-right → residential by-right, category agricultural. Commercial/general-industrial not primary uses → prohibited (natural-resource operations are the agricultural-context exception, not general manufacturing). See OPEN-QUESTION 4 (agricultural vs residential-low). | |||
|
I-1
General Industrial District (I-1)
industrial heavy
|
Not permitted | By right | By right |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.13 (I-1 General Industrial). Despite the 'General' label, the provision 'accommodates areas of heavy and concentrated fabrication and manufacturing'; permitted uses include abrasives manufacturing, food & drug manufacturing, sand & gravel storage, truck stop, auto/light-truck auction (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Substance over name (P2): the by-right heavy-fabrication use band → category industrial-heavy, not industrial-light. Industrial + commercial by-right; residential prohibited; nuisance high-intensity. See OPEN-QUESTION 8 (confirmation of the P2 name-vs-substance call). | |||
|
I-2
Heavy Industrial District (I-2)
industrial heavy
|
Not permitted | By right | By right |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.14 (I-2 Heavy Industrial). Highly hazardous, environmentally severe uses / very high truck volumes; major transportation terminals and manufacturing with greater impact than L or I-1; acetylene gas manufacturing/storage, asphalt products, boiler & tank works, chemical process, grain milling (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Heavy industrial by-right → category industrial-heavy; commercial by-right; residential prohibited; nuisance high-intensity. | |||
|
L
Light Industrial District
industrial light
|
Not permitted | By right | By right |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.12 (L Light Industrial). Mix of light manufacturing, office park, flex-space with limited retail/service serving the industrial zone; auto sales & repair, machine shop, lumber yard, wrecker service, moving company (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Light manufacturing by-right → industrial by-right; commercial/retail by-right; no dwelling primary use → residential prohibited. Category industrial-light. Nuisance mechanically high-intensity (industrial by-right) — matches the Dallas 'LI' precedent (light-industrial category, high-intensity ceiling, NO override; the Austin custom-manufacturing override does not apply to a genuine light-industrial district). | |||
|
MF-18
Limited Density Multi-Family District (MF-18)
residential medium
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-18 Limited Density Multi-Family). Multi-family + all lower residential types by-right, max 18 units/acre, assisted living / skilled nursing / foster family home, schools. 'Limited Density' → category residential-medium; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MF-25
Low Density Multi-Family District (MF-25)
residential medium
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-25 Low Density Multi-Family). All MF-18 uses plus college fraternity/dormitory housing; max 25 units/acre. 'Low Density' → residential-medium; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MF-33
Multi-Family District (MF-33)
residential high
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-33 Multi-Family). All MF-25 uses, max 33 units/acre. Category residential-high (unqualified 'Multi-Family' tier, ≥33 du/ac) — this is the medium/high index boundary (MF-18/25 medium; MF-33/40/50/65 high) per the district-name density language; see OPEN-QUESTION 6. Tri-state (residential by-right; commercial/industrial prohibited) is unaffected by the boundary call. | |||
|
MF-40
Multi-Family District (MF-40)
residential high
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-40 Multi-Family). All MF-25 uses, max 40 units/acre → residential-high; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MF-50
Multi-Family District (MF-50)
residential high
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-50 Multi-Family). All MF-25 uses, max 50 units/acre → residential-high; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MF-65
Multi-Family District (MF-65)
residential high
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.07 (MF-65 Multi-Family). All MF-25 uses, max 65 units/acre (highest MF tier) → residential-high; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MH
Manufactured Housing District
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-354 (MH Manufactured Housing; base-district code on the live Base layer). Suitable locations for individual HUD-code manufactured homes (no longer approved for new properties, but existing MH parcels resolve). Manufactured/HUD-code dwellings by-right → residential-low; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
MI-1
Mixed Light Industrial District (MI-1)
industrial light
|
Not permitted | By right | By right |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.18 (MI-1 Mixed Light Industrial; a 'flex' zoning district). Encourages internally-compatible mixed agricultural, commercial and light-industrial uses arranged efficiently (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4; language mirrors MPCD planned-community intent). Commercial + light-industrial named as the use bands → commercial by-right, industrial by-right, category industrial-light; residential not named → prohibited (conservative). Confidence medium + bespoke-review: no retrievable per-use matrix and the 'well-designed arrangement' language is planned/negotiated in flavor. See OPEN-QUESTION 3. | |||
|
MI-2
Mixed Heavy Industrial District (MI-2)
industrial heavy
|
Not permitted | By right | By right |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.19 (MI-2 Mixed Heavy Industrial; a 'flex' zoning district). Encourages internally-compatible commercial, light and heavy industrial uses (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4). Heavy-industrial use band named → industrial by-right, category industrial-heavy; commercial by-right; residential not named → prohibited. Confidence medium + bespoke-review (planned/negotiated flavor, no retrievable per-use matrix). See OPEN-QUESTION 3. | |||
|
NC
Neighborhood Commercial District
commercial neighborhood
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.08 (NC Neighborhood Commercial). Small-scale offices, professional services, storefront retail in scale with surrounding residential; building size limited to 3,000 sf (City 'Examples of Uses' p.2). Commercial/office by-right → commercial by-right, category commercial-neighborhood. No dwelling among primary uses → residential prohibited (P4). Industrial not a primary use → prohibited. | |||
|
O-1
Office District (O-1)
commercial neighborhood
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.09 (O-1 Office). Small/medium office uses, banks, worship, schools, medical clinic, library; individual building size limited to 10,000 sf; outdoor sale of merchandise prohibited (City 'Examples of Uses' p.1). Office/service by-right → commercial by-right, category commercial-neighborhood (neighborhood-scale office). No dwelling primary use → residential prohibited (P4). Industrial → prohibited. | |||
|
O-1.5
Mid-Rise Office District (O-1.5)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.09 (O-1.5 Mid-Rise Office). All O-1 uses, unlimited building size, 60 ft max height (City 'Examples of Uses' p.1). Office by-right → commercial by-right, category commercial-mixed (mid-rise office scale). Residential prohibited (P4); industrial prohibited. Exact key: dot-bearing code 'O-1.5' authored verbatim so the parser exact-matches it (P12). | |||
|
O-2
High-Rise Office District (O-2)
commercial mixed
|
Not permitted | By right | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.09 (O-2 High-Rise Office). Low-to-high-rise office buildings; offices/parks/schools by-right; other Nonresidential-Use-Matrix uses allowed ONLY as accessory to a primary office use (City 'Examples of Uses' p.1). Office by-right → commercial by-right, category commercial-mixed. No primary dwelling use → residential prohibited (P4). Industrial → prohibited. | |||
|
OCL
Outside City Limits (no COSA zoning jurisdiction)
unzoned
Lower confidence — verify against the ordinance before relying on it.
|
Not resolved | Not resolved | Not resolved |
| Live COSA Base value 'OCL' = 'Outside City Limits' — the parcel lies outside the City of San Antonio's zoning jurisdiction (Bexar County / ETJ), so no UDC base district applies. Authored category 'unzoned' (first-class per schema §; the honest 'no city zoning here' answer) with null permissions and low confidence, so the resolver returns a deterministic 'outside city zoning' result rather than a generic unmapped null. This is the single most common live Base value city-wide. See OPEN-QUESTION 7 (Plat reporting policy for ETJ parcels). | |||
|
R-1
Single-Family Residential District (R-1)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05a (R-1). Single-family dwelling by-right, 1,250 sf minimum lot, specialized small-lot single-family. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
R-2
Single-Family Residential District (R-2)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05a (R-2). Single-family dwelling by-right, 2,000 sf minimum lot, specialized small-lot single-family. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
R-20
Residential Single-Family District (R-20)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.04 (R-20). Single-family detached dwelling by-right, 20,000 sf minimum lot, accessory dwelling, foster family home, schools. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. Exact key: parser must not peel 'R-20' to base 'R-2' + overlay '0' (P12; longest-first exact-match). | |||
|
R-3
Single-Family Residential District (R-3)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05a (R-3). Single-family dwelling by-right, 3,000 sf minimum lot, 20 ft minimum width — a specialized-housing (affordable/starter/empty-nester) small-lot single-family district. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
R-4
Residential Single-Family District (R-4)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05 (R-4). Single-family detached dwelling by-right, 4,000 sf minimum lot, foster family home, schools. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. (35D101: a former 1938 'B' tract converted to R-4 may carry a duplex right per the conversion matrix — per-tract legacy carve-out, not a base right; noted, not authored.) | |||
|
R-5
Residential Single-Family District (R-5)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05 (R-5). Single-family detached dwelling by-right, 5,000 sf minimum lot, foster family home, schools. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
R-6
Residential Single-Family District (R-6)
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.05 (R-6). Single-family detached dwelling by-right, 6,000 sf minimum lot, foster family home, schools. Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. Most common residential base code city-wide. | |||
|
RD
Rural Development District
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.16 (RD Rural Development; a 'flex' zoning district). Encourages a low-density single-family residential land-use pattern with LIMITED commercial uses placed to conserve open land (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4). Single-family residential by-right → residential-low. Commercial authored 'prohibited' as the conservative standard case (P1) because the 'limited commercial' allowance is pattern/plan-governed and its by-right-vs-conditional mechanism is not retrievable from a cited source this session — see OPEN-QUESTION 5. Industrial not a primary use → prohibited. | |||
|
RE
Residential Estate District
residential low
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.03 (RE Residential Estate). Single-family detached dwelling by-right, 1-acre (43,560 sf) minimum lot, accessory dwelling, schools (City 'Examples of Uses' p.1). Retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
RM-4
Residential Mixed District (RM-4)
residential medium
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.06 (RM-4 Residential Mixed). By-right adds four-family dwelling to the RM-5 set; 4,000 sf minimum lot. Small-scale multifamily (up to four-plex) → residential-medium; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
RM-5
Residential Mixed District (RM-5)
residential medium
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.06 (RM-5 Residential Mixed). By-right adds three-family dwelling to the RM-6 set; 5,000 sf minimum lot. Residential housing-type mix → residential-medium; commercial/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
RM-6
Residential Mixed District (RM-6)
residential medium
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.06 (RM-6 Residential Mixed). By-right: single-family (detached/attached/townhouse), two-family, row-house/zero-lot-line, accessory dwelling; 6,000 sf minimum lot. A mix of housing TYPES (not commercial) → category residential-medium; residential by-right, retail/office/industrial not primary uses → prohibited. | |||
|
RP
Resource Protection District
agricultural
|
By right | Not permitted | Not permitted |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.02 (RP Resource Protection). Protects/preserves valuable agricultural areas; 10-acre minimum. Permitted: agricultural operations, natural resource industries, single-family dwelling, farming/truck garden, schools (City 'Examples of Uses' p.1). Single-family dwelling by-right → residential by-right. General retail/office not among primary uses → commercial prohibited. 'Natural resource industries' are conservation/agricultural-context extraction, not general manufacturing → industrial authored prohibited (conservative). Category authored 'agricultural' (10-ac ag-preservation purpose); could read residential-low — see OPEN-QUESTION 4. | |||
|
UD
Urban Development District
commercial mixed
Lower confidence — verify against the ordinance before relying on it.
|
Not resolved | Not resolved | Not resolved |
| UDC Sec. 35-310.15 (UD Urban Development; a 'flex' zoning district). Encourages a compact, pedestrian/transit-friendly land-use PATTERN with centralized commercial areas (City 'Examples of Uses' p.4) — a form/pattern-based district whose primary uses derive from an approved development pattern, not a fixed Euclidean column. No per-use list is retrievable from a cited source this session → honest-null BY FINDING (permissions null, low confidence, route to review), following the Dallas WMU/WR form-based precedent (P9/P10). Category commercial-mixed provisional (mixed-use pattern). See OPEN-QUESTION 2. | |||
|
UZROW
Unzoned Right of Way
unzoned
Lower confidence — verify against the ordinance before relying on it.
|
Not resolved | Not resolved | Not resolved |
| Live COSA Base value 'UZROW' = 'Unzoned Right of Way' — public right-of-way, not a developable zoning district. The COSA connector already prefers the adjacent non-ROW parcel, but a raw UZROW that reaches the resolver is authored category 'unzoned', null permissions, low confidence (an honest 'right-of-way, not a zoning district' answer) rather than a phantom-peel null. See OPEN-QUESTION 7. | |||
Sources
- City of San Antonio Unified Development Code, Chapter 35 (Ordinance 98697, as amended), Article III Zoning — Division 2 Base Zoning Districts (Secs. 35-310.01–35-310.19) and Sec. 35-311 Use Regulations / Use Matrix. Primary host: municode.com/tx/san_antonio/codes/unified_development_code; sanantonio-tx.elaws.us/code/udc (elaws returned HTTP 503 this session, Municode HTTP 403 — bot-walled, per P20).
- City of San Antonio Development Services Department – Zoning Section, 'Examples of Uses Permitted in Zoning Districts (Unified Development Code)', updated 08/20/21 (official City courtesy document citing Sec. 35-311 for each district; a secondary official rendering of Ch. 35, treated like Austin's Guide G / AIA card A). The document's own disclaimer directs verification against UDC 35-311; row confidence reflects that provenance class. Live Base validation via services.arcgis.com/g1fRTDLeMgspWrYp COSA_Zoning FeatureServer layer 12 (field Base; BaseDescription carries the Sec. 35-310.xx locators; 45 distinct values, validated 2026-07-13).
- City of San Antonio Zoning District Conversion Matrix (35D101), reproduced in the Development Services 'Examples of Uses Permitted' document p.4: 'Multi-Family Dwellings, at 33 units per acre, are a permitted use for any tract zoned C-1, C-2 or C-2NA which converted from the 1965 Code, as long as the tract was not the subject of a base district rezoning.' This is a per-tract legacy carve-out, NOT a general base-district right — see OPEN-QUESTION 1.
Table verified against the sources above on 2026-07-13. Ordinances change, so check the current code before relying on any row for a decision.
Which district applies to your parcel?
This table describes the districts. To find out which one covers a specific address, and what else affects that site, run the address on the home page.