I’m currently reading This Is Where You Belong by Melody Warnick. It’s about loving the place you live, and it got me thinking about living in Pittsburgh. I’ve been living in the ‘Burgh since I was two-years-old, so I’ve been here over 25 years.
I’m pretty sure I could write a book on what it’s like to live in Pittsburgh, but I’ll try and keep this post to a simple pro and con list. Spoiler alert: I love it 😊
Cons of Living in Pittsburgh
- Traffic. We have a few tunnels in and around Pittsburgh, and there always seems to be traffic around them. Jimmy (my husband) and I have been known to plan outings around the heavy traffic times in the city. It’s simply a part of life, especially if you’re trying to get from one end of Pittsburgh to another.
- Winter. The winters can be quite cold and snowy. In February 2010, we were hit with over 21 inches of snow. It was kind of awesome, though, because I didn’t have school for about a week 😉
- Cloudy Days. Pittsburgh has an average of 203 cloudy days per year. It definitely makes me appreciate the sun when I see it!
Pros of Living in Pittsburgh
- Livability. Pittsburgh constantly places high on the nation’s list of most livable cities due to its low crime rate, low cost of living, cultural opportunities, outdoor activities, and low risk of natural disasters.
- Dialect. Have you ever heard of Pittsburghese? Pittsburghers like to use words like yinz, nebby, and slippy, along with phrases such as “Kennywood’s open” and “Apost tu.” It’s pretty cool!
- Bridges. Pittsburgh has a whopping 446 bridges. Some of the well-known ones are the Fort Pitt Bridge, Smithfield Street Bridge, and Roberto Clemente Bridge. The Roberto Clemente bridge is one of my favorites during Pirates’ and Steelers’ games, because the bridge is closed off to vehicles and pedestrians get to take over and walk across it.
One of my favorite bridges, the Smithfield Street Bridge.
- Sports. Between the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins, Pittsburgh is a huge sports city. Heinz Field, PNC Park, and the PPG Paints Arena are all awesome venues and the teams themselves are even better. The atmosphere during baseball, football, and hockey games in Pittsburgh is unparalleled.
- Seasons. Pittsburgh experiences all four seasons and fall is especially gorgeous.
- Food. From sandwiches stuffed with fries and coleslaw to ham barbecue and stuffed cabbage, the ‘Burgh has a unique and tasty food scene going on! You’ll find vegan restaurants, coffee shops, and more. Pittsburgh has a food scene that rivals big cities like New York and Los Angeles.
- Health care. If you come to Pittsburgh for any sort of health care, you’re in good hands. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is world renowned and has so many talented, hard working doctors. People from all over the world come for medical treatment in Pittsburgh.
- Entertainment. Phipps Conservatory, the The National Aviary, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, plenty of museums, the Strip District, a lively performing arts scene, and much more make for plenty of things to do!
The cons of living in Pittsburgh aren’t that uncommon for a lot of cities in the United States. The pros, though? They make living in Pittsburgh absolutely amazing. I’m proud to call this city my home!
Living My Full Life 
Pittsburgh sounds like a great place to live. And yes, I have heard of Pittsburghese! 🙂 I learned about it in one of my linguistics classes at university — there are quite a few linguistic papers and studies of Pittsburghese.
There are lots of pros about the place where I live: it’s peaceful and rural, but it’s also close to a historic city which has a beautiful cathedral, a great university and a good food scene.
The cons: the unpredictable weather is the main one I can think of. Winters are often dull and rainy, and you’re not guaranteed a nice, warm summer. I love the sun, but we don’t get enough of it here.
It’s also a very small city, and while I love that aspect of it, it does mean that cultural activities and things to do are quite limited.
I love that you learned about Pittsburghese in one of your linguistics classes! I learned about it one of my linguistics classes, too, but I thought it was just because my college was near Pittsburgh!
Where you live sounds nice because it’s peaceful, and has a good food scene!! And the cathedral sounds beautiful! I can totally relate to wanting more sun and predictable weather!
Your comment about limited cultural activities is wrong. Pittsburgh with a population of approx. 450,000 residents has more than its share of cultural activities: a world class symphony, one of the oldest opera companies in the country, a recognized ballet company, theatre and the August Wilson Cultural Center. In addition there are a number of art galleries and museums. Your comment is laughable.
In that comment, I was talking about the pros and cons of the place where I live, not Pittsburgh.
The things you listed are not about culture. What culture do you think they represent, specifically? It seems like you are talking about things to do/entertaiment but NOT culture.
The con here is 8 months of summer. Also, cost of living in Charleston is rather expensive compared to wages here. If you’re lucky enough to work at Boeing, you’re in good hands, but for those in the service industry, or someone just starting out, I honestly don’t know how they can afford a place to live.
I think sports would be a huge pro of Pittsburgh. Our lack of it is a con here. We have some local teams and people kind of care about baseball, but that’s it. I wish we had a pro football team closer. The Citadel and Charleston Southern University have football programs but even those aren’t huge in the community unless you graduated from one of those schools. Other cities in SC like Clemson, that is definitely a college town and all about sports even though the only teams they have are the university’s.
What I would do for 8 months of summer! That sounds amazing! The cost of living doesn’t, though. I never knew about the gap between the wages and cost of living in Charleston. I also didn’t know Boeing was located there. I think I’m out of the loop, haha.
Yeah, sports are huge in Pittsburgh. Actually, huge may be an understatement. I think it’s so interesting in the south that college and high school football is huge, but SC doesn’t have a pro football team. You would think they would, because I’m sure they’d have amazing fans!
Great post sweetie!! You know how I feel about the Pittsburgh language barrier 😂 But I will agree, it has been a great place to live and raise 3 beautiful, perfect, amazing children. I love you so much and I’m so proud of you and all the hard work and dedication you put toward your blog ❤
Mama
Thanks, mom! And yeah, I totally know how you feel about the Pittsburgh language barrier! Thank you so much for your comment. It made my day! I love you too!
what language barrier
Michael – I guess “language barrier” wasn’t quite the proper terminology for my comment. I was born and raised in upstate NY and moved to the Pittsburgh, PA over 24 years ago. I noticed quite a few words that were pronounced and used quite differently than what I was taught. For instance – a shopping cart — here is called a “buggy”. “Tennis shoes” – I simply say “sneakers” – as I don’t play tennis at all… “yinz” — well that’s a whole different story I guess. I just say “you guys”. Then there is “N’at” — I think means also… or too. Then there is the problem with grammar, and leaving words completely out of a sentence… like I have heard people say “just leave it go”. (What in the world?)… or even “leave go” instead of “let it go”. ANYWAYYYYY – don’t get me wrong, I love it here, and LOVE the fact that all three of my children use proper grammar and sentence structure because they learned from their MAMA ❤
Thanks for the comment on my daughter's blog though!! Have a Merry Christmas.
Lisa
Awesome job Allie!!!
Thanks, dad! Love you!
Pros of Syracuse: people, food, stuff to do
Cons: I’m new and so running is harder as I don’t know where to go, I don’t know people, I feel lost sometimes, I miss the trails in Ithaca
(I’m having a hard adjustment day haha)
Aww, I hope you had a better adjustment day today! I have heard good things about the food scene in Syracuse!!
The only place in PA I’ve been was Langhorne. When I visited we did take a trip to Philadelphia too. I’ve not been to Pittsburgh, but if the fall season is anything like it is in Washington I’d be sold! One of my favorite things about living in Washington.
I think Washington and Pittsburgh have similar fall seasons! Gorgeous leaves, mild weather, and overall awesomeness 🙂
Ah, fun post! I’m so glad you love your city. I’ve never been to PA, but would love to visit sometime.
I do love my city :). I hope you get a chance to visit PA sometime!!
Ooh fun! I haven’t been to Pittsburgh, but you make me want to visit! Just not in the winter. Definitely not in the winter, haha!
Yay! Yeah, definitely don’t come in the winter or else you will be freezing! This winter has been fairly mild, though 🙂
I’ve never been to Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania for that matter! I love bridges so it would be awesome to check out all of them if I ever visit, haha!
What is the closest you’ve been to PA?! The closest I’ve been to Cali is Texas, lol. I would love to get out to the West Coast some time! You would be in heaven with all the bridges here! Literally everywhere you look there’s a bridge 🙂
I always appreciate posts like these, I’m such a lover of traveling so knowing these fine details about your city is awesome to take note of. I’ve never been to Pittsburgh, but I have been to the Hershey Factory in Pennsylvania…not sure how close that is to Pittsburgh? But 446 bridges?!? YIKES! So basically every road must be a bridge lol That’s such a cool fun fact nevertheless. Hopefully one day I’ll get around to visiting the city, after all its not THAT far from Boston….we’re at least on the same coast 🙂
xo, JJ
I thought you might like this Miss Traveler! I think Hershey is about four hours from Pittsburgh. I am ashamed to say I’ve never been there. I want to go so badly!
And yes, bridges all day every day! Seriously… they’re everywhere!! Yay for being on the same coast! I want to visit Boston! Do you have a Boston accent?!
The Hershey Factory is cool, not as WOW as I thought esp since I was younger when going I thought I was going to be blown away by all the chocolate stuff but still a definite must-see place! And yess come to Boston! I don’t think I have an accent, but weirdly enough, people I do meet mistake me with being from California?! Apparently I have a Cali accent- whatever that even is hahah
What a cool post idea! Pittsburg sounds like a really livable place! I would LOVE to experience the seasons! Buttttt maybe not that much snow 🙂 LOL
The pros of living in Orlando are the weather, the diversity, and that there’s ALWAYS something to do. The biggest con would probably be that we don’t really experience seasons (it’ll get to the 40’s MAYBE)– but considering I grew up in Miami which is even warmer than it is here, I don’t have anything to compare it to!
Thanks, Brittany! Oh man, how crazy that it barely dips to 40 in Orlando! We sometimes have 40 degree weather in May, though it’s rare (thankfully!). I would love to live somewhere as warm as Miami or Orlando 🙂 Orlando sounds like a lot of fun!
Love this post! I have a friend who lives in Pittsburgh and she has echoed the same sentiment as you about the city! I love it there- I’ve only been a couple times, but have some great memories! I particularly loved going to a Pirates game! Cons of living in the Silicon Valley: Traffic, crowded population, EXPENSE (So stinking expensive to live here), and people don’t really have that midwest friendly vibe I grew up with. Pros: Weather (usually), FOOD (so many options!), there is always something going on, and the church we go to we just love!
Thanks for sharing this, girlfriend! xo
I’m so happy to hear you love Pittsburgh!! You definitely did things right by going to a Pirates game! The stadium is so nice, and the views are amazing!! What area of the ‘Burgh does your friend live in?! I wonder if I know her?!
Also, where in the midwest did you grow up? I’m sure it was a huge change to go from the friendliness there to Silicon Valley. Thought Cali seems amazing with the weather and everything there is to do!
YESSS! Love the Pirates Stadium! She lives in Sewickley right now but is moving to Highland Park after she gets married. And I lived in Cleveland/ Akron, OH most of my life and went to college in Indiana! The culture is SOOO different out here. It’s awesome for the time being, but when it comes to raising kids I think we would like to move somewhere more with that midwest vibe 😉 But who knows!!! The weather is a BIG bonus (except this winter has been extra rough!). Hope you are having a great week, dear!