City Limits & ETJ
Living inside or outside city limits matters in Gregg County
Whether your address falls inside a city, in a city's extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), or in unincorporated Gregg County affects your taxes, services, and building rules.
Gregg County has nine incorporated cities — including Longview, Kilgore, Gladewater, and White Oak. Each city also has an ETJ: a buffer zone outside its limits where it can control subdivision platting. If you are in the ETJ but not the city, you pay county taxes — not city taxes — but still must follow some city development rules.
In unincorporated Gregg County (outside any city and ETJ), county rules apply. There is no statewide zoning in unincorporated Texas, so land use restrictions are limited. Short-term rental rules, burn bans, and other local ordinances vary by whether you are in a city, an ETJ, or truly rural. When in doubt, contact Gregg County (greggcounty.texas.gov) or the specific city to confirm what rules apply to your parcel.
Source to confirm: Gregg County — Official Website