San Juan, Donna, Mercedes and Alton sales tax climbs in 2026

San Juan, Donna, Mercedes and Alton all drew larger state sales tax allocations in October 2026 than a year earlier. Alton rose 19.5% to $204,478, Mercedes rose 13.2% to $833,072, and Donna and San Juan each rose 11.9%, to $687,939 and $663,187. Year to date as of October 2026, three of the four are growing faster than McAllen’s 8.1%, led by Donna at 10.9% and San Juan at 10.3%. For a retailer weighing locations, that puts the tax base in three of these smaller cities on a faster track than the Valley’s biggest market.

Bar and restaurant alcohol sales are less even. In September 2026, Donna’s rose 48.7%, Mercedes fell 17.1% and San Juan slipped 3.9%.

How much sales tax did San Juan, Donna, Mercedes and Alton get in October 2026?

City	October 2026	Change from a year earlier	Year to date	Year to date change
San Juan	$663,187	+11.9%	$6,808,155	+10.3%
Donna	$687,939	+11.9%	$7,218,997	+10.9%
Mercedes	$833,072	+13.2%	$8,510,221	+7.3%
Alton	$204,478	+19.5%	$2,001,149	+8.9%
Pharr	$2,619,194	+5.7%	$27,677,179	+6.8%
McAllen	$8,458,372	+10.8%	$89,877,611	+8.1%

Mercedes is the largest of the four. Its October allocation and its year to date total of $8,510,221 put it ahead of Donna and San Juan. Its 7.3% gain for the year is the slowest in the group, though.

Donna and San Juan move almost in step. Both rose 11.9% in October, and their year to date totals of $7,218,997 and $6,808,155 sit close together. Donna has a slight edge on growth for the year.

Alton is the smallest of the four by a wide margin, at $2,001,149 year to date. It also had the biggest October jump of the group, and its 8.9% gain for the year edges past McAllen’s.

Which small Valley cities are growing fastest in 2026?

Year to date figures are the better guide for a location decision because a single month can swing hard in a small city. In October 2026, Granjeno’s allocation fell 65.4% to $2,891 and La Grulla’s rose 129.2% to $22,692. Neither number tells a store owner much on its own.

Over the full year, Donna stands out. No Valley city with a bigger year to date total is growing faster than Donna’s 10.9%. San Juan trails only Donna among cities its size or larger.

Here is how the other Hidalgo County cities stood year to date as of October 2026:

• Sullivan City: up 29.7% to $260,844
• Edcouch: up 11.4% to $441,870
• Hidalgo: up 10.5% to $5,231,461
• La Joya: up 10.1% to $701,988
• Palmview: up 7.7% to $2,125,948
• Alamo, Mission and Palmhurst: up 4.9% each
• Elsa: up 3.4% to $1,551,498
• Edinburg: down 2.1% to $35,354,680

In the rest of the Valley, Port Isabel is up 23.9% year to date, Raymondville 16.4%, Los Fresnos 12.7% and Rio Grande City 12.2%. Brownsville is up 4.7% and Harlingen 3.7%.

Donna, San Juan and Mercedes have each collected more this year than Alamo ($5,369,190) or Hidalgo. That puts them a step above the small towns and into the same tier as San Benito and Rio Grande City.

How do Pharr, Weslaco and McAllen compare?

McAllen’s October 2026 allocation rose 10.8%, a stronger month than its 8.1% pace for the year. Pharr gained 5.7% in October and is up 6.8% for the year. Weslaco rose 9.4% in October to $1,782,204 but is up only 4.6% year to date, at $18,552,521. Mission had a strong October, up 12.2% to $2,473,272, after a slower year so far at 4.9%.

Edinburg is the weak spot. Its October allocation rose 2.6% to $3,335,342, but its year to date total is down 2.1%. No other large Valley city is behind last year.

So the four smaller cities are keeping pace with their bigger neighbors or beating them. San Juan and Donna are growing faster for the year than Pharr, Weslaco and Mission, and Mercedes is ahead of Weslaco and Mission. For more on how these allocations feed store and dealer decisions, see our retail and auto coverage.

What are bar sales doing in San Juan, Donna and Mercedes?

State mixed beverage tax reports for September 2026 show bar and restaurant alcohol sales running against the sales tax trend in two of the four cities.

San Juan has the deepest market of the four: $136,857 across 11 reporting locations, down 3.9% from a year earlier. Mercedes reported $58,078 from 5 locations, down 17.1%. Donna was up 48.7% to $50,841. That gain comes from just 3 locations, so treat it as a small sample. The September reports list no figure for Alton.

Across Hidalgo County the month was soft. Of the county’s cities in the September reports, only Donna, McAllen and Pharr were up from a year earlier:

• McAllen: $6,632,479 from 219 locations, up 0.7%
• Pharr: $446,559 from 19 locations, up 6.2%
• Weslaco: $769,709 from 32 locations, down 7.7%
• Mission: $425,386 from 33 locations, down 11.9%
• Edinburg: $1,160,727 from 45 locations, down 21.4%
• Palmview: $47,221 from 4 locations, down 25.1%
• Alamo: $35,440 from 2 locations, down 7.7%

In our view, people in these cities are spending more at the register this year, but alcohol sales at bars and restaurants have stayed flat or fallen in most of the county. The evidence is September alone: San Juan down 3.9%, Mercedes down 17.1%, Weslaco down 7.7%, while all three posted year to date sales tax gains. Our restaurants and bars page tracks these reports monthly.

Our view: where we’d put a store or a bar

We’d rank Donna first among the four for a retail location this fall. Its sales tax base is growing faster than that of any larger Valley city, up 10.9% year to date, and October came in up 11.9%. San Juan is a close second at 10.3% for the year, and it has the most bar and restaurant activity of the four, with 11 locations reporting.

We’d be more careful with a new bar or a restaurant built around a full liquor license. Mercedes has the biggest sales tax base of the four, but its September bar sales fell 17.1%. San Juan’s slipped 3.9%. We trust the sales tax trend more because it covers the whole year to date. The bar figures cover one month from a handful of locations.

Alton is a retail story for now: $2,001,149 year to date, up 8.9%, with no figure in the September bar reports. Its October jump of 19.5% is the strongest of the four, and we’d want one more month of data before reading it as a new pace. How we build these comparisons is on our methodology page.

What to watch

The next state sales tax allocations, for November 2026, are the first test. If Alton and Mercedes hold near October’s gains of 19.5% and 13.2%, their year to date pace (8.9% and 7.3%) will climb. If they fall back, October was a single good month.

The October 2026 mixed beverage reports come next for bars. A second down month in Mercedes after September’s 17.1% drop would confirm the slide. Donna needs another strong month before its 48.7% gain carries much weight.

Edinburg is the large city to watch. It is down 2.1% year to date, and a turn would change the comparison for every city around it.

The weekly issue tracks these allocations and bar sales every Sunday. The full city table is at /data, and past issues are in the archive.