- David Valdez, 35, moved to Detroit from San Francisco in 2018.
- Since then, he's bought a home and opened a coffee shop.
- Valdez said those milestones were possible thanks to Detroit's lower cost of living.
Moving to Detroit helped David Valdez achieve his lifelong dream.
Valdez, 35, moved from San Francisco in 2018, where he worked as a barista and bartender.
"Moving here has been really good to me," Valdez said. "I've been able to do things here that were just dreams or impossible if I stayed in the Bay."
Valdez moved to Detroit for better job opportunities and to be with his partner, Juna Durrant, who's from Michigan. In San Francisco, Valdez said he worked two jobs and lived with roommates just to get by. But in Detroit, he's been able to buy a home and open his own coffee shop. He and Durrant have a 6-year-old son and are expecting another baby in November.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans like Valdez had been ditching expensive coastal hubs in favor of smaller cities with more affordable living costs. The trend ballooned when the pandemic hit and is still seeing momentum: In 2022, 817,669 people left California, according to the most recently available US Census Bureau data. In 2018, that number was 691,145.
Between July 2022 and July 2023, 1,852 people moved into Detroit, bringing the city's population to 633,218, according to Census data. That was the first year-over-year increase in the city's population since 1957.
Moving a dream to Detroit
Valdez said he loved San Francisco but found it unsustainable to work long term in the city's leisure and hospitality industry.
He said he often worked around the clock to earn as much as possible.
"I was done with my barista job in the morning, I had a couple of hours to myself, and then I would go to my next job at a bar or a restaurant," Valdez said. "I couldn't do that for another five years."
While working at a restaurant in San Francisco, Valdez met Durrant, who was a fellow employee. When Durrant moved to Michigan in 2017, Valdez frequently visited her.
"Every time I would go to Detroit, I just kind of fell more and more in love with it," Valdez said.
Valdez had wanted to leave the Bay Area but originally dreamed of going to Mexico City, where he was born, to launch a business that exports Mexican coffee to the US.
But after visiting Durrant and relocating to Detroit, he saw an opportunity to try his dream elsewhere.
He noticed there were few neighborhood coffee shops, and he thought the community could use independent, specialty cafés that offered something different from Starbucks.
At the time, Valdez worked at various cafés in Detroit, including Astro, a coffee shop in the historic Corktown neighborhood. Astro closed in 2021, and in 2023, the owners contacted Valdez about selling him the storefront so it didn't go to a big corporation or other development.
In December, he opened Alba using Astro's storefront. The store makes specialty drinks, including a café de olla latte — a Mexican spiced coffee.
Valdez booked $306,000 in net sales this year, documents reviewed by Business Insider indicate.
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Finding affordability outside California
Valdez said moving to Detroit has been an exceedingly positive experience.
"It's not that Detroit is supercheap or anything like that," Valdez said. "It's rather the other way around: San Francisco was extremely expensive."
The average home value in San Francisco is $1.2 million, compared to Detroit's $75,041, data from Zillow showed.
In 2019, Valdez bought a home in Detroit and locked in a 4.7% mortgage. In 2021, he refinanced to a 2.5% mortgage.
Valdez said some aspects of Detroit are lackluster. He said the city is a food desert, meaning there are few grocery stores. Public transport is also lacking in Detroit, RedFin found using data from Walk Score.
Local resources and connections could help scale your business
Valdez said business ownership could be a path toward financial independence, but there are important steps to take to prepare for the opportunity.
"Be vocal and intentional about opening a store," he said. "Before I opened Alba, folks knew I wanted to open my own café. I don't have much capital but knew I could access social capital by building connections and relationships."
Valdez also sought out local resources for small-business owners. He received a $50,000 business grant through ProsperUs, a Detroit-based organization that provides loans for small businesses in the city.
He also applied for a small-business loan from a neighborhood development fund in Corktown, which provided him $80,000. Valdez and Durrant also invested $30,000 of their own money in Alba.
While Valdez loves the Bay Area and still has family there, he said he's been able to build a financial footing in Detroit that wouldn't have been possible in San Francisco.
"If I stayed in San Francisco, I wouldn't even begin to try to open a coffee shop," Valdez said.
Are you a new small-business owner? This reporter wants to hear your story. Reach out at [email protected].