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Comment by hprotagonist | Hacker News Reader

on realpolitik grounds, Indianapolis would be a fascinating choice.

The main problem with some of these cities, Indianapolis in particular, is that it might be hard to attract software developers to go live there. Even though the dollar goes farther in Indianapolis, after adjusting for cost of living, you would still need to add a bonus to entice developers to live there rather than Seattle. I grew up near Indianapolis and I certainly would not live there over Seattle, for political/cultural preferences that in my experience most developers share with me

It depends. It would be a beacon for all software developers from the midwest. Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana all have solid state schools with some of the better CS programs (top 25) in the nation.

For all the home-grown developers, many would prefer to stay close to home than have to move to the mad-house of the coasts. In other words, I question that most developers would think the same way you do.

They all go to Chicago, though, and I think they would prefer to continue doing so.

Net income adjusted for cost of living for software developers in Indianapolis is one of the highest in the country. Infosys and Salesforce are planning on adding thousands of jobs here over the next few years too, so it's likely those salaries will continue to rise.

I also grew up in Indianapolis and still live here. There are only a few tech companies that will pay engineers 150k+ but they do exist, and 150k+ in the suburbs here (Hamilton County) buys a very nice life for somebody wanting to raise a family.

I grew up in Hamilton county / Indy. There has been lots of growth just within the last 5 years after Salesforce and some other companies moved in. There's a rapidly growing population of younger people and new attractions to meet the demand created by these businesses.

I'm not sure how we would scale for HQ2, however, but I believe it could be done.

As a software engineer in Indy, a lot of us have the opposite opinion.

I was going to say that Indianapolis is probably a good choice simply because its airport is an international freight hub, as well.

Proximity to an international airport that can easily handle Amazon's shipments has got to count for something, right?

Depends on if they're building a tech headquarters or a distribution center. For an office building, freight isn't nearly as much of a concern.

Amazon already has a couple warehouses here as well!

Why would that be? I live in Indy, and it just seems like the only thing we have going for us is an abundance of Amazon warehouses.

Cost of living / housing prices, available space for new buildings, tax incentives, etc, etc.

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