The first indoor shopping mall in the city of San Antonio, which opened up with the name "Wonderland Shopping City" and is known today as Crossroads Mall, lies within the borders of Balcones Heights. Balcones Heights draws part of its income revenue from convention and meeting facilities located on mall property. Balcones Heights also drew local attention in late 2006 for being the first location in the San Antonio area to approve the installation of "red-light cameras"; these cameras, designed to photograph violations of traffic light rules (particularly applying to red lights), were finally installed in March 2007. Balcones Heights is a Type A General Law municipality. As of 2008 the city council was Suzzanne Deleon-Mayor, Bill Johnson-Mayor Pro-tem, Lamar Gillian-Councilman, Linda Pohl-Councilman, Charles Matthies-Councilman, Miguel Valverde-Councilman. The City Administrator for Balcones Heights is Sean Pate who in 2002 was appointed as one of the youngest city administrator's in the state's history while working with the city of Dalworthington Gardens.
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,016 people, 1,437 households, and 708 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,674.6 people per square mile (1,791.5/km²). There were 1,539 housing units at an average density of 2,385.4/sq mi (914.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.66% White, 5.37% African American, 1.56% Native American, 1.13% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 17.41% from other races, and 4.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 69.60% of the population.
There were 1,437 households out of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.2% were married couples living together, 18.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.7% were non-families. 43.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.92.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.7% under the age of 18, 14.5% from 18 to 24, 33.1% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 107.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $21,452, and the median income for a family was $27,074. Males had a median income of $21,209 versus $18,944 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,529. About 18.1% of families and 21.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.6% of those under age 18 and 15.2% of those age 65 or over.