I’m one of those. I left last year for WA and a job that did not pay quite as much. My paycheck is the same as it was in MI, just now I don’t have to pay state income tax. My family is still there and they tell me things are really bad. Before I left I remember driving through the Livonia/Farmington Hills area outside of Detroit and seeing “For Sale” signs up and down the blocks of the subdivisions. Things are going to get much worse before they get better.
As long as the Polititians can provide enough city perks to the big cities, it will continue to get worse.