City · Gregg County, Texas

White Oak, Texas

White Oak is a city in Gregg County, Texas, part of the Longview, TX metro area. It has 6,235 residents. White Oak, Texas has a quality-of-life score of 34 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,290 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Texas it ranks #269 of 1,016 cities and towns. It ranks best on distance to an Amtrak station (low), child poverty rate (low) and income inequality (Gini index) (low). It ranks worst on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high), distance to an airport (high) and uninsured residents (under 65) (high).

34Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,290 of 15,651 cities and towns
Texas: #269 of 1,016 in TX
Population: 6,235 (2020-2024)
Land area: 9 mi²
Density: 686.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 4878436

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety17#12,925/15,637
Economy77#3,557/15,631
Housing61#5,810/14,977
Health24#11,803/15,609
Healthcare36#9,994/15,650
Environment36#9,855/15,453
Education27#11,407/15,649
Infrastructure59#6,443/15,650
Community30#11,017/15,651
Leisure & amenities47#8,369/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where White Oak, Texas ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Gregg County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Distance to an Amtrak station · low6 mi
94/100Texas 43 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauGregg County value
Child poverty rate · low0.6%
93/100Texas 17.9%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.336
91/100Texas 0.478United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Pharmacies · high2.5 /10k
91/100Texas 1.5 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsGregg County value
Drug overdose deaths · low7.9 /100k
90/100Texas 13.4 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataGregg County value
Child care cost burden · low21.7%
89/100Texas 24.5%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGregg County value

Weaknesses

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.5 µg/m³
5/100Texas 8.9 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyGregg County value
Distance to an airport · high122 mi
5/100Texas 33 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauGregg County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · high17.4%
9/100Texas 19.1%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010
Life expectancy · low72.5 yrs
9/100Texas 77.2 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGregg County value
Voter turnout · low54.3%
10/100Texas 57.8%United States 65.2%2024U.S. Election Assistance CommissionGregg County value
Food environment index · low6.7
10/100Texas 5.7United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteGregg County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
25.2% (2015-2019) → 0.6% (2020-2024)
−25 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedImproving
1.0 /1k (2021) → 2.1 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+116%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
51.6% (2015-2019) → 32.1% (2020-2024)
−19 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
30.5% (2015-2019) → 17.0% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$64,118 (2015-2019) → $101,027 (2020-2024)
+58%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Poverty rateImproving
14.2% (2015-2019) → 7.4% (2020-2024)
−6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, White Oak, Texas improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Inequality−0.1270.463 → 0.336
Household income+58%$64,118 → $101,027

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of White Oak, Texas between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	24.2 min2015-2019	19.6 min2020-2024	−4.6 min	Within the margin of error	88%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.2%2015-2019	18.9%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	11%
Broadband subscriptions	92.8%2015-2019	93.7%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	11%
Effective property tax rate	1.41%2015-2019	1.19%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	62%
High school diploma or higher	86.5%2015-2019	90.5%2020-2024	+4 points	Within the margin of error	76%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	−0.3×	Within the margin of error	90%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4632015-2019	0.3362020-2024	−0.127	Improved	98%
Median household income	$64,1182015-2019	$101,0272020-2024	+58%	Improved	89%
Poverty rate	14.2%2015-2019	7.4%2020-2024	−6.8 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	30.5%2015-2019	17.0%2020-2024	−14 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Rent-burdened households	51.6%2015-2019	32.1%2020-2024	−19 points	Within the margin of error	93%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	21.0%2015-2019	17.4%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	80%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like White Oak, Texas five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of White Oak, Texas in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, White Oak, Texas itself moved +22.1 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

6,235 residents (±17)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

2,096 households (±203)

White Oak, Texas
Texas share

Under $25k13%†273
$25k–50k8.3%†175
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

2,096 households (±203)

White Oak, Texas
Texas share

Own67%1,403
Rent33%†693

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

2,672 workers (±286)

White Oak, Texas
Texas share

Drive alone87%2,334
Carpool4.3%†115
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Longview, TX

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Gregg County, the county holding most of White Oak's residents.

Gregg County has 4,040 employer establishments, 320 for every 10,000 residents (1.29× the US rate of 248; 1.46× Texas's), with 67,607 paid employees at an average annual pay of $53,292. The Census Bureau also counts 12,696 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,040; 12,696 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 320; US 248 · Texas 218
Paid employees: 67,607
Average annual pay: $53,292; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Gregg County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	327	25.9	1.24×About typical	5,270	$70,343	630
Restaurants and other eating places	302	23.9	1.30×More than typical	6,617	$20,821	92
Specialty trade contractors	192	15.2	0.98×About typical	2,879	$59,145	783
Limited-service restaurants	151	11.9	1.49×More than typical	3,225	$18,717	22
Lessors of real estate	130	10.3	0.83×About typical	449	$44,739	1,196
Religious organizations	125	9.9	1.78×More than typical	1,331	$22,141	—
Legal services	109	8.6	1.60×More than typical	382	$78,626	99
Full-service restaurants	103	8.1	1.06×About typical	2,919	$23,445	35
Offices of physicians	103	8.1	1.26×More than typical	1,585	$102,977	106
Automotive repair and maintenance	92	7.3	1.44×More than typical	621	$48,480	251
Building equipment contractors	88	7	1.16×About typical	1,613	$57,890	128
Insurance agencies and brokerages	88	7	1.58×More than typical	369	$45,436	176

Rank places for an industry Open Gregg County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 126,439 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $5,780 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in White Oak, Texas: $0.93 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $5,780; −4.4% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.93; US $1,994
Sole-source: 22%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of Veterans Affairs$4,49078%
Department of the Army$1,29022%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

722.5KFY2017
3.8KFY2018
249FY2019
0FY2020
817.2FY2021
39.3KFY2022
924.4FY2023
209.3FY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in White Oak, Texas, so they do not add up across cities.

White Oak, Texas's figures are part of those of Gregg County, TX ($1.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.5% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: White Oak is mostly in Gregg County.

See federal money in Gregg County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

White Oak, Texas is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Nathaniel MoranR-TX-1 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 1.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Gregg County35100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Longview, TX13

Other cities and towns in Gregg County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4878436

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends