Seconded - I live in a university town in the Midwest (usa). Several big tech companies have offices in town. The university itself employs a lot of tech folks,

Seconded - I live in a university town in the Midwest (usa). Several big tech companies have offices in town. The university itself employs a lot of tech folks, and spawns startups. There are also a few smaller/medium tech firms that are local. On a normal day, you're never more than 15 minutes drive from farm fields, and quite a few tech workers live out in the country and drive into town occasionally or daily for work. It's nice, there's enough tech folks to maintain several maker spaces and co-working spots, and the students are a steady stream of enthusiastic youngsters to keep things feeling fresh. Added benefit that I've discovered talking to people in bigger cities: there's enough going on here that I often want to do several things in a day, and since much of it happens in the same 2 mile radius, you don't have to factor travel time into planning. (For example, I can go to a python meetup that ends at 7 and get to the theatre to see a 715 show with friends on the other side of town - a lot of places make that into an either-or proposition).