IMO this is really inaccurate. Rochester Hills, Bloomfield, Royal Oak, Grosse Point, all very wealthy cities .... the problems are simply accentuated by the scale economic growth/collapse, but it happens in West Michigan as well (Benton Harbor, for example).

I went to school near Benton Harbor. It's incredible to see the literal line between Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. It's like ghetto > river > water front mansions. Pretty crazy to see such different perspectives within such close proximity to each other.

I am from flint and now live in Rochester hills. There are some OK parts of flint but really there's is nothing you can say that is nice other than the colleges.

And yet Ann Arbor is in East Michigan, and it's one of the best towns in the entire country, probably largely thanks to the University.

Oakland County is also fairly prosperous (a good portion of the migration out of Detroit was a few dozen miles north to Oakland County).

I think pensions end up being a big factor. A city of 100,000 people is going to have some trouble keeping up the payments owed by the former city of 200,000. I guess as a society we need to remember to be really careful about promising compensation and then finding funds for it later (pensions were also a big factor in bankrupting GM and Chrysler).

The University and medical infrastructure make Ann Arbor a bizarre bubble of wealth in an otherwise dying state.

I've been able to travel into Detroit a few times sense moving to Ann arbor and the difference is truly shocking. Even more so when you consider the distance between the places (about 45 minute drive). I highly recommend checking out Detroit in person if you get the opportunity, pictures just simply do the place justice.

It's not that bizarre, the suburbs surrounding Detroit include some of the wealthiest areas in the nation. Also, downtown Detroit is booming. I visited in July and it was night and day compared to when I previously visited three years ago. I went to school in Ann Arbor and if I wasn't tied to my current location I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Agreed. Anyone who says there is an East/West divide in Michigan... never actually lived in Michigan.

Ditto. I'm hoping to move back at some point

yeah... i definitely wouldn't go that far.

The west side of the state is nice, but it doesnt really compare to the larger (and wealthier) markets on the East side of the state:

Birmingham, Bloomfield hills, Troy, Ann Arbor, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Grosse pointe, etc.

The far more obvious dichotomy is Oakland county vs Wayne county.

Wayne county(county where Detroit is located):

>About 18.6% of families and 23.7% of the population were below the poverty line

Oakland county (county just north of Wayne):

>About 3.80% of families and 5.50% of the population were below the poverty line

Kent county (grand rapids location):

>8.90% of the population and 6.30% of families were below the poverty line.

Have you been to the eastern part of Michigan? The Detroit suburbs like Birmingham, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, etc. are absurdly affluent. Not to mention that places like Ann Arbor, and even Royal Oak and Dearborn Heights are doing fairly well. I'd attribute it to suburban flight more than an East/West divide.

Source: lived in Michigan 22 years