Have you thought about moving to the City of Angels or the nation's capital, because you've heard that's where the Internet jobs are? Well, you're right on the money. Those and the other cities listed here are great places to go if your passion is the Web.

Internet Organizations by City Washington, DC Netpreneur Exchange New Media Society of Washington, DC Internet Society New York New York New Media Association Association for Interactive Media (national) San Francisco Association of Internet Professionals (national) Women in Multimedia Webgrrls (International) Atlanta Association of Internet Professionals Webgrrls Atlanta Los Angeles Association for Interactive Media (national) Seattle The Interactive Media Alliance Boston Massachusetts Interactive Media Council

Check below for a quick snapshot of what each city is like, what the best known Internet employers are, and some of the professional organizations you might want to join to get your networking off to a good start.

Washington, DC

The nation's capital was once only known for politicians and bureaucrats, but in the past few years, all that has changed. DC and its neighboring suburbs are now home to some of the most high-profile tech companies in the country. "The presence of AOL and Proxicom has certainly contributed to the amount of dotcom investment dollars available in DC," says Jay O'Grady, mid-Atlantic region practice director for Benchmark HR. "Those dollars will surely keep DC a hot community for dotcom startups of all maturity levels and focuses, and therefore a lucrative, high-tech-employee-friendly town."

Regional Internet Companies: AOL, Motley Fool, Brainbench.com, VarsityBooks.com, enews.com

New York

The Big Apple is a hotbed of dotcom content companies and creative types. Big interactive agencies such as Agency.com and Razorfish began humbly and then grew to become international media players. NYC is the place to be if you can command a top salary, because living expenses are astronomical. Entry-level and even mid-level dotcommers may be better off getting experience and paying their dues elsewhere.

Regional Internet Companies: TheStreet.com, Doubleclick, iVillage, SonicNet, Kozmo.com, Scient, Nerve.com, ABCNews.com, Internet.com

San Francisco

By many accounts, San Francisco is considered the heart of the New Economy. From Silicon Valley's high-tech companies (3Com, Intel, Cisco and Oracle) to the top print and online publications covering the Internet (Salon, Business 2.0, The San Jose Mercury and the Industry Standard) to the creative Web shops of SOMA, you'll find just about everything dotcom-related here. Just like NYC, the cost of living in and around San Francisco is very pricey, so be prepared to pay handsomely for a decent place to live.

Regional Internet Companies: Agilent, Yahoo!, eBay, Juniper Networks

Atlanta

This state capital sits at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains near the Chattahoochee River in north central Georgia. Like the DC market, Atlanta's mirrors much of the national dotcom recruitment and job opportunity trends. For example, "high-end Web developers are among the most sought-after specimen of the dotcom breed," says Jim Miller, vice president of regional expansion for Benchmark HR. "Java, C++ and Oracle are all high-priced talent commodities in both markets' dotcom spaces."

According to Teresa Gray, Southeast region practice manager at Benchmark, Atlanta's secondary education population isn't quite as diverse and does not have as much depth as other high-tech hotbeds, like DC, Boston and New York. "As that's the case, Atlanta has more entry-level personnel with associate degrees versus those with bachelor degrees."

Regional Internet companies: eTour.com, InfoSeek.com, Click2Learn

Los Angeles

Move over MGM and Universal Studios, there's a new game in town. These days, Hollywood is all about convergence and multimedia. Films are making it onto the Net, studios are using the Net to promote indie films (remember the Blair Witch Project?) and some companies are even using the Net to find rising stars.

Regional Dotcom Companies: Pseudo, AtomFilms, iFilm.com

Seattle

If you still think Seattle is just about Starbucks and rain, think again. The Pacific Northwest's tech center is home to some of the Internet economy's biggest players. Microsoft, the world's leading personal computer software company, is one of 2,500 software development firms in the area. Several recent surveys ranked Seattle as one of the best US cities in which to locate a business. Key factors are Seattle's skilled work force, manufacturing capability, education, research, quality transportation and infrastructure, access to international and domestic markets, and government accessibility.

Regional Internet Companies: Microsoft, Amazon, Go2Net, RealNetworks

Boston

In Beantown, tech is hotter than ever. "All of the elements necessary to create and support a thriving Internet industry are here -- and in abundance, " says Leslie Smith, executive director of the Massachusetts Interactive Media Council (MIMC). Those elements include infrastructure, capital and ideas. Of course, Boston is also home to some of the best universities in the world, generating the largest pool of intellectual resources in the country, she explains. "This, coupled with its long history as a leader and innovator in technology, is why Boston is considered one of the world's leading Internet communities."

Regional Internet Companies: Lycos, Abuzz, NorthernLights.com, CMGI, Akamai, HomePortfolio.com, and of course, Monster.com.

To compare the cost of living in these and other cities, check out these salary calculators:
Monster.com's Salary Center
Homefair Salary Calculator