Texas is a Top State for Work-Life Balance

Living in Tyler or Longview means you've got pretty good odds of having an understanding boss who lets you leave work early to catch your son's baseball game or take your daughter to swim lessons.  There are other ways too that Texas proves it offers a good work-life balance.

To figure out which places have the best work-life balance, SmartAsset looked at things like the number of jobs available, average hours worked per week, commute times, the number of bars and happy hour spots available, and the cost of living.

Texas had three cities in the top twenty-five nationwide.  Lubbock, Corpus Christi, and Austin were the highest ranked Texas cities, and if they had looked at places like Longview, Kilgore, Palestine, and Tyler, we're certain that East Texas would have shot right to the top because we're good at putting life before work and not being defined by the clock and commutes.  Texans seem to have an independent streak and we take charge of our lives so we won't be robbed of fun, and East Texas grabs that bull by the horns too.

Commute times in Texas are low compared to other states, with the drive to work about 16 or 17 minutes on average.  In other states, it can take 30 or 45 minutes to get to work, and the same amount of time on the return trip.  With the extra time, we're getting kids to baseball practice on time or buying the first round at happy hour while other folks are fighting traffic.

East Texas has a high concentration of bars, restaurants, and recreation spots too, and we hit those up regularly with our healthy amounts of free time. We love living in Texas, and stories like these are more proof that we are smart and on the right track.

Thanks for listening at work, but get outta here once in a while, would ya?  Get on with that healthy work-life balance, and feel good about it.  East Texas is a pretty great place to be.