[onlyrealcuzzo]

If you don't need diversity, year-round hot weather, and sky-rocking housing prices - there's tons of nice affordable places near The Great Lakes.

Also, Philadelphia has some quite nice areas that are pretty affordable. And it's an easy train ride away from NYC.

[seanmcdirmid]

The great lakes region doesn't have a great tech scene. Maybe Chicago, but otherwise you would be eeking out opportunities in college towns.

You might have better luck in SLC or Denver.

[onlyrealcuzzo]

Google, Amazon, & Microsoft are all in Detroit. I'm pretty sure Facebook is, too. Plus it has a decent startup ecosystem.

IBM has tons of jobs in upstate NY - offices in Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse (not exactly a dream employer).

And remote jobs are always an option...

The nice parts of Denver are quite expensive. Detroit has much more to offer in terms of jobs than SLC.

[seanmcdirmid]

SLC has a strong startup ecosystem, and around Provo these days also; it also gives you easy access to outdoor activity if you are into hiking and skiing (typical of west coast and mountain towns). The density of tech jobs is surely higher than Detroit, if not absolute numbers. Detroit has presences but they all seem to be tiny (~100 people each?), is it really considered a hot place for tech these days?

[maerF0x0]

I will say, without knowing the ins/outs of it, that bellevue looked appealing for the variety of roles I could hold and live there.