The Alley and the Valley [Interactive Infographic]

For about four decades, the conversation about “where are the best startups located” began and ended with Silicon Valley. In recent years, we’ve started to see growth across the country for startups and technology entrepreneurs While New York’s Silicon Alley may be at the forefront of this movement of innovation and entrepreneurship, we shouldn’t overlook the other cities that have created incredible communities.

Although the infographic below focuses on the Valley and the Alley, cities such as Chicago, Austin, Seattle, and North Carolina’s Research Triangle have all emerged as startup hubs with growing communities each and every day

Obviously, New York’s startup scene is growing exponentially, and that is why it deserves much of the recognition. The amount of capital and seed funding continues to rise as well as the success of local companies like foursquare, Gilt Groupe, and Tumblr. The city’s ecosystem also has the support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently appointed Rachel Sterne as the city’s Chief Digital Officer along with Steve Rosenbaum, the city’s first Entrepreneur at Large.

In following NYC and Bloomberg, we should continue to try and empower entrepreneurs to be in a position to succeed no matter their location. Its encouraging even more so that President Barack Obama addressed the need for us to foster innovation and entrepreneurship across the board.

This infographic really does go to show that there is no better time to be an entrepreneur. As YEC founder Scott Gerber posited in a recent TIME article, 2012 may very well be “The Year of the Entrepreneur.”

Interact with the graphic below to explore some noteworthy companies in both Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley, quotes from stakeholders, as well as the rise in Seed Funding from 2010-2012.