Is Boerne, Texas growing?
Yes. Kendall County grew 20.3 percent between 2020 and 2025, from an estimated 44,568 residents to 53,289, and most of that came from domestic migration rather than births. The City of Boerne's 2020 census population was 18,084; current city-level numbers are estimates that vary by source.
The county number is the reliable one
Kendall County: 44,568 in 2020, 53,289 in 2025 — up 20.3 percent (Community Impact). Boerne is the county seat of Kendall County, roughly 31 miles northwest of San Antonio on I-10 (City-Data).
County-level estimates are the number to quote, because they are produced on a consistent methodology and they capture the unincorporated acreage where a lot of the actual growth is landing. City limits are a political boundary; growth does not respect it.
The city number needs a caveat
The 2020 decennial census counted 18,084 people in the City of Boerne. Estimates for 2026 vary by source — World Population Review puts it around 25,209, and other projections land lower (World Population Review).
Use the 2020 census figure as the hard number and describe anything after it as an estimate. Different vendors use different base years, different annexation assumptions and different household-size models, which is why a "Boerne population" search returns four different answers.
"Domestic migration" is the important word
Most of Kendall County's growth is people moving in from elsewhere in the United States, not natural increase (Community Impact).
That distinction changes what the growth does to the market. Natural increase adds people slowly and adds households later, when those children form their own. In-migration adds a household on day one, usually with proceeds from a previous sale, and usually with an opinion about price formed somewhere more expensive. It is the fastest-acting kind of demand there is.
Where the growth actually goes
Three places, and they are governed differently:
- Inside Boerne city limits — city utilities, city ordinances, city tax rate, platting through the City of Boerne.
- Boerne's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) — unincorporated, but the city retains regulatory authority over subdivision platting under Texas Local Government Code Chapter 42, and some city ordinances explicitly reach the ETJ.
- Unincorporated Kendall County outside the ETJ — no city tax rate, no city services, well and septic, and a much narrower set of local rules.
A buyer comparing two listings five miles apart can be comparing two different regulatory worlds. Confirm which one a specific address sits in with the City of Boerne Planning Department before assuming anything about utilities, permitting or what can be built next door.
What growth is pressing against
Schools. Boerne ISD has held an "A" rating from the Texas Education Agency for six consecutive years (Boerne Star). Sustaining that through enrollment growth is a capacity and staffing problem, and it is why the district's rate carries a debt component — 1.0109 total for 2025, of which 0.3140 is debt service (Kendall County). School bonds are how fast-growing districts build classrooms, and they land on the tax bill.
Water. The city draws from three sources: Canyon Lake surface water through the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, Boerne City Lake, and local Trinity Group aquifer wells (City of Boerne). Groundwater is regulated countywide by the Cow Creek Groundwater Conservation District (ccgcd.org). More rooftops on a fixed aquifer is the constraint that shapes how much of this growth can continue and where.
Roads. I-10 is the single artery. Everything that grows here commutes on it.
Context: the neighbors are growing too
Boerne is not growing in isolation. Fair Oaks Ranch incorporated in 1988 and had a 2020 census population of 9,833, with city limits spanning Bexar, Comal and Kendall counties (Wikipedia, Fair Oaks Ranch). Bulverde, in Comal County, incorporated in 1999 and counted 5,692 in 2020 (Wikipedia, Bulverde). The whole northwest arc out of San Antonio is absorbing the same in-migration; Boerne is simply the largest and oldest town in it.
What this means if you are buying
Three practical consequences:
- Inventory turns over faster than a small-town reputation suggests. A well-priced house in a good attendance zone does not sit.
- New construction competes with resale. In a growth market the builder down the road is a comparable sale, and builder incentives move the resale ceiling.
- Today's edge-of-town lot is tomorrow's interior lot. That is good for value and bad for the view. Ask what is zoned, platted or filed for development on the adjacent tracts — the Planning Department, not the seller, is the source for that.
Related questions
- Is Boerne, Texas a good place to live?
- Why are homes in Boerne, Texas so expensive?
- Does Boerne have enough water?
- Are Boerne ISD schools good?
- Boerne vs. Fair Oaks Ranch vs. Bulverde: which should I buy in?
Questions about a specific property?
Call or text 830-446-3847 · Email heath.shepard@kw.com
Population figures after the 2020 census are estimates, not counts, and are current as of September 2026. For platting, zoning and ETJ questions about a specific address, contact the City of Boerne Planning Department.