[Dave W]

That is true in practically all blue states, with the exception of Massachusetts. Washington state less Seattle, Oregon less Portland and Salem, Penn less Philadelphia, Virginia less northern Virginia. I could go on and on, but those places are where the people live so they control the state.

[RayChuang88]

Seattle is lucky because the presence of Amazon.com, Boeing (even though corporate headquarters left many years ago), Costco, Microsoft, Nordstrom and Starbucks in the metro region is literally keeping that city alive. Northern Virginia is thriving because it is a bedroom community for many Federal workers working in Washington, DC and the fact several large Federal agencies have headquarters in Virginia near DC.

Chicago could have been fabulously wealthy just from being the biggest transportation hub in the USA, but Democratic mismanagement could take down the city and the state of Illinois with it.