Then there's the demographic breakdown. If I'm building a Web application that I intend to market to normal people -- i.e., NOT the types of people who read 96 RSS feeds a day and obsess over TechCrunch -- I'd rather live in a place where my friends are, well, diverse. Chicago has a strong economy with no clear dominating industry. There's strength in diversity.

Not that there isn't a tech scene here. The Tech Cocktail events (semi-regular gatherings of 500+ local tech people) have been well-attended, and the Chicago Python Users Group is a great bunch of people. During a recent Chicago visit, a Bay Area resident told me he was astounded by how much more active the Chicago Python group was than the Bay Area one.

I have very little experience raising startup money, so I can't comment about the availability of VC or angel funding in Chicago. But are you really going to move somewhere just to get funding? What does it say about the quality of your idea if you feel like it will only succeed if you live in a certain part of the U.S.?