Despite its prairie cool, thriving DIY arts and culinary scene and entrepreneurial spark, Fargo has slipped under the radar over the past decade. The city, which comes in at #49 for Prosperity, is home to Microsoft’s third-largest campus in North America, one that employs more than 1,800 people. Fargo startups are also getting a fair share of the national spotlight, including Appareo Systems, a leader in electronic and computer products for the aerospace and defense industries. Silicon Prairie, the Heartland’s version of Silicon Valley, is not only thriving, it’s also helping to attract and retain talent. The median age of Fargo residents is 31, which makes sense when you take into account that a good 30,000 of the people who live here are college students at North Dakota State University.