The only advantage listed of the Midwest over the west/east coast is cost of living which you would expect to go up once the long promised "Silicon Prairie" takes shape. Silicon Prairie News is a cool site to see regional news on tech but I've always found it to overhype itself time and time again. There are certainly quite a few growing tech companies in the area in the same way that there were growing engineering companies in the past. It's hard for me to see there ever being a "boom" in tech that makes it comparable to Silicon Valley. We just don't have the investment capital or the human resources to compete despite our cost of living advantages.
> The only advantage listed of the Midwest over the west/east coast is cost of living which you would expect to go up once the long promised "Silicon Prairie" takes shape.
OK, but right now that advantage is there, so someone considering a move right now would get that advantage.
I don't think there will be a boom either, but instead a gradual trend as more and more companies and employees find the Midwest a favorable place to live for the other reasons mentioned in the post.
The Minneapolis suburbs are a terrible barren place. Full of crappy cookie cutter houses, white people, panera bread, chipotle, and strip malls. Devoid of anything resembling culture. My condolences to anyone who has to live there.
Haha! I do like downtown Minneapolis, but have not spent much time in the suburbs. I'll heed the warning. ;^)