As a brown immigrant with family living in places like Dallas, Houston and st Louis I vouch for this. Even though I'm filthy rich compared to the poor woman the article talks about even I could instantly increase my quality of life by moving to st. Louis. I would consider this a huge downgrade from the bay area primarily since it's simply unsafe and hostile for someone with my "color". My family members who grew up in the Midwest grow up living in lowkey constant fear. So yeah moving might be a terrible downgrade for many non whites.