Anyone move to GR area from $$ Detroit suburbs in the last few years? (Grand Rapids: transplants)

[GoBlueA2]

I'd be interested in hearing your experiences, particularly with differences in pay, benefits, housing, and dealing with winter. Thanks! (Feel free to note where you are in your career: entry-level, mid-career, senior)

[GoBlueA2]

Wow. No one on this board has moved from the pricier suburbs of Detroit to the Grand Rapids area and is willing to talk?

[mjlo]

Perhaps if you lay this out with the questions you have we may be able to provide insight

[Coldjensens]

My son did for school. But as a student, he does not have much experience with the things you are looking for. Winters are snowier - for him that translates into decent paying jobs from time to time. He has no problem driving in it. It is the same thing just more. Affordable apartments are readily available in both Allendale and in GR. Lots of cool places to visit like Southhaven (they have a great dog beach nearby). I think he might not mind staying in the area, but he is not particularly keen on staying. he will go wherever a job takes him as long as there is water to row on.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by GoBlueA2

Wow. No one on this board has moved from the pricier suburbs of Detroit to the Grand Rapids area and is willing to talk?

This forum section has fallen off the radar for a lot of transplants. Probably a lot of discussion boards are suffering from competition from Facebook and other social media. Or people find this forum in a search and find the answers they were looking for in one of the hundreds of previous threads?

Either way, I know a ton of people here who moved from the suburban Detroit area.

[GoBlueA2]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

My son did for school. But as a student, he does not have much experience with the things you are looking for. Winters are snowier - for him that translates into decent paying jobs from time to time. He has no problem driving in it. It is the same thing just more. Affordable apartments are readily available in both Allendale and in GR. Lots of cool places to visit like Southhaven (they have a great dog beach nearby). I think he might not mind staying in the area, but he is not particularly keen on staying. he will go wherever a job takes him as long as there is water to row on.

Thanks for your input.

[thepastorsson]

Well it's been awhile but I moved to the GR area from Oakland County in 2010. I think the general answer is you'll find the pay and housing costs to be roughly the same, depending on where you end up living. The biggest difference to me is the overall vibe of West Michigan vs. Metro Detroit. Detroit has a much more urban, harder, kind of east coast-ish feel to it, whereas West Michigan feels very mid-western. It's a much smaller feel here. GR is a decent size, and there are smaller mid sized cities scattered about, but generally it's more country feeling over here than SE Michigan. As far as winter goes, you'll find there to be more snow over here, from either a bit to a lot, depending on where you live. Generally more snow the closer to the lake you go, and the farther north you go. Roads are horrible here but actually better than the roads near Detroit. Hope this helps!