San Marcos (or anywhere else) on American Factfnder

U.S. Census Breakdown on San Marcos demographic and economic information

This page starts you off with demographics, but there's tons of economic data on the left side of the screen. I think it's the single best source of information for this kind of information.

Of course, you can change your county, city, zip code and more geographic parameters to search for other locations. 

Sanborn Maps

Sanborn maps are a great way to study the historical layout of a town. Originally conceived as fire insurance maps, Sanborn Maps have proven to be of use to local historians, civic planners, real estate developers and sometimes small business people (just got a question that involved using Sanborn maps).

Sanborn maps cover the years 1867-1970 - and they do include small to middle sized towns, as well as large cities.

We have a Sanborn Maps Database.

Apartment Rents in San Marcos (or elsewhere)

The US Census Factfinder can break down the distribution of monthly apartment rents for you as well by city or zip code. For example, find the distribution of rents in San Marcos here.

You have to scroll down a fair amount of text and then you'll see it.

Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Average Wages

Look up what different professions make in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos Metro Area here.

Office managers, financial professionals, health care workers, construction, lots of other professions' average local salary here.

Austin-Round Rock-Hays County Average Wages by Occupation

Find out what the average pay for different professions is in the Austin-Round Rock-Hays County area.

Other Texas areas (including San Antonio) are here.

Municipal Code for Small Business/Entrepreneurs

The nitty gritty regulations that cover your small business are found in the municipal code for a city.

These are regulations like how many parking spaces per resident your apartment complex must have, keeping animals, and environmental regulations.

San Marcos Municipal Code LINK

Or, search for the code of your preferred city.

Start-Ups and Entrepreneur

This is a popular research topic. I really hope you kill out there, because a country can't get enough of cool small businesses. Our broad book and DVD categories include entrepreneurship and new business enterprises.

More specifically, we have this great book How To Start a Business in Texas (we have other states too). It tells you all the legal procedures and ways to get help.

In addition, we have a ton of great books that specifically address how to run specific businesses. You can always do a keyword search in our catalog, but we also have a pretty good series from Entrepreneur Magazine. Those books are great because they give you a lot of specific information about profit per square feet, numbers of employees you must hire, equipment purchases, taxes, location, and utility bills, among other information.

Of course, you can always type in key words and see what you get.

I should also recommend ABI Inform and InfoTrac Small Business Collection. These are full of real life articles about nuts and bolts issues affecting small businesses.

Don't forget to research your market! Another good link for that is Local Market Analyst, which breaks down consumer demographics and psychographics by region.

Finally, the Small Business Administration has a useful site.