So You're Thinking About Moving to East Texas

Cost of living is the first thing most people ask about, and it's also the thing that varies most from town to town and year to year. Rather than quote a single regional figure, we keep the specifics on each city's own pages: utilities, internet providers, and property taxes are researched town by town, because a house just inside one city limit can carry a different tax bill than one a mile down the road.

Two practical tips before you buy. First, property taxes in Texas are set by each taxing unit — county, city, school district, and any special districts — so look up the exact property through the county appraisal district rather than relying on a county-wide average. Second, if you're looking at land well outside town, confirm what internet service actually reaches that address before you sign anything.

Healthcare is the headline industry in Tyler. The city is home to two major hospital systems, UT Health East Texas and CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances, and the Texas Department of State Health Services lists UT Health East Texas Tyler Regional Hospital as a Comprehensive (Level I) trauma facility and CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Tyler as a Major (Level II) trauma facility.

Jacksonville, in Cherokee County, is home to Jacksonville College, a Baptist school chartered in 1899 that reorganized as a junior college in 1918, according to the Handbook of Texas. It's about 27 miles south of Tyler on US 69 — roughly a 35-minute drive — so living in one town and working in the other is a realistic option.

Remote workers should treat broadband as a deal-breaker item: check the specific address, not just the town, before committing to a rural property.

Families relocating here usually ask about schools first. Tyler ISD offers tuition-free magnet options that require an application, including Caldwell Arts Academy (kindergarten through 8th grade, with an arts-integrated curriculum) and Early College High School, where students can earn a high school diploma and an associate's degree from Tyler Junior College at the same time, as KLTV reported in January 2024. The towns around Tyler — Lindale, Whitehouse, Bullard, and others — run their own districts; each city page on this site lists the schools that serve it.

On healthcare, Tyler has the region's highest trauma designations. The state's trauma-facility list shows Tyler with a Level I comprehensive trauma center (UT Health East Texas Tyler Regional Hospital) and a Level II major trauma center (CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Tyler), while Longview's two hospitals carry Level III designations. For anything beyond that, Dallas is about 100 miles west.

Tyler's best-known attraction is the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden — 14 acres and more than 38,000 rose bushes, which KLTV reports makes it the largest municipal rose garden in the United States. The Caldwell Zoo, opened by D.K. and Lottie Caldwell in 1953, now covers more than 80 acres and has been accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums since 1985.

Outdoor access is close at hand. Tyler State Park has a 64-acre spring-fed lake and more than 13 miles of trails, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Lake Palestine, a 25,560-acre reservoir on the Neches River, sits 15 miles southwest of Tyler on Texas 155. For true national-forest backcountry, the Davy Crockett National Forest covers about 162,000 acres in Houston and Trinity counties — roughly an hour and a quarter south of Jacksonville.

For the arts, Tyler has the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, which performs at UT Tyler's Cowan Center; Tyler Civic Theatre Center, described by the Tyler Economic Development Council as the first theatre in America designed for theatre-in-the-round; and Liberty Hall downtown for live music, comedy, and classic films. Canton's First Monday Trade Days — held Thursday through Sunday before the first Monday of every month, and running since 1850 — is about 45 minutes west of Tyler. And when you want a big-city fix, Dallas is about 100 miles west, roughly an hour and 45 minutes by car.