5 ms·
What are some of the most underrated US cities for tech? One that comes to my mind is Nashville. It seems to have a considerable tech scene, the music scene is
by binarynate 5y ago
What are some of the most underrated US cities for tech? One that comes to my mind is Nashville. It seems to have a considerable tech scene, the music scene is great, and it's much more affordable than, say, Austin.
- ghaff 5y agoI suppose it depends what you mean by "for tech." If it's to work in tech locally, the situation with smaller cities is likely to be mostly a function of what jobs are available there. And note that many tech employers--indeed most until fairly recently--were in office parks not downtown. If you have more flexibility with remote work, there are a ton of smaller cities that many people like. You mentioned Nashville. Some others that come to mind are Raleigh, Minneapolis, Portsmouth NH, Portland ME... The one caveat I would make with a number of these cities is that the walkable (gentrified) downtown is often pretty small so it's really a very different experience from living/working in a large city.
- packetlost 5y agoCan confirm. Live in Madison, WI. People here call it a "city" and "tech hub" but the downtown is like 3 square blocks and there's like half a dozen """tech""" companies in the area and maybe twice as many small startups. lol
- ghaff 5y agoA ton of college towns are like that. The college/uni does bring some degree of "culture" and other entertainment and spur some tech-related companies you wouldn't find in an equivalently-sized place that didn't have a college attached, but the options are limited. I worked in downtown Nashua NH for a number of years. The downtown was actually quite nice. On the river, quite a few restaurants, some shops, etc. But yeah, outside of a few blocks adjacent to maybe 5 or 6 blocks of Main Street, things either started to get sketchy or just started to blend into the strip mall and industrial parks south of town. Raleigh, where I sometimes travel to because we have a big office there, is very similar.
- packetlost 5y agoYeah. Madison is a bunch of small towns wrapped around a college. Boulder, CO is similar too, though maybe to a lesser extent
- binarynate 5y agoGood point—personally what I'm thinking of are cities where I can work remotely but still participate in the local tech culture through meetups and events, and hopefully connect with other founders. Raleigh and Minneapolis both seem like great examples. I visited Minneapolis last week and was impressed by their downtown and art culture. I'm not very familiar with Portsmouth or Portland ME, but I'll look into those.
- ghaff 5y agoPortsmouth NH had a somewhat flowering tech scene in the dot-com era. Don't know about today. Might want to reach out to @sogrady about "real" Portland :-) ADDED: I'd add that if living in "downtown" (such as it is) isn't a major consideration, I'd point out that aside from some places like the Bay Area it's pretty easy to live outside many major cities like Boston but easily go in for meetings or evening events.
- ikiris 5y agothe problem with Nashville is most "tech" employeers there think they can pay a third the market rate of anywhere else if not lower.
- binarynate 5y agoYeah, I hadn't considered that aspect. Maybe still a good place to work remotely, though?
- ikiris 5y agoIf you don't mind being in jesusland and can make remote work salary, its tolerable. Just be careful to blend in.
- atwebb 5y agoIs it much more affordable than Austin? They seem to be within the same range (for comparable locations and all) and that the gap has quickly filled in, just my observation but I look at TN stuff way more than TX.