The three cities lead the rankings, in that order, followedclosely by the Twin Cities and Atlanta, says techies.com Inc.Industry salaries are higher in the Bay Area and New York City, butTexas technologists have twice the discretionary income, says thenational network of on-line career resources for more than 585,000technology professionals. The research group says Bay Area salariesare 16% higher than the national average.

To arrive at the conclusion, techies.com factors industrysalaries against the cost-of-living index for 26 markets. Sixththrough tenth place "affordable city" rankings went to Seattle,Denver, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Columbus and Cincinnati, respectively.The most costly cities are New York City, Bay Area, San Diego,Boston and Los Angeles, respectively.

Doug Berg, founder and CEO of techie.com, says housing and othercost-of-living factors are outstripping earnings in many markets,putting Texas at the top of the list for professionals seeking goodpay and affordable living. Berg says the index has been instituted"to put some skin on just how wide the affordability gap is. ... Atechie can almost pick and choose where he or she wants to work andhas plenty of leverage in negotiating salary." He says Texascompanies will be able to use the index as a tool for hiring andretaining high-tech workers.