Helotes Overview:

Once known more for its annual Cornyval festival more than a place to settle down, the city of Helotes is now considered a suburb of San Antonio with a bright future ahead. In January of 2009, The Gadberry Group named Helotes as a Boom Town due to the rapid increase in population and income over the previous ten years. The city landed third on the list of eight cities from across the entire U.S.

Helotes is just 12 miles Northwest of San Antonio, making it an excellent destination for those who want a quieter life but with the amenities of the city nearby.

Helotes Number Crunching:

Population: 6,681 (as of July 2007)
Median Age: 38.9 years
Houses: 1,533
Median Housing Cost: $243,427
Median Income: $89,499
ZIP Code: 78023
Post Office: 12790 FM 1560 N, 14239 Old Bandera Rd
Fire Dept.: 12614 Bandera Rd
City Public Service (electricity): 145 Navarro St, San Antonio

Helotes Apartments and Real Estate:

There are 1,533 houses but only 1,471 households in Helotes, most of them houses and condos. The mean price of these homes is $284,325, with the vast majority of these homes being mortgaged with the owner occupying them. In fact, only 6% of all residences in Helotes are rental properties, making a mortgage almost a necessity if you wish to live there.

Helotes Schools:

The children of Helotes are served by the Northside Independent School District (NISD). Depending on what area of Helotes you live in, the schools would be either Helotes Elementary, Dean H.

Krueger or Bob Beard Elementary for grades 1-5. Junior high students are served by Katherine Stinson Middle School, which is in San Antonio. Finally, the only high school in Helotes is Sandra Day O'Connor High.

Helotes History:

The history of Helotes goes back to 5,000 B.C., when migrant Indians foraged for food in the area. They planted maize, a form of corn (in fact, the town name is derived from the Spanish word for corn, 'helote'). One of the first verifiable bands were the Lipan Apache in the 17th century. During the Texas Revolution of the 1830s, settlers began to try and run the Indians out. In 1858, Dr. George Marnoch purchased the land that would eventually become Helotes. The town developed, but when the ever-expanding San Antonio threatened its boundaries, Helotes took legal action and officially became a city in October 1981.

Helotes Restaurants:

For being such a small town, Helotes does have quite a few restaurants. Though there are some chain restaurants, there are two locally-owned places that are something of a Helotes establishment. One is Bobby J's Old Fashioned Burgers which is on many Top Burgers lists for the San Antonio area. The other is El Chaparral restaurant, which serves homemade Mexican food and is especially known for their shrimp enchiladas and cream sauce.

Helotes Activities, Attractions and Shopping:

Being mostly residential, there are not a ton of attractions like you might find in San Antonio. But one thing that Helotes has that nobody else does is the Floore Country Store. Such legends as Willie Nelson have (and still occasionally do) play there. There is also Picoso's Nuts, which is a great place to get Texas-grown and made gifts. And every year around late April or early May, the Helotes Cornyval takes place. It is a carnival with food and live entertainment celebrating the vegetable that is the namesake of the city.