Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk counties in East Texas, positioned along the corridor between Longview and Tyler. With a population of about 13,400, it is one of the larger cities in the region and a center for commerce, education, and the oil and gas industry that defines much of East Texas. The city's identity was forged in the East Texas oil boom of the early 1930s. When the vast East Texas Oil Field was discovered, Kilgore transformed almost overnight from a small farm community into a booming oil town crowded with derricks—a history preserved at the East Texas Oil Museum on the Kilgore College campus and at the World's Richest Acre Park downtown, which recalls the famously dense concentration of wells once packed into a single city block. Today energy-related industries remain part of the local economy alongside healthcare, education, and retail. Kilgore College is the community's cultural anchor. The two-year public college draws students from across the region and is world-famous as the home of the Kilgore College Rangerettes, the precision dance-drill team founded in 1940. The Rangerette Showcase and Museum celebrates that legacy, while the Texas Broadcast Museum adds to the city's downtown cultural district. Residentially, Kilgore offers a range of established neighborhoods. Areas south and west of town—including Country Club Estates, Bell Haven Estates, and Rolling Meadows—hold much of the family-oriented housing stock, with larger lots and a mix of mid-century and newer construction. The average commute is short by regional standards, and residents enjoy proximity to Longview's larger employment, retail, and healthcare offerings while living in a self-contained East Texas community. Interstate 20 runs south of the city, and U.S. Highway 259 provides the main north-south route, keeping Kilgore well-connected across the Piney Woods region.