I grew up near EIB0879 in Warren. My career took me to KS, LA and a 24 year stint in Dallas. Last year we moved to a 40K acre lake in W AR. I should have done it 10 years ago.
North Dallas in extremely high maintenance and high drama. What you gain from no state income tax is far eclipsed by outrageous property taxes, outrageous toll roads——more than outrageous and extremely high prices for everything else.
The main benefit in rural AR is that the locals are real people not backstabbing fakes. Every aspect of life in North Dallas has been high dramatized by the outsiders who have migrated to the area. North Dallas is no longer TX. The officials that are over Frisco Schools and city government had this PC notion that a town of over 150K should have no schools over 5A so everyone would get a trophy. The result was the high schools with no polticial influence as in the High Schools that the Administrators kids didn’t go to were divided up every three years or less. We went from 3 highschools to 7 or 8. There was a plan to have 10. Property taxes were sharply increased every year until we told them no. Then the School Board through a hissy fit and started charging parents $200 for every activity or sport kids did. The last I checked, a hiring and spending freeze was in place.
There are still some good places in America to settle. You just have to find them.