I have done roughly this. I don't live in Detroit, but moved from Austin to another rust belt city in Michigan. It also happens to be my hometown, so it's hard

I have done roughly this. I don't live in Detroit, but moved from Austin to another rust belt city in Michigan. It also happens to be my hometown, so it's hard to recommend it to people who don't have that connection. I own a home that I definitely couldn't afford in Austin, and life is pretty good. That said, I worry about the job market. I have no desire to leave my current company in the immediate future, but I think I may find it difficult in the current climate. Still, we put enough down on the house (and got the mortgage just before interest rates really popped) that we can easily stay put with just a "replacement-level" job in retail or similar, so it wouldn't be the end of the world. I should say that, ironically, the reason I grew up here is that my Dad was a Federal employee at a time when there was no cost-of-living adjustment for Federal jobs (meaning his salary would be the same no matter which office he was assigned to, regardless of whether that was NYC or Peoria). He found this city doing research about low cost-of-living cities before putting in for a transfer. Now my daughter is growing up here for essentially the same reason. It's the circle of Midwestern life.