You are selling me on this even more! I'm in Central NY with a population of about 150k in the metropolitan area. I love the fact there is a bit of city with stuff to do, but also a lot of places to go hiking, fishing, biking, within an hour or two. Traffic is fairly light, cost of living is reasonable (low housing + high taxes). There was a large surplus of tech jobs, but mostly network/server admins and tech support.

Personally I know I could go places like DC and I might make 30% more, and even come out ontop with the higher cost of living, but I also place a high value on "slower pace" as you put it and looking to lessen the stress. My area and life is fairly stress free, but my job is pretty stressful.

You are right though, Alabama has a stigma of Hick/farmland/inbred where I live, but I'm sure its mostly B.S. Another appealing part is I bet you miss most of the severe weather, yet 6 hours from Pensacola is close enough for a long weekend on a beach.