For affordable with a tech scene, you need to look at cities in Texas. I knew someone with a Best Places book and cd who was looking for affordable places and IT jobs and Texas cities dominated the top ten. Other affordable places lack IT/tech. Other tech places are expensive. He did not want to go to Texas so he kept tweaking his criteria but Texas continued to dominate the listings. This was a few years ago but that is where I would start the search.

Edit: And you can look at info here: http://www.bestplaces.net/