The tech scene isn't grim, I would say it's bad but getting better. I recently got a job at a fairly young company doing pretty exciting and interesting stuff.

The tech scene isn't grim, I would say it's bad but getting better. I recently got a job at a fairly young company doing pretty exciting and interesting stuff. It's not quite as fresh as a startup but is much better than Target or 3M or any other behemoth. You're right though, the commutes are tricky since the metro area is pretty big and the jobs are spread out everywhere. Nitelife, music scene, etc. are all criteria I pulled from Joe's article. I'm not particularly into the "bar scene", but I do know that entertainment (theater, music, etc.) is top notch. I agree that bunching all of these cities together is kind of dodgy, but I get the feeling that most everyone that writes posts like Joe's are from the edges of the country and I personally would love to see the middle of the country represented more here. So I grouped the entire middle together. :)