Ask HN: How can I relocate for a better job?

Hello HN,<p>I am a web developer from an area of the United States on the East Coast that is very limited as far as available web developer jobs. I am employed, and have been for the past 2 years. My pay is decent considering the low cost-of-living, but well below the national average for the work I do. I am an expert with PHP (OO), MySQL, jQuery, of course HTML &#38; CSS. Also others, but I'm trying to keep this short.<p>I am a single guy in his mid-20's, and I would love to relocate almost anywhere in the United States for a PHP Developer position. I have found hundreds of jobs, but most of them say locals only and never reply. By the way, back in 2007 I did receive an offer of employment and fully paid relocation to Seattle, WA after an application I was working on for a local company was sold to a Seattle based company, but couldn't accept because I was married at the time and the wife didn't agree.<p>I'm okay with not receiving relocation benefits if I find the right job, but it would be nice to receive at least some sort of assistance in the moving process. Either way, I'm not really sure how to go about landing a job in a place I can't drive to.<p>- THE QUESTION -<p>Have you ever landed a job or even a face-to-face interview for an opportunity that required relocation? Do you have any tips on how I can do the same? Would it be unreasonable for me to negotiate the prospective employer to pay all or part of the price for a plane ticket for an interview? Lastly, I'm searching in various places including Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Boston, Richmond, do you know of other cities with plentiful jobs in web development that I should consider?<p>Thanks for any help, and I hope this post hasn't ended up being way too long for anyone to read.<p>[edit] Would anyone recommend moving before being offered a job? If I don't find something by early next year, I was thinking of just picking a city to move to without a job, and then trying to find one after moving, but most people tell me that it would be stupid to leave my current job without having something else lined up first. [/edit]