Its time to get away from this liberal state of NV.  I'm really considering moving back to TX.  It is where I grew up and all of my family is around Dallas & Kaufman.  My work has a few offices around DFW (Addisson, Fort Worth, and Keller) along with offices in Longview and Texarkana.  I would prefer to avoid the DFW traffic and be a bit more rural.  I hope to buy a few acres.  Other than passing through, I have no experience in Texarkana or Longview.  Anyone here familiar with the area and have any advice?  The last couple jobs I moved for were easier since I had no kids.  Looking to settle down for a bit now so I'm trying to be a bit more thoughtful in where we go.

OP,,,We use Longview for "major" shopping and other things. We're an hour and 15 away but the drive is easy. Texarkana seems a bit smaller and is an hour plus farther away but so far as rural hicks we've found Longview to have everything we need.

I'd agree on Longview instead of Texarkana.  You are farther into Texas which will make some things easier being father away from state lines.  I'm between Longview and Tyler, but a Tyler address.  My brother and sister in law live in Longview so i make it there quite a bit.

Texarkana.....The Town That Dreaded Sundown

Gilmer area is real nice near Longview.

Barnwell Mountain adds some bonus points.  The jeeps need to get their work done.

I'm leaning more towards Longview for work out of the two.  It's just a couple hours from my parents and housing situation looks a little better from what I see  

Arkansas is also in the mix (fort Smith, little rock, or Fayetteville) and so is Oklahoma (Ardmore and OKC).

In the Longview area there are lots of nice like minded people. Some decent public hunting areas within about a 45 minute drive, lots of good fishing and good hospitals.

I have been through that area a number of times this past year and there are some nice new restaurants and stores that have been built.

Of the two, Longview all the time.

The only people who like gilmer people are gilmer people. Just saying I grew up north of gilmer, and you mention that to anyone in a neighboring town, and you might as well just go be inbred somewhere else. Not that they are, its just how people are. I like going to gilmer and would move back out in the country and not in town, eventually, but it aint something you tell most other people. Its like that ghey weird nephew no one brings up at family reunions. lol.


Edit: don't trust the crooked ass lawyers in upsher county either.

Longview more metropolitanish
Texarkana is big, but closer to married cousins in Arkansas.

Yeah. Longview is more better. Mostly regular people,  
Not much traffic, plenty of eating places,
Superior Firearms opened up a big store on the loop.
Good people good prices. Good medical care

One thing to watch if you buy land. Stay at least 10 mi away from any chicken farm. lots in the Gilmer area.

It’s mostly a blue collar town. Hard working not woke,
only a few mask wearers. Cops seem pretty chill. But I treat everyone with respect. Most of the time they’ll hold the door for you.

Oh.....welcome home.

Thank you for reminding me about that. I saw a couple houses that looked like a good value that had been on the market for a while and that may have been a factor.  Those places stink.  

We've eliminated Texarkana. We're considering fort worth a bit more now.  Traffic I'm sure will suck and I won't be able to buy land but the pay is higher and more of a chance to promote later.  I'm pretty tired of traffic and crowds though.  

Hallsville looks to have some of the best schools in the area?  If I'm not able to get enough land for my own range, are there any in the area with joining?

Would look north Longview and around Halsville. If you go east, look around white oak or outside glade water in union grove school district.

South Longview, all the way to downtown would be a no go. Pine tree isnt great either.

Think about the climate you want to live in.  

As you move east in Texas, significantly more rain fall and humdity.   As you move west, it dries out.   Just west of Ft. Worth feels much drier to me relative to Longview or Texark.  

Either way, its going to be hot in the Summer.   But, it feels very different if you live in an area in which sweat actually cools you off (drier areas), as opposed sweat just sitting on your skin and soaking your clothes (wetter areas).  

Low humidity, and 90 degree is comfortable at night with a bit of a breeze.   High humidity, and 90 degrees at night with a bit of a breeze can feel miserable to a bunch of people.

Oh I am very familiar with humidity.  I've spent most of my life in it...Key West,  Louisiana, East Texas.  I live in Las Vegas now so I'm going to have to get reacclimated to it though.  I'm sure my kids are going to hate it.  They haven't been there in the summer yet.

I'm sick of desert.  I want to be back in green.  That's why I'm mainly looking at East Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas.  

I live in Wood County and I have spent my entire life in the East Texas area.

I do not know much about Texarkana but the only thing Longview has over Tyler is a little bit better traffic. I worked in Longview/White Oak for 3 years and hands down Tyler wins. Longview is dirty and I am still trying to get the smell off.

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Longview-Texas.html

I also didn't know we had so many ETX guys.

ETRPC off of I20 is a good range.

Hey, just want to make sure you appreciate what you are jumping into.  

I'd suggest, if you drew a big circle, with a radius of 100 miles, around Dallas Ft. Worth, the big difference in most of the smal towns/rural areas is one of climate, not culture.    

There is a massive difference between 45 inches of annual precipitation and 30 inches.  

Having grown up and lived in a place with 40 inches or more, I find the climate west of the D/Ft Worth area to be like Eden relative to east Texas.  Love east Texas, but as I grow older, living in a place with lower humidity and far fewer skeeters seems like a blessing.  Winter is much the same, but Spring, Summer, and Fall seems very different.    

How far west of DFW are you talking?  Fort Worth has openings.  The pay would be about 10% higher than Longview.  Getting enough land to have my own range would not be feasible unless I was willing to do a long commute. I think 45 minutes is about my max.  

Abilene has openings I believe.  As little as I know about Longview, I know less about Abilene.  Never even been there.  And I have no family there.

Tyler has no openings last time I checked.  I would rather go there than Longview and will put it on my "dream sheet" but doubt anything will come of it.  There were some areas east of Athens on 175 that I really liked when we used to drive through.

I would go the other way on tyler/Longview. But tyler is much bigger and has alot more to offer, as well. Glad we got some folks close to me, i grew up in upsher out at Bettie, if yall know where that is. If gilmer, i would point you east to Harmony school. I think Hawkins is nice sleepy town as well, but dont know that much about the school. And yes to someones point, there isnt much wokeness in those areas, but i have noticed more than usual amount of freaks walking around in gilmer and such. There seems alot of people building homes on cherokee trace out towards the gilmer lake. It's actually a good town, dont get me wrong. Not that much industry, except Robroy and thens theres the water bottle plant on hawkins, used to be nestle but sold and they are blue diamond or something like that. I think its a veteran owned company who bought out nestle North America  water business.

Another vote for Longview.

I'm in Hallsville. Small town, has almost everything we need 75% of the time but use Longview for shopping.

and if Longview doesn't have it, Shreveport does.

IM me OP, they are building new houses in my hood that are still reasonably priced but you'll have to be ready to jump, you're not the only one wanting to move to small town USA.

I've been looking at the new homes there. Might work out best for me if I go that route. I could still afford some acreage outside town to play on.

Land outside of town is going to be more expensive then simply buying a house inside Hallsville.

Our house was new construction and we paid 1/4 the price we would have in bigger cities for the same size/quality and features.

there's only two of us arfcommers here in "the ville".

@fatcat1

One of the great things about Texas is that it has all these different climates/environments.   From Gulf swamp to high plains, to high deserts, to thick piney woods.  

Abilene is basically the eastern most town in West Texas.   Around 25 inches of rain per year, and is the heart of what is called Big Country.  Moving west from Ft. Worth, its the cross timbers region and then kinda the north hill country/central texas region, and then the Big Country region.   Abilene culture is very much a rural Texas culture with an emphasis on "cowboy."    

Taylor and Jones Counties are around 160k people in total.  Taylor County (where most of Abilene is located, and the land to the south/southwest) is cattle, and dry land cotton.  Cattle out number sheep by about 40 to 1.   Overwhelmingly republican ranchers/farmers, with an average land size north of about 300 acres.  About 20% of the farms/ranches larger than 500 acres.  

It tends to feel like the "West", in contrast with East Texas which, to me, feels more like the Old South.  

I'd suggest you spend some time on a site like Land of Texas to look at the pictures and get a feel for the terrain.  And, the price per acre if you want a bit of land.   Bunch of stuff in East Texas might be 2 or 3 (or 4) times the price per acre as you move west from Ft. Worth into the Big Country.   Of course, East Texas can handle more AU's per acre.   The range land on the the eastern edge of the Big Country is more like 1 AU per 15 acres with 28 to 30 or so inches of precipitation.  For basic range land/not super improved pasture.              

We have been looking at pictures and homes for sale to help make our decision.  I've been through much of East Texas but Aside from I40 and 287, I havent been West of Fort Worth (in TX).  Most of my family is East of DFW (Mesquite, Kaufman, Mount Pleasant, Forney) and we have a lot of friends from our ATV days in East Texas, which is why we were leaning that way.  Something turned me off of Abilene when we started our search but I dont remember what it was.  Wasn't keeping good notes then.

Fort Worth looks good from a pay perspective and I can still be a bit more rural albeit not on a lot of land.  Looks like there are some good ranges available over there too.  

Dont discount the drive.

I drove an hour to longview for work and over an hour to tyler for work for several years each.

Tyler to longview is not that bad and has multiple ways of getting there.

I know of all the places you are talking about.  AFROTC in Gilmer through high school, girlfriends in Harmony.

Harmony is an excellent school. It's either farmer kids, Mexicans who work the tree farms and dairies, or meth addicts. I know this because I have kids who go to school there.

Hawkins is not a very good school. They are rated pretty low and the administration doesnt really care. My bosses wife works there.

Hallsville is a good place to locate. Good school and close enough to Shreveport, Longview, Tyler and DFW.

R_R we need to get together at Top Shot.

I work four tens.  Sometimes they turn into twelves or fourteens.  I'm sure it won't be nearly as common there as it is here, but it happens.  An hour of driving after that would be rough.

Yeah we do, whenever works for you. .. my schedule is getting back to normal.
or at least lunch/dinner at Cajun Tex or Gino's.

It’s been a while since I’ve been there.

Good people run it. Never had any problems.
You had to be member of the NRA to join
I’m not sure if that’s the same.

Key card gate entrance keeps the hood out.

I know the feeling and it does suck.

I much prefer the climate just West of Fort Worth.

Aledo, Hudson Oaks, Weatherford, Brock.

I submitted paperwork last week and spoke with the manager at Longview today. Sounds like he might have a few applicants. Hopefully my resume is good enough.  Maybe he'll give bonus points for being a Texan and not a commie transplant.  

Tyler does have an opening but it's in a different discipline than most of my experience and I don't really want to change at this point.

I left fort worth in the list but don't think I'll go through with it if they call.  It sounds like rotating shifts and holidays will be required.  The pay would be significantly better but i don't really want to do that anymore.

Good luck