Second-Best City to move for startups
credo: I think Seattle is one of the top 3-4 cities for startups (in the US).As far as your criteria go, cost-of-housing etc. is going to be much lesser than SV, but much more than Austin. No state income tax, just a sales tax. Traffic congestion is pretty bad. Business pay 1.5% of total revenue (not profit) as B&O taxes to the state.Like the other top cities for tech-startups, heavily liberal in terms of politics. I vaguely remember reading some report that said that Seattle had a higher percentage of college-grads than every other major city in America.  evergreen forests nearby, "you can ski in the morning and sail in the evening" is how my Microsoft recruiter described Seattle to me in the 90s :)