With my experiences with the F500s cutting IT costs, most onshore outsourcing was going directly to Texas and the Southeast for what appeared to be specific state-driven tax advantages - only with one or two sites did I see going somewhere like IN, OK, or KS usually due to existing assets there. Based upon more anecdotal info based upon Indeed results, in proportion to the population, there are potentially more and better software jobs as well as greater legacy of older-generation tech companies mentioned elsewhere in the thread from, say, Indiana and Ohio (Xerox). There's also healthcare companies in the midwest like CERNer that would result in some more (admittedly, IT primarily rather than software) tech jobs. Furthermore, Walmart seems to have a pretty solid number of technology jobs that aren't network and storage janitor work.

I never managed to find a house that was 3br/2ba+ in Brookhaven on up past the perimeter < $2000. It's a bit of a sticker shock for me in rent when the place I bought last year was about $1k / mo mortgage and comparably nice besides a bathroom's upgrades.