>>21413722The food scene is mostly diner based. There are some nice high end restaurants and non-European ethnic restaurants in urban areas. Outside of that, it's mostly standard diner fare from old wave immigrants. And of course all the typical national and regional chains.
Most people, especially outside of urban areas, are socially conservative but old union politics still have inertia here so lots of older people can't shed the Democrat label even if they don't like what the Democrats are doing. The state's Republican Party is a disorganized mess and few want to get involved, not just because of that, but because they know they'll become targeted for political reprisals. It's not Mexico where you can get murdered for running against the dominate party, but you can get put under a microscope until something is found or invented.
There are plenty of towns and townships where the government generally is low key and the people of the community aren't interested in making big shows of having the right virtues. But go to Ann Arbor and you might as well be in Berkeley. If you don't need to work in the middle of a city, you can have a pretty comfy life with little political drama.
Cost of living is relatively low but the state does have a form of California's Prop 13 property tax system that causes newcomers to pay more in property taxes than those are long term owners of their home. That's something you have to factor in when figuring out how much housing will cost you as the property tax history of a house you're buying likely won't reflect the current property taxes you'll have to pay.
