re: Longview Tx - good place to live?

I grew up in Longview (went to Spring Hill K-12)…parents still live there and I still own a business there. While I live in BTR now, I’m in Longview multiple times per year

I miss these restaurants so much:
-Jucy’s
-Pizza King
-Casa Ole
-Shogun
-Bodacious
-Papacitas
-Posados

It’s definitely not a “sexy” city if you’re looking to party and nightlife, but it has basically no crime and certainly has everything commercially any family would need. I haven’t checked the numbers recently, but I’d guess 200k+ population in metro Longview. Spring Hill is the area everyone is moving now. Longview is basically the “city” in the middle of a large collection of smaller towns (Kilgore, Hallsville, Marshall, White Oak, Gilmer, Sabine, Gladewater, etc). Longview is probably 75% white, which I’d guess is true for greater East Texas as well. There are 3 school systems in Longview .. Longview ISD, PineTree ISD, and SpringHill ISD. Longview ISD is the largest. There are a TON of other considerably smaller schools/towns that surround Longview. Spring Hill is the preferred school if you live in Longview (and in the school district), but all 3 are good. Compared to Louisiana schools, all 3 would would probably be considered exceptional….And free, aside from the property taxes, lol. You wouldn’t send your kids to private school in East Texas, it would be a waste of money and considered weird/strange/unnecessary. Private school wouldn’t even be considered by normal parents in East Texas unless if your child had special needs.

Longview is a big small city, with easy quick access to both Shreveport and DFW. My childhood was mainly centered around going to SixFlags and Texas Rangers games multiple times per year in Arlington with an annual trip to Destin.

I could drive Longview/BTR with my eyes closed I’ve done it so many times…I’ve made the round trip drive at least 100 times since I went to college at LSU (and recommend stopping at FrenchMarketExpress in Natchitoches for gas/food stop)

Longview and Tyler are effectively sister cities… very very very similar to one another (and only 45min apart). That said, there’s really no reason to go from Tyler to Longview or vice versa because both cities have everything you would need…they’re extremely similar. If you live in Tyler, you don’t need to go to Longview….If you live in Longview, you don’t need to go to Tyler.

Fun fact: Matthew McConaughey went to Longview HS

Fun fact #2: my first ever job at 16yo was a McDonalds in Longview that my uncle owned

ETA: just looked it up… Longview metro population was up to 290k in 2021 LINK: Longview, TX Is One of America’s Fastest Growing Big Cities


I’m happy to attempt to answer any other questions you may have