Sorry Detroit, your neighbors just don't like you.

[Bham1982]

The census numbers back it. Low income residents are leaving the city for better prospects. They're fed up with the crime and neighborhood conditions. Meanwhile, young and educated folks are moving here in droves and offset [[though not quite enough) the massive losses from the south and west sides.

This isn't what the Census reports.

The Census reports huge middle class losses for Chicago. The poor aren't leaving; it's the middle class [[of all races) that's leaving the city.

Generally speaking, poor people don't have a lot of choice in their housing options. They're often tied to neighborhoods because of family situations, Section 8 subsidies, and the like. They can't just buy some McMansion in the cornfields.

What you see in Chicago [[and most other Midwest cities) is that the middle class is fleeing in droves, the poor are staying, and there's a growing core population of post-collegiate types. Most of those post-collegiate types are out of the city once they marry and have kids.