Here’s a fun chart from Bloomberg and data viz whiz Dorothy Gambrell. It shows US cities plotted along two axes. On the Y-axis, you have what they call “the good stuff,” a metric that combines education, tech investment, biking / transit, and other economic measures that match the Silicon Valley / Bay area. On the X-axis, you have “the bad stuff”, high home prices and inequality, plus long commutes.
Here’s the detailed chart!
Click it to expand it to mammoth proportions. But to save you from getting too close to your screen, I highlighted some local cities here.
First, Minneapolis is right around the center of the plot, a bit more techie and less affordable than most places, but nothing close to a real Silicon Valley-type situation.
Second, here are Eau Claire and Mankato, not much like Silicon Valley when it comes to having high prices, but scoring OK on the techie-ness factor.
Enjoy the rest of your day!