1. Texas A&M at Texarkana
2. Life in Texarkana, TX.
No children in the picture.
To the west 1 hour I have 10 relatives and 2 hours further west past Mt Pleasant I have in-laws and brother-in-law.

10 relatives seems oddly specific.

It's growing like crazy but the downside is you're kind of not near anything. Little Rock is still two hours away and way smaller than most people realize, Shreveport is your closest "big town" but for the most part it's a crap-hole of a city. Dallas is 3 hours away. If you like to travel/fly anywhere, your options are pretty limited. Decent hospitals, I don't know much about A&M Texarkana.

If you end up looking around, the Pleasant Grove area is likely where you'll want to focus unless you want to look for land and drive in each day. If that's the case I'm not sure what your best options would be….maybe Atlanta or Jefferson?

It's a small consideration but since we're talking about it: if you have school aged children that participate in athletics, get ready to drive, a lot! It's the furthest north east in Texas you can get so all of your school's competition is south and west of you. We're in Texas High's district this year and one of their fans told me one time they feel like they're on the moon they have to travel so much for sports. It's not as bad as some of the west Texas districts but it's not great.

Good luck!

Who are your relatives in Mt Pleasant? Stive and I are probably related to them, and maybe you! lol

A&M Texarkana is a decent school - IIRC they do have a limited number of degree offered, but I took some Grad level classes there before online was a thing. Its definitely low-mid level of education as far as academics. Most of its students are commuter and transferred there from local junior colleges. Many are localish adults trying to get an education while working.

Texarkana the town is growing quite rapidly - they have most the amenities that a medium sized town would have. Shopping for basics is there, but dont expect high-end stores. I agree with all that Stive said about it.

I live in Mt Pleasant and we go to Texarkana for various reasons - shopping, dining, sports, school activities, etc. So it is a regional draw, but obviously not on the level of Dallas.

Two of my sisters married into folks from Mt Pleasant and are originally from Mesquite, TX. One sister was good friends with Rosemary Hall - Jerry's sister.
I got offered a job in Texarkana last week to start in early January. It's not at the university however. I toured the campus and it was very nice and it has an engineering program. Looked at apartments in Pleasant Grove. Lots of restaurants in town. Much of the north side looks like modern suburbs.

I lived in Texarkana for 2.5 years for work. I drove to Dallas probably every other weekend. Brutal place to live. Don't go to whiskey river past midnight.

Has a very Deep South feel. Almost like you walked into Birmingham.