An interesting article in the NY Times about whether it's cheaper to live in the city or the suburbs with kids. Now this is New York and the economy and economics of things are considerably different. But in a city like NYC I'm amazed that it's cheaper to live in the city than the burbs.

That is until you factor it private school. I'd say the same thing applies to Detroit. The costs of the outrageous insurance and having to drive quite a distance for retail are offset by low housing costs, walkability/bikability of some neighborhoods, access to low cost recreational activities that are significantly more expensive in the suburbs, etc. For many people Detroit can make a lot of financial sense or at least be worth a slight increase in cost. But I can't tell you the number of families that I've met who are middle and upper middle class who love Detroit and want to stay here, but when their kids get to school age, private school is the only realistic and/or stable option for their kids. Schooling can overwhelm a family's finances and pretty much force them to the burbs for good public schools.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/yo...ref=realestate