Take into account the large start-up culture employers - Google, Apple, FB, Yahoo to name a few. And Standford as a thinktank. Funding bank: VCs and angels. These are hubs where talent revolve around and from which money flows. In the absence of established hubs, thinktanks, and VC pool, there will be little neck-neck competition with SV/SF. Which is to say it is better to have diverse startup cultures in the US, some small, some monoliths, each different and unique.