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The best US cities for indie hackers, with receipts
Which cities have a dedicated indie hacker meetup, the most coworking spaces, the fastest internet and the lowest rent, each with its source. Figures as of October 2026.
Four things you can check
Rankings of "best cities for founders" usually blend a dozen opinions into one score. This one sticks to four facts with a source each: whether a dedicated indie hacker or bootstrapper meetup was found, how many coworking spaces and makerspaces are mapped within 10 miles of downtown, the fastest advertised home internet, and HUD's 1-bedroom rent near downtown.
| City | Coworking, 10 mi | Makerspaces, 10 mi | Indie meetup | Fastest internet | 1-bed rent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver, CO | 20 | 3 | General startup scene | 8 Gbps | $1,930 |
| Chicago, IL | 17 | 3 | Indie meetup found | 5 Gbps | $2,670 |
| Atlanta, GA | 14 | 2 | Indie meetup found | 5 Gbps | $1,710 |
| Austin, TX | 14 | 1 | Indie meetup found | 8 Gbps | $1,730 |
| Portland, OR | 10 | 3 | General startup scene | 8 Gbps | $1,760 |
| Nashville, TN | 9 | 0 | Indie meetup found | n/a | $1,725 |
| San Diego, CA | 6 | 1 | Indie meetup found | 5 Gbps | $2,660 |
| Miami, FL | 5 | 0 | General startup scene | 8 Gbps | $2,240 |
| Tucson, AZ | 2 | 0 | General startup scene | 8 Gbps | $1,100 |
| Las Vegas, NV | 1 | 0 | General startup scene | 8 Gbps | $1,340 |
| Asheville, NC | 0 | 1 | General startup scene | 5 Gbps | $1,800 |
| Anaheim, CA | 1 | 0 | General startup scene | 5 Gbps | $2,480 |
| Riverside, CA | 0 | 0 | General startup scene | 5 Gbps | $1,700 |
Where the meetups are
A dedicated indie hacker or bootstrapper meetup was found in Austin, Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta and Nashville. Among those, Atlanta has the lowest 1-bedroom rent near downtown at $1,710 a month. The other cities have a general startup scene; each city page lists the groups that were found, with links, and the month they were checked.
Coworking and bandwidth
Denver has the most places to work mapped within 10 miles, 23 spaces, and Austin the fastest advertised home internet at 8 Gbps from Google Fiber. Coworking counts come from OpenStreetMap, which volunteers keep, so a city with a thin map can have more spaces than it shows. Every space found is listed by name on the city page.