Who really likes Silicon Valley?

Attention economic development professionals!!

I encourage you to abandon talk of your town becoming another Silicon Valley.

There is grave danger to be considered when attempting to emulate an anomaly.  First of all, it won't work anyway.  The convergence of forces that created the icon cannot be replicated.  

As if that wasn't reason enough, it also turns out that companies that make investors obscenely wealthy do not necessarily create livable cities and towns, even for the people who work in those go-go high-profile enterprises.

According to focus.com, the lifestyle provided by a $92,000 high-tech compensation package in Silicon Valley can be had for $47,000 in Philadelphia, and only $38,000 in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Home prices in Silicon Valley run 191% of the national average.  Just imagine what it must be like to earn only a "normal" wage in that technological tinsel town.

Now it is true that the weather is good around San Francisco.  So is the wine.  But the overall socio-economic situation is far from blissful - unless you like urban congestion and think $500,000 for a 1000 square-foot fixer-upper is a great real estate deal.

If you are a budding techno-entrepreneur looking for a cool place to live and grow a company, you might want to take a closer look at Knoxville, TN, and Madison, WI, and Blacksburg, VA and Columbia, MO, and Fort Collins, CO, and all the other out-of-the-way university towns with great lifestyle features and low costs of living.  You can make your investment dollars go more than twice as far in any one of those very pleasant, high-culture, family-friendly spots.

Oh, and by the way, they all have high-speed internet access, too.  And no earthquakes.

I'm just sayin'...

Comments

[Vapir]

I agree. Co Springs for sure.

[Jim Flowers]

Conor,

Yes. Colorado Springs could certainly have been on the list. It’s a great small city.

Jim

[Conor McCluskey]

We love it here in experiencecoloradosprings.com and it is more affordable than Ft Collins. Don't get me wrong Ft Collins is Cool too!