Per @JonMorris 's point, converting to a line does not work in all cases, and I really am curious if anyone has found a workaround in the last 10 years in Pro or ArcMap. I really just want my Census tracts to be labeled with their number along the border so it's out of the way for the other data I'm labeling, but still there; converting to lines wouldn't work as the label wouldn't necessarily sit on the correct side of the border.