Based on the domain, I expected this to be about literally moving Detroit somehow, either figuratively by relocating things or literally by physically moving the land (like Marble Hill but at a much larger scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Hill,_Manhattan)
I thought they might be trying to relocate the government, as in annex some unincorporated land nearby, deannex some or all of the current city, and start over.
I posted on here yesterday they are offering entrepreneurs $15,000 to start a company there. While that might not be like getting into yCombinator or Techstars its what they can afford to offer. It is a pretty low cost place to build however with a strong entrepreneur culture and some excellent coworking centers such as Bamboo.
$1000 doesn’t cover the cost of a moving truck to get your stuff from one end of a small town to the other. In terms of moving costs to relocate from another state, it’s less than negligible. It wouldn’t influence my decision at all and wouldn’t put Detroit on my list of places to consider. If they want to attract talent and entrepreneurs they need to do better.
Many cities are offering more. Evansville, IN is offering 3k cash + other non cash incentives. Other Indiana cities give you up to 12k downpayment assiatance on a house.
It is and that’s great. I guess it counts for something if Detroit is already on my list, but it’s not what puts Detroit on my list in the first place. A multi-year break on property taxes or incentives like low rate SBA loans or tax credits to move my business would be more interesting.
$1000 to move ANYWHERE is already a lowball. Much less to a city that consistently ranks among the top 5 most dangerous large US cities by violent crime, has brutal winters, and a blight problem.
I recommend visiting Detroit to update your priors. I first visited in 2000 and it was blighted. I visited again in 2025 and it’s actually nice (downtown Detroit and surrounding). There’s even a Microsoft office there.
It's further north than a small part of Canada, but Michigan is lake effect central, and the Detroit metro is a heat island. It's not usually that bad during the winter, but it does snow.
I can second that. I spend a lot of time in Detroit and its suburbs (though don't live there) and have yet to feel unsafe despite dire warnings from all kinds of people. There are definitely areas to avoid, but that is equally true of New York City or San Francisco.
Not even areas really, just activities. Don't get involved in gangs or drugs and you'll never have any problem. One nice thing about the Motor City is that sidewalks are empty, because if you had any money you would be driving. I've walked and biked all around the city and metro, you're more likely to be hurt by a pothole on a street with no lights than by muggers or whatever people are afraid of.
It's humid and muggy in the warm months and windy/rainy/snowy/cold otherwise. You have to be climatically adapted and motivated to walk around outside most of the year. Plus, car culture is a big thing ("Motor City") so everybody drives and there's next to no funding for public transit. There are sidewalks, there are walking and biking paths that cover a surprising area, but the number of things in walkable distance is very location-dependent.
I love Detroit. A city overflowing with history and character. The thing that struck me the most about Detroit was the pride. The people who live there love their city in a way I have not seen elsewhere. I encourage everyone to visit. It was nothing like what I expected.
My roots are firmly planted in Seattle now but just a few years ago I was seriously considering a move. If I ever left here Detroit is high on my list.
So an average of about $1600 to move to a place with a historically corrupt and incompetent local government, high crime, poor schools, dated infrastructure, and limited higher education access?
They'd need to add at least 2 zeroes to the end of that number to have any impact.
I mean if you’re going to say the university has to be literally within city limits, then I don’t see how Boston counts either (Harvard and MIT are in Cambridge) or SF (Stanford is a longer drive than Ann Arbor is from Detroit), or LA (UCLA is a nightmare of a drive from downtown). Are we really going to split hairs and say Ann Arbor doesn’t count as nearby Detroit but Stanford counts as nearby SF? Come on.
The Detroit metropolitan area includes Ann Arbor, it’s in the same commute range. Yes if your main goal is to attend a university, you should live closer than the nearby metropolis, regardless of which university you choose. It doesn’t mean Detroit has “limited higher education access”.
And there’s plenty of other quality universities nearby. Michigan has a lot of faults but lack of quality universities isn’t one of them. Unless your standards are “it’s not Stanford or Harvard”, in which case you’re just being unreasonable.
I didn't say it has to be within city limits, though I would say access is a selling point. Cambridge is a couple miles from Boston proper and they are tightly integrated, plus BU, BC, and Tufts are in the city. CMU and Pitt are in Pittsburgh. Penn is in Philly (which I didn't list originally), along with other good but less prestigious schools, some excellent schools in the inner suburbs, and Princeton is just as far away as Ann Arbor. NY has NYU, Columbia, plus others nearby. Georgetown is in DC and UMD is a couple miles over the border and accessible via metro. Chicago has UChicago in the city and Northwestern close by.
LA has USC, CalTech, and UCLA within a closer distance than UM, and SF has Cal nearby and Stanford further out. If you want to count UM for Detroit, you have to count all of those schools for their respective cities.
Detroit is not as strong as any of these cities or metro areas with regard to higher education. You can get as defensive and incredulous as you want, but no reasonable person is going to argue otherwise. The fact that UM is 45 miles away isn't going to make a lot of people choose to live in Detroit proper.
the future is already in Detroit, and it's been there for a while. It's getting distributed to the rest of the U.S now. It might be that going through the collapse to the other side is the quickest way forward, if so Detroit is already further along than the rest.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BVZZhyvZMBQ
There's so much history and culture to explore; along with tons of huge parks.
If I had to leave Tokyo, would definitely be up there.
https://www.makemymove.com/get-paid/evansville-indiana
But really its the city tax. I wonder if you can Delaware your LLC or something to avoid it.
But the city tax? Oof
Not even areas really, just activities. Don't get involved in gangs or drugs and you'll never have any problem. One nice thing about the Motor City is that sidewalks are empty, because if you had any money you would be driving. I've walked and biked all around the city and metro, you're more likely to be hurt by a pothole on a street with no lights than by muggers or whatever people are afraid of.
> "sidewalks are empty, because if you had any money you would be driving."
Not sure this makes me feel safer. I'm guessing you're not suggesting that everyone has money, so why are the sidewalks empty exactly?
Also would you say that Detroit is "walkable"?
I love Detroit. A city overflowing with history and character. The thing that struck me the most about Detroit was the pride. The people who live there love their city in a way I have not seen elsewhere. I encourage everyone to visit. It was nothing like what I expected.
My roots are firmly planted in Seattle now but just a few years ago I was seriously considering a move. If I ever left here Detroit is high on my list.
They'd need to add at least 2 zeroes to the end of that number to have any impact.
Michigan has some of the best universities in the country, dunno what you’re talking about. University of Michigan is 45 minutes away and it’s ranked #23 in the world according to https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankin...
And that's one world class university in the entire region. Compare that to Boston, SF, LA, DC, Chicago, Pittsburgh and others.
The Detroit metropolitan area includes Ann Arbor, it’s in the same commute range. Yes if your main goal is to attend a university, you should live closer than the nearby metropolis, regardless of which university you choose. It doesn’t mean Detroit has “limited higher education access”.
And there’s plenty of other quality universities nearby. Michigan has a lot of faults but lack of quality universities isn’t one of them. Unless your standards are “it’s not Stanford or Harvard”, in which case you’re just being unreasonable.
LA has USC, CalTech, and UCLA within a closer distance than UM, and SF has Cal nearby and Stanford further out. If you want to count UM for Detroit, you have to count all of those schools for their respective cities.
Detroit is not as strong as any of these cities or metro areas with regard to higher education. You can get as defensive and incredulous as you want, but no reasonable person is going to argue otherwise. The fact that UM is 45 miles away isn't going to make a lot of people choose to live in Detroit proper.
although it may also be that I am just a cynic.
Or how about "program to incent people to move to Detroit"