What’s Up With Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is my hometown. I grew up in this beautiful city and spent most of my adult life (re)discovering its amenities. But I’ve also traveled to almost every corner of the continent, with a critical eye on the vibe/culture, topography/design, and architecture/history of each city. And I’ve come to one (very biased) opinion: the ‘Burgh is the most underrated of them all.
This town doesn’t have the energy of Chicago or the sunshine of L.A., but it has one thing most American cities don’t: character. It oozes out of every century-old skyscraper, twelve-seat dive bar, and five-way intersection within 20 miles. If you’ve been here, you know what I’m talking about. If not, book a flight. It’s time to challenge your perceptions.
What’s Bad
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first because, let’s be honest, there are a lot of them. No, the sun is not blacked out by soot and not everyone wears a hockey jersey to work, but there’s still plenty to gripe about.
The most obvious knock against Pittsburgh is the climate. From May to October, the weather is perfect and the city is alive. But from November to April it’s cold and dark and gray, not exactly an energy booster. Like everywhere north of D.C., the winters are long. Spring supposedly begins on March 21, but it’s really just the start of Winter Lite. April teases the senses with the occasional 70-degree day, but the next one will top out in the 40s. Then May rolls around, the furnace is turned off, when suddenly and inexplicably the weatherman calls for flurries. At that point, a collective sigh is released from half the population and Zillow reports a noticeable uptick in searches for “Orlando three bedroom.” It’s brutal.
Some people like to say that Pittsburgh has a “big city, small town” vibe. This is accurate. I like to say that there are two types of towns in America: “where’d you go to college?” towns and “where’d you go to high school?” towns. Pittsburgh is the latter. The proportion of adult residents that grew up in the area has to be 80% (or more), which means most people already have a built-in network so it’s pretty hard for transplants to make new friends. This is not the case in the most dynamic cities, where everyone is from somewhere else.
Similarly, the ethnic and cultural diversity is on the low end. A hundred years ago, Pittsburgh was bursting at the seams with immigrants, who were attracted by jobs. But all those distinct European groups (Germans, Italians, Slovakians, Irish, etc.) homogenized into a block of whiteness that comprises about 85% of the population. Black people probably make up one-tenth while the other nationalities - Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc. - are a rounding error (note: I have no data to back this up; it’s just my perception). In New York, you can walk ten blocks and hear ten different languages. That’s not going to happen in Pittsburgh these days (except maybe in Oakland, where the universities are), and that’s sad.
What’s Good
First and foremost, Pittsburgh is breathtakingly gorgeous. I’ve been criss-crossing it for over a decade and still stare in awe at how mesmerizing everything is: the mansions and churches, the hills and valleys, the rivers and bridges. They all mix together in a cocktail that will blow away your preconceived notions (see above: underrated). Whether you’re at the top of Spring Hill, driving on the Fort Pitt bridge, or floating on the Mon’, the views are immaculate.
Maybe the biggest contributors to the city’s beauty are its neighborhoods, each with its own distinct flavor. Everybody knows about The Strip and Lawrenceville, but there are dozens more: Bloomfield, Highland Park, the Mexican War Streets, etc. Some are well-established, but most are up-and-coming, meaning they haven’t yet been infested by Bank of America branches and Paneras. A lot of old neighborhoods have (tragically) been demolished over the years, but Victorian architecture is everywhere, a joy to behold.
And if you want to live in one of these neighborhoods, you don’t need IPO money. As I write this, the housing market is shooting to the moon, but $400,000 (yikes) will still go very far, without having to live in the suburbs (where, by the way, the schools are great and the housing is generally even more affordable). The housing situation, a healthy local economy, and plenty of job opportunities are what attracts young workers (especially in tech) to the area - and makes Pittsburgh a great place to locate a financial services business.
Like a rising tide that lifts all ships, most large cities have benefitted from the Airbnb-ification of the world, where Millennials demand a robust restaurant scene, a rentable scooter ecosystem, and dog-friendly breweries. It’s the same in Pittsburgh. You can’t walk half a mile without seeing an ironic mustache or a distressed-wood interior crafted to appeal to the Instagram gods algorithm.
But this is a good, if not great, thing for the people who live (and visit) here. Nobody under the age of 50 is complaining. Even the music scene is on fire. It’s not Nashville, but the number of venues has exploded in the last decade. Besides the obvious 10,000-seat arenas, there are half a dozen gems like the Roxian, Thunderbird Cafe, and Con Alma. If you live in the right neighborhood, you can see a live band almost every night. A win-win, if you ask me.
Final Verdict
I can’t tell you how many friends and colleagues have visited Pittsburgh and said something like “I had no idea it was like this!” They imagined a dirty, featureless, midwestern wasteland with very little to offer. But it never takes long to flip the script. Once they take in the view from Mt. Washington, wave a Terrible Towel at a Steelers game, or try their first slice of Fiori’s pizza, they appreciate this town for what it is. They just had to challenge their perceptions.
Shoutout David Perrell, who wrote a similar, much more articulate, editorial about Austin earlier this year.
Devin Faddoul, CFP® is the founder of Adda Financial | Outsource your financial life. Focus on your real life.