# Screw Springfield! Where is Arlen, TX?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 12, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250 "2005-03-12T22:29:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/1 "2005-03-12T22:29:53Z")
The fictional city from King of the Hill stands in for Anytown, Texas, but I think there are WAY more clues to decipher its location than the hometown of the Simpsons!
Is Arlen supposed to be a stand in for a real city? Comic books use that approach (Metropolis, Gotham City, Coast City, etc.)
Or is Arlen just a new city that is somewhere in the vast, unoccupied landscape of Texas?
Here are some facts:
- Arlen is a good sized town. It has a two-level mall, a comedy club, a community college a movie theater and many chain resteraunts.
- Most importantly, it is a given that Arlen is a firm three hours from Houston. When Kahn got fired for bragging about government secrets to Hank. His new job, in _Houston_ was a three hour drive. Everything else is a vague distance. However, we’ve seen the guys take a day trip to Mexico, San Antonio, Witchita Falls and Dallas. But the three hours to Houston in the only certainty we’ve seen.
- Peggie shops for shoes (she has freakishly large feet) in Lubbock.
- Once when Nancy was doing the weather, she seemed to gesture at a location east of DFW.
- Arlen’s area code was actually revealed. It shares a zip code with Beeville, TX. Beeville is approximately 3-4 hours South of Houston. I think we can discredit this as the producers simply picking a Texas zip code and using it. I’ve been through Beeville many times. They don’t even have a Super Walmart. They JUST got a small movie theater! Plus, it is WAY too far from Dallas or Witchita Falls.
All of this leaves me with three suggestions.
Tyler- An area East of Dallas. It would fit with Nancy’s weather report.
Lukin- North of Houston and SE of Dallas.
Killeen or Temple- My personal favorites. You have to ignore Nancy’s weather report, which was general, but I always felt Arlen was further West than the major population centers of Texas.
I used to like Abilene but it is too far from Houston.
If it is a smaller town, put me down for Stephenville. That is about the location that I’d put it.
Anyone else have a theory or able to provide any clues?
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/2 "2005-03-12T22:36:06Z")
I’ve been told by Texans that Arlen is based on Garland, Texas. IMDb’s entry is informative, too.
> [@](#):
>
> The show goes out of its way to avoid pinpointing the location of its fictional setting of Arlen. The name is reminiscent of two suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth (Arlington and Garland). The plots of several episodes plus the landscape make it appear to be set in West-Central Texas (day trips to Mexico and Wichita Falls, for example). Other shows would make one think it was closer to Waco (playing Belton in football). More recently, Khan has been commuting daily to Houston, which would make it more likely Arlen is in East Texas. The county name of Heimlich isn’t really similar to any of Texas’s 254 real counties. The puzzle is almost as convoluted as the question of where “The Simpsons” Springfield is.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/3 "2005-03-12T22:36:29Z")
I always assumed it was supposed to be squinty-Garland, but I know less about Texicana than George W. Bush does.
Mike Judge said something like “Arlen is any place in America that you find white guys, pick-ups, and beer.”
---
### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/4 "2005-03-12T22:46:48Z")
Cool post **Marley23**. Good to see I had most of the relevant facts.
But, I can’t see it being Garland. That is a true suburb of Dallas. Hank wouldn’t be afraid of Bobby “moving off to Witchita Fall” AKA “the big city” when they lived in Garlen.
Ditto for Arlington.
Arlen feels like it has some country around it.
I do recall that Dale got his exterminator’s certification in my home town of Humble.
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/5 "2005-03-12T22:52:59Z")
> [@watsonwil](#):
>
> Cool post **Marley23**. Good to see I had most of the relevant facts.
>
> But, I can’t see it being Garland. That is a true suburb of Dallas. Hank wouldn’t be afraid of Bobby “moving off to Witchita Fall” AKA “the big city” when they lived in Garlen.
I’m not saying Arlen is located where Garland is, just that I’ve been told it’s named for it and somewhat based on it. The location is obviously supposed to be nebulous, although despite what IMDb says it’s much more concrete than Springfield.
---
### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2005, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/6 "2005-03-12T23:51:50Z")
Bobby attends Tom Landry Jr. High School, suggesting it’s always been strongly within the Dallas Cowboys’ sphere of influence, not Houston’s.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/7 "2005-03-13T00:00:10Z")
Texas? 😕
😛
---
### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/8 "2005-03-13T00:10:13Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#):
>
> Bobby attends Tom Landry Jr. High School, suggesting it’s always been strongly within the Dallas Cowboys’ sphere of influence, not Houston’s.
Landry is beloved by all Texans. Even us Oiler fans. But you’re right. If he were in the Houston realm, it would be Bum Phillips Middle School (not high school).
---
### Author:  [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/9 "2005-03-13T02:19:52Z")
The only advice I can give, which is really nothing, is that one time they went to a [Whataburger.](http://www.whataburger.com/findwb_location.cfm?state=TX&subaction=process)
---
### Author:  [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/10 "2005-03-13T02:25:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The puzzle is almost as convoluted as the question of where _The Simpsons_’ Springfield is.
_The Simpsons_’ many pieces of evidence of its location are so numerous and varied, they may be contradictory. D’oh! :smack:
Then again, maybe the same could be said of Arlen. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/11 "2005-03-13T03:33:44Z")
I’d always heard it was Garland, but it could be anywhere. What part of the state doesn’t matter; I’ve met every single character on that show since I moved down here a year and a half ago. (Longview in the Piney Woods, and now Greenville north of Dallas on the plains.)
---
### Author:  [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/12 "2005-03-13T03:42:30Z")
Oh my. I was sure it was a real city name. Color me whooshed. :o
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/13 "2005-03-13T03:51:19Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Texas? 😕
Y’know, that state that’s one-third the size of West Springfield.
---
### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/14 "2005-03-13T03:52:37Z")
Well, I won’t claim that Arlen IS Austin, but Mike Judge has lived in Austin off and on for many years, and he’s regularly included scenes and in-jokes in both the “Beavis and Butthead” cartoons and on “King of the Hill” that I’m sure he fully expects Austinites to recognize.
For example, the airport that Beavis and Butthead take off from in the movie “B & B Do America” was unmistakeably Austin’s Robert Mueller Airport (which has since been shut down).
I think Judge wants Arlen to be a generic middle-class Texas town… but there are just enough Austin in-jokes that I’d say Arlen is just a BIT more like Austin than anyplace else.
But just a bit. To give you an idea of how Judge thinks, he filmed “Office Space” here in Austin, but he went out of his way to AVOID showing any obvious Austin landmarks because he didn’t WANT people to look at the movie and think “That’s Austin.” He wanted them to look and see a soul-less, character-less high-tech Anytown.
Similarly, I don’t think he wants us to look at Arlen and say “That must be Austin (though, again, occasional in-jokes lead me to think it is).” He wants us to think Arlen is just like any of fifty Texas towns filled with ordinary rednecks.
---
### Author:  [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/15 "2005-03-13T04:08:40Z")
I’m from Austin originally. Lived there for 26 or 27 years. I don’t think I’ve noticed any in-jokes, but maybe I’m not watching the right episodes. Can you give any examples?
---
### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/16 "2005-03-13T06:06:48Z")
The alleys give it away - somewhere in the Dallas metro, if not the sphere if influence. Suburban areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and most other small and medoum-sized Texas cities don’t have alleys. They’re common in suburban Dallas, though.
---
### Author:  [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/17 "2005-03-13T06:46:27Z")
In a “Making of” piece from one of the show DVDs, Judge describes how he and the original showrunner spent time scouting around the city of Austin. They were looking for locations and secondary characters to use in the inital presentation of the show to the FOX suits.
---
### Author:  [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/18 "2005-03-13T14:01:24Z")
It is right next to McMainerberry, obviously.
Brian
---
### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/19 "2005-03-13T16:07:08Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> The alleys give it away - somewhere in the Dallas metro, if not the sphere if influence. Suburban areas of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and most other small and medoum-sized Texas cities don’t have alleys. They’re common in suburban Dallas, though.
True.
Lubbock has the same alleys.
---
### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250/20 "2005-03-13T17:22:14Z")
It’s pretty obviously NOT Garland. Arlen flat-out isn’t a suburban Dallas town. Like others have said, the D/FW area is way too far away for a day trip to Mexico, is about 4-5 hours from Houston, even if you drive 80 mph.
Plus, Arlen just isn’t suburban enough to be Garland. And if you’re going to assume that since the name is close, how about [Marlin, TX](http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Marlin,+TX)? The name is just as similar as Garland, and at least Marlin is in the right part of the state.
It’s pretty obvious that Arlen is a generic small to mid-sized Texas city, and seems to me to be placed somewhere out by Waco or Killeen somewhere. There really isn’t a city of the right size in the right place anywhere in the state.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-springfield-where-is-arlen-tx/294250.md?page=2)