Speaking as someone who until last year lived in a neighborhood in Brooklyn, NYC that had a Republican state Senator and the most conservative congressman in the state (Vito Fosella), I can tell you that NY is not nearly as bad as Seattle, where I currently live. The main difference between Detroit (#1) and Seattle, politically at least, is that while 19% of Seattlites have the sense to vote Republican, only about 7% of Detroiters do.
I'd rather live in Baghdad than Detroit.