Detroit’s revival takes shape after decades of decay

That's one way to look at it. The problems of decades of urban decay make these places unattractive to outsiders, so it's a catch-22.

There is still a long way to go though, and while I moved back from Austin once my job went remote during COVID, none of the other bourgeois high achievers from my public magnet school have done so -- as you'd expect they are all in NYC, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, etc. Brain drain is a real problem and WFH doesn't really seem to be helping.

I don't think people outside the Midwest understand what a disaster the last ~50 years have been for the industrial heartland. I don't know what the answer is, but even if it's whatever is happening in Detroit, it will be decades before these cities feel anything like whole.

But $150K in Detroit feels a hell of a lot richer than $250K in SF.

I will go point by point.

The good:

* According to their own Climate Vulnerability Assessment[0], the region is fairly resilient to the impacts of the climate change.

* There is no lake effect snow (despite being adjacent to multiple fantastic lakes). I’ve lived there for 7 years, and the amount of snow was much less than even in places like Atlanta. The amount of rainfall is ridiculously small too (despite the stereotype), and it is usually just drizzle that doesn’t necessitate even an umbrella 99% of the time. It got nothing on typical east coast rains that just pour like hell. I was able to commute to work on motorcycle for about 90-95% days of the year. For any east coast city I’ve been to (ATL/NYC/DC), I don’t foresee that number being even above 50% (most of the time it would be either too cold or too hot or too rainy/snowy/dangerous).

* UW is a very popular and common option for continuing education opportunities. Had friends who would take classes there for fun outside of work, just to fill gaps in whichever topics they were curious about (typically math). Seems like there is a large population that does this, and UW is a great school.

* Public library system is the best I’ve experienced hands down. Free, many accessible locations, and libraries even have stuff like 3d printers and hackerspaces available for anyone’s use.

* Had plenty of friends who lived there with no car for years, and they have zero plans to ever buy one. Especially with the public transit lightrail having some really significant expansions completed recently (with many more nearing the completion; the lightrail to eastside is something i am personally excited for)

The mixed:

* Reasonable cost of leaving is the one plus-minus I mentioned. The minus is that it isn’t cheap. It is much cheaper than Bay Area/NYC/etc., but it is still a major city area. The plus is that there is no state income tax. So, in retirement, your 401k withdrawals would not get any taxes skimmed off on the state level. This point is by far the biggest potential concern I have as far as Seattle being a good suggestion for you.

The bad:

* While the weather is amazing temperature/precipitation-wise year-round, clear skies and sun outside of summer are not that common. Grey skies for more than half of the month during winter eventually got to me.

Bonus points:

* If you are into outdoorsy stuff (skiing/snowboarding/hiking/kayaking/lake stuff), I cannot think of a better area. So many options within just a couple of hours. Hell, Discovery Park (calling it a park feels like a misnomer, because it is a massive cliffside forest, fields, and a beach) is just a 15 min drive from downtown.

* Flying to asian countries is much faster and cheaper than from east coast (13 hour non-stop flight to Japan from NJ vs. a 7-8hr flight from Seattle).

0. https://seattle.gov/documents/departments/opcd/seattleplan/s...