Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Helotes Helotes, TX

Helotes is a city in northwestern Bexar County, Texas, on the far northwestern edge of San Antonio, sitting in the valley of Helotes Creek where it exits the Texas Hill Country.

The name Helotes comes from "elotes," the Spanish word (from Nahuatl) for corn on the cob, which Native peoples and early settlers grew in the area.

Helotes was settled primarily by German and Spanish-Mexican settlers in the 1850s as a farming and ranching community, and its post office was established in 1873.

For decades Helotes was a stop on the cattle drives that ran between San Antonio and Bandera in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Helotes did not incorporate as a city until 1981, when it had very little development; it has since become one of San Antonio's most desirable suburbs.

Helotes has grown from 1,535 people in 1990 to 4,285 in 2000, 7,341 in 2010, and 9,030 at the 2020 census.

According to Census QuickFacts, Helotes has about 2,945 households and an owner-occupied housing rate of about 97% — nearly every home is owned by the people living in it — with a median home value around $399,000.

Helotes is home to John T. Floore Country Store, the legendary honky-tonk opened by John T. Floore in 1942 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Floore's was Willie Nelson's musical home base early in his career — he played there on a regular basis, and he name-checked John T. Floore in his song "Shotgun Willie"; Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline also performed there.

Sandra Day O'Connor High School, part of San Antonio's Northside ISD, opened in Helotes in 1998.