Midtown, downtown, followed by Southwest.

Why? They're all walkable urban areas and relatively safe, especially downtown and midtown. Midtown has WSU and the museums and galleries. As much press as this receives, you'd think its rocket science or something.

Sorry, Woodbridge no longer makes my list. While it is cute as hell and close to everything cool, I know too many people who have been the victims of serious violent crime there. I think there is a lot of crime of opportunity because the bad guys know there are students, teachers, and profs living there with at least something to steal.

You could include Corktown to the list. Close to downtown, bars, 5 minutes from anywhere you want to be. Not as many rentals as Midtown, downtown, or the geographic area of SW, though.

In my experience, midtown and downtown are very safe - especially Midtown with WSU cops on the prowl and only a phone call away.

What interests me most is that these are TINY areas compared to the rest of the city, and while they're hailed as Detroit's resurgence, or whatever the hell is supposed to be happening, I don't see hip young people ever reaching a critical mass and spreading out to 7 mile and Van Dyke for any particular reason or about 100 other square miles of the city.

Eastside, since you invited the arrows...this may not be your intent, but I do find the attitude of "some kids move into the city and then move out when they've grown up" pretty condescending. There is an implication there that these are wide-eyed kids just looking for the thrill of living in the city for a few years and then suddenly one day grab a pair of dockers, a riding lawnmower, a border collie and move to Shelby Township. It really remains to be seen what they will do. As one poster attested, he is young and intends to stay. I moved here when I was younger and bought a house here. Frankly, if these kids grow up and move, it will probably be to another urban area in another state, looking for a better urban experience. They've also played a part of an actual demographic shift against white flight in the city for the first time in 50 years, so this isn't just a dozen hippies with a garden either.

While many people attest that they lived in cities as a young person for the bars and galleries and later grew to value those less and moved, for millions of people they never lose an affinity for urban living, even if they don't hit the bar every night. Look at the demographics of every major city - they are composed of mostly adults, after all. There are no other very large cities in Michigan, so it will likely be our loss if they do leave.