Where would people choose to live cheaply and work on their own projects inside the country?
For example, I noticed someone here promoting an incubator in Myrtle Beach recently, and it appears that one could rent a townhouse there for < $1k.
From my own perspective the usual problem with this is the lack of other interests, amenities, and a dating pool. (Admittedly those things can be distractions, but those are distractions I'd like to have, from a QoL perspective.)
That said, I'm beginning to find the internet at large the best "place" to build a company. I've begun to realize that in many ways location has become less and less important to the potential success of a company. I'm experiencing this first hand, as are countless others around the globe.
Dating pool? There's about 25k undergrads and almost another 10k grad students. It's a very lovely place. Southern gentlemen and Southern belles live up to their reputation.
My wife, a half Puerto Rican professor, was nearly arrested for driving while Hispanic, my mother (who is vietnamese) had racist epithets screamed at her while walking our kids in an upscale neighborhood. There were major racist incidents on campus every year we were there. The frats are still segregated.
I didn't say "go to a Southern college town". I said look at Athens.
I suggest Atlanta as a counterexample - a real city, full of educated and inclusive people, art, culture, a nascent modern tech scene, and several good schools which notably lack racism as a cultural touchstone.
Atlanta, GA: Good tech community. It's home of Georgia Tech and while it's no Silicon Valley, it is the home of a few startups, StartupRiot, and other startup-related activities. The weather is warmer than most places, but it still has seasons. You can find a place to rent pretty cheap here and the city is large enough to have some of the amenities you're looking for, including a million or so singles in the dating pool.
Charleston, SC: Probably not quite as cheap as Atlanta, but it is beautiful and still quite cheap. Smaller in size, but not "middle of nowhere" small. Plus, there's the beach.
Florida: Someone mentioned Miami, but if you seek warm weather and reasonable cost of living, Tampa, Orlando and other cities in Florida are great. The down side is that I don't think there is much startup activity, the upside is I've heard it's great for singles and there is beach, beach, theme parks, beach and probably a few other things to do in between hurricanes.
Athens, GA: Smaller city, but a college town. See jboggan's comment.
And just like Austin, a great place for devs to work. I remember having a whole discussion bout how Austin was a RoR town, while Houston was a PHP/.Net city.
There's definitely a ton of jobs on both sides. You can make anywhere between 60-90K as a developer, and spend $600-$900 for a nice 1-2br apt. Midtown living is a little more expensive but well worth it :)
I like Atlanta mentioned elsewhere in the thread, having lived there for a number of years. Tons of cool stuff to do, and interesting concert venues like the Masquerade and Tabernacle. I lived in Midtown, but even if you don't want to live in the city the suburbs are nice.
People like to make fun of Houston for being a huge sprawl with no zoning regulations, but if you want Texas with more of an Atlanta feel, you'll get your pro sports teams, museums, and mega concert venues there. It's still close enough to go visit Austin for a weekend (only 3ish hours). Houston and Atlanta also have the advantage over Austin in terms of airports and where you can fly direct. Going from Austin means you burn more time with connections and layovers.
If you move to Texas from the south though, you're going to miss the tea. Tea here is cold and unsweetened by default. "Texas sweet tea" isn't as sweet as southern style sweet tea.
Unless you want to live in the ghetto, you won't be able to rent near Midtown for less than $900 for a small one bedroom.
Recently started up a non-standard publishing company there, and the culture is stellar, it's a college town (full of culture and young people doing fun stuff), very low cost of living (rented a massive house with a bar/cafe in the basement for about $1400/month), and zero sales tax.
Quality of life is best I've found anywhere in the US (and I've been to all contiguous 48 states several times, looking for places to set up offices and live when I'm not overseas). It's incredibly walkable, has a nice downtown, very active, athletics residents, and folks care about their health (which is manifested in both their activities and the local produce/restaurant/food culture).
Happy to answer any other questions anyone might have about the area, and to introduce you around if you end up moving thereabouts :)
I get up there once a year to visit my grandpa. It's an awesome, beautiful place. I would definitely live up there if there were more programming opportunities and more people I knew.
Best of luck to you!
It is the kind of city that turns everyone into a walking advertisement — even the folks who eventually leave tend to come back to retire.
You might look into companies like Submittable (who are based out of the area) if you're looking for programming gigs. They're working hard (with what seems to be a very collaborative and willing government) to flesh out the area's tech infrastructure, so keep your eyes open for more opportunities thereabouts over the next year or two.
And happy to introduce you to some wonderful folks in the city if you're ever stopping through and want to make some friends!
Closest airport that I would consider 'major' is Seattle, which is a solid day's drive (about 7 hours). You can get anywhere from Missoula's airport, but you'll have to stop through Minnesota, Seattle, Denver, or some other major hub. Adds a little cost, which is a bummer, but still possible, and even for someone who travels all the time like I do, it's not a deal-breaker-level inconvenience.
Amazon-wise, it's just as fast as anywhere else I've ever lived. I have a Prime account, and often receive my packages the next day.
I'll also add that the internet is some of the fastest and cheapest I've found outside of areas that already have gigabit up and running.
I also kind of dig the clean, chilly weather they get during the winter, so I'm a bit biased on this question. I don't know that it gets as cold as someplace like, NYC or Chicago, though, which is something :)
They do have a solid community, though, from everything I've heard so far. http://Startupbozeman.com has some info, and I went to the HATCH conference this year (http://hatchexperience.org/) which takes place in Bozeman, and met some wonderful representatives from the city. Good people, a nice downtown, and though not QUITE as walkable or cheap as Missoula, it's absolutely beautiful over there, and I always enjoy a visit.
You'd also be about 30min from the attractions (Disney, Universal, etc). UCF is here so you'll get the benefits of having a large college close by. If you're in to sports you have the Magic and Orlando City here with all the Tampa teams a 2hr drive away. You also get the benefit of great weather throughout the year. If you're planning to work in the downtown/tourist area then expect your normal I hate my life traffic.
Colorado: Reasonable cost, great weather, lots of amenities, but I've heard Denver referred to as "Menver" so if your idea of dating pool skews X-chromosome you might be disappointed.
Portland: Maybe the high end of "cheaply" but lots of tech scene and indoor/outdoor amenities. I was ok with constant mist for the time I spent there but it might get to other people.
Upper Midwest/Upstate NY/New England: I can't fathom dealing with winter there but if that's your thing then it's probably great?
I'm paying $1k p/mo for a 2br ~900 sq ft. one in little saigon, and it's about five minutes from the downtown core. You'll find lots of funky benefits in any city I imagine, but quality of life in San Diego can't be beaten.
Now, that's from someone who: 1. Doesn't commute. Traffic here isn't bad, but there's a few chokepoints. 2. Works odd hours, so I get to take advantage of empty parks with my kids at 2pm in the afternoon. 3. Loves the outdoors, though, I miss deciduous trees. The odd trip an hour away to Palomar mountain & Julian fixes that though :) 4. Rides motorcycles, so, that's part of why I love the weather :)
I've also lived in Chicago, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, ~12+ years in Florida and the Eastern coast of Canada, in addition to Costa Rica and a few other random places..
Overall? If I were looking to save money I'd be in Florida (Tampa, Orlando, Miami), if I were looking for best quality of life, I'd stay right where I'm at.
I'm still undecided on where I'll be in another year or two, but only for family reasons (two children, proximity to grandparents would be nice).
Rent in Houston is only cheap if you're willing to live in the suburbs and commute 1-3 hours each way every day.
Tony Tseh Hsieh and his downtown project are spending ~$350 million to build a tech community in downtown Las Vegas.
- Las Vegas is a cheap place to live. Depending on your needs you can rent a house for under $1500/mo. - You can hop on a plane and be in San Francisco in an hour. There are direct flights to most major cities. - There are tech events most nights of the week for when you want to get out. - There are a bunch of new co-working spaces if you want to have a place to work outside of where you are living or Starbucks.
Be aware that it's a lousy state if you ascribe yourself to the "entertain me" culture (living in or near Albuquerque might alleviate that to an extent). But, if you're the outdoorsy type, there's a wide variety of ecosystems ranging from high desert to coniferous forests to explore.
If you're into the history, brief drives north or east put you into easily-reachable ghost town territory.
We are now living in Silicon Valley for six months because I wanted to do a contracting job here. This is a fun area also but we are blown away by the high cost of living. Sometimes it is very important to have coworkers co-situated, but otherwise let workers live where they want. I am now working with people who spend two hours a day commuting. That is a huge hit in wasted time.
We have a coworking space: http://CoworkMYR.com
Startup Incubator: http://cocelerator.com
Along with other community resources and great projects: Hackerspace/Makerspace: http://subproto.com & Coworking Space Management Software: http://lemyr.co
For our size (city of 30k), we have a lot of big city amenities due to our tourists, even more-so than cities like Charleston, and a much lower cost of living, inexpensive flights (~$75 RT to NYC, BOS, PHL...)
Feel free to contact me via my profile to learn more.
Especially there is no way to buy a house for $100k in a decent neighborhood.
Look at craigslist. :)
Our startup scene is flourishing and our cost of living is low. You can rent a very nice place for $1000 a month, most of the time for much less.
We also have an awesome music scene, lots of bars and attractions, and a healthy stock of young people to fill up your dating pool.
It's pretty awesome.
It's a perfect blend of small/big town atmosphere. The downtown has won awards and you can live right next to everything for rather cheap. I rented a 3 bedroom apartment on Main Street for around $1200 a month and ended up making money on rent through renting out the extra rooms. It has an incubator, code school, and lively coworking space and a ton of great restaurants. You also have a few colleges on the outskirts of town as well.
Check: http://lifeingreenville.com/
The one negative people tend to bring up is the weather, but Portland tracks Boston temps pretty closely. It won't be mistaken for Miami or Southern California, but the foliage is fantastic and snow can be fun.
Mild weather, easy access to coast and mountains, there's a regional airport 40 minutes away and Portland is less than 2 hours away.
It is a college town. And has a pretty strong tech culture because it's OSU; Oregon's engineering school.
Cheap location = nothing there, so nothing to do.
Expensive location = too expensive to do anything, so nothing to do.
The neighborhoods in the north side, say north of wrigleyville, are very interesting culturally. Housing and other costs of living are low and it is still an urban center with all the amenities you'd expect from one such.
There are some expensive neighborhoods but also many cheap ones that are super fun if you are young and don't have kids or care about school quality.
Public transport here is ok - very extensive systems but some lines are pretty slow. Culturally we have everything you would expect of a very large city - great restaurants, museums, music, etc.
Thriving startup and entrepreneurial communities. Variety of neighborhoods to match your personality for a decent price. Enough music, theater, food, etc. offerings to keep things interesting.
- plenty of cheap housing options - great coworking space - lots of outdoors to play in - plenty of entertainment - awesome people - close to the bay - business friendly tax advantages
kc is cheap, has good food, and is going through a cultural revolution right now. right now is a perfect time to move here.
and we have google fiber!!! $70/month for a gigabit!
