Hmm. This is interesting to me, because in my field, I know for sure that businesses seriously consider out-of-state applicants and nation-wide recruiting is the norm. Now, it is important once an applicant gets to an interview that they make their interest in re-locating to the area known, but certainly location is NOT a barrier to getting an interview. That being said, I work in a very specialized field where there are not all that many of us that do our jobs well. I'd be interested in knowing what other people in your field think, as I think it's hard for the rest of us to give advice when we don't know the norms for your line of work. (If you were in my line of work, I'd advise you to stay put because businesses will recruit nationwide, but again, I don't know much about your line of work!)