Walkingfeather seems to have had an outlier experience.
I lived in the northern suburbs of Dallas for 12 years.
Steer clear of Dallas county, and you’ll be fine.
Tyler is quiet, mostly ranch country.
The airport, DFW, is centrally located wrt the entire country. This means easy flights (no connections) to most places. The airfare was reasonable also because most flights are in the 4 hour range.
The heat should be a concern. My max electric bill was maybe $180 in a summer month. Those types of bills occur for maybe 3-4 months. Compare that to my heating bills in New Hampshire which range from $500 to $700 for a total of $3000 on average per winter. Your heating bill in winter drops to virtually nothing in TX.
Texas manages its water very well. There are a lot of lakes used as reservoirs. Only 1 natural lake in Texas. Tyler will probably require well and septic.
Tyler won’t be great for kids in the summer. But, if you’re retiring, you’ll do fine and save a lot of money.
Fly into DFW and drive about 75 miles to the east. Check it in August. Spring and Fall will be much more pleasant. Winters are easy. No snow, maybe 1 ice storm per yer. Power is very reliable.
New Orleans is an 8 hour driver from there. Colorado is 12-14 hours.
There’s not much to do in Tyler for nightlife, but if you like ranching/farming/hunting/fishing - then you’ll be fine there.
We’re far from retiring, but Tyler sounds like a beautiful and healthy area to live.
Texas has a pop. of over 25 million ppl. Walkingfeather made a rather sweeping generalization. I don’t doubt his/her experience, but I am inclined to disagree. Living in a state as large as texas for 4 yrs. is an insufficient amount of time to adequately familiarize yourself with the citizens and their communities.
Thank you for your time.
TJI