When a millennial moved to Detroit from SF, he bought a home and opened a coffee shop. He said that would have been impossible on the West Coast.

David Valdez, 35, moved to Detroit from San Francisco and opened Alba, a coffee shop.

Courtesy of David Valdez

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 due 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 is from Michigan. In San Francisco, Valdez said he worked two jobs and lived with roommates just to get by. However, in Detroit, he has been able to buy a home and open his own coffee shop. What’s more, he and Durrant have a six-year-old son and are expecting another baby in November.

Before the pandemic, many Americans like Valdez had been ditching expensive coastal hubs in favor of smaller cities that offer more affordable living costs. That trend ballooned when COVID-19 hit and is still seeing momentum: In 2022, 817,669 people left California, according to the most recently available Census data. In 2018, that number was 691,145.

Additionally, 1,852 people moved into Detroit between July 2022 and July 2023, bringing the city’s population to 633,218, according to the US Census Bureau. 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 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 said there was a noticeable lack of coffee shops, and he sensed that the community needed 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, like a café de olla latte — a Mexican spiced coffee.

Valdez booked $306,000 in net sales this year, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.

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.”

For example, the average home value in San Francisco is $1.2 million, compared to Detroit’s $75,041, according to Zillow.

In 2019, Valdez bought a home in Detroit and locked in a 4.7% mortgage. In 2021, he refinanced to a 2.5% mortgage.

To be sure, some aspects of Detroit are lackluster, Valdez said. For example, he said the city is a food desert, meaning there are few grocery stores. Public transport is also lacking in Detroit, according to RedFin.

David Valdez opened Alba in December 2023.

Courtesy of David Valdez

Local resources and connections can help scale your business

Valdez said business ownership can 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. For example, 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 with $80,000. Additionally, Valdez and Durrant invested $30,000 of their own money in Alba.

While Valdez loves the Bay Area — he 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 jtowfighi@businessinsider.com