I see this discussion often, and people are fairly dug in on both sides.
People who move from out of town think Pittsburgh is a bargain, and it is compared to DC.
People who have lived here a long time feel rents and home prices have spiraled out of control.
What really gets missed in these debates is who you work for and where they are located. The people that go on endlessly about Pittsburgh being so affordable often have remote jobs, so they are getting paid much closer to a DC level wage to live here. Of course you’ll feel rich!
For a lot of us though that work locally wages are stagnant while everything else has sky rocketed. Two of the biggest employers in the area, UPMC and PNC are pretty notorious for paying like crap. When you work locally and see housing and rent prices damn near double in a five year stretch while you get yearly 2% raises you will feel squeezed.
The reality is a lot of people who live in traditional working class areas like Ross and west view could not afford those homes today. West view in particular has gone from a place that blue collar workers used to live to now it’s young doctor’s and others of that ilk. You can find homes under 200k, but there are likely to be a ton of issues.
In general this isn’t a Pittsburgh issue, it’s societal. I think the breaking point is when older boomers start selling homes en masse I’m not sure you will have enough people that can afford to buy if they aren’t simply passing the home down to a child who lives there.
People who move from out of town think Pittsburgh is a bargain, and it is compared to DC.
People who have lived here a long time feel rents and home prices have spiraled out of control.
What really gets missed in these debates is who you work for and where they are located. The people that go on endlessly about Pittsburgh being so affordable often have remote jobs, so they are getting paid much closer to a DC level wage to live here. Of course you’ll feel rich!
For a lot of us though that work locally wages are stagnant while everything else has sky rocketed. Two of the biggest employers in the area, UPMC and PNC are pretty notorious for paying like crap. When you work locally and see housing and rent prices damn near double in a five year stretch while you get yearly 2% raises you will feel squeezed.
The reality is a lot of people who live in traditional working class areas like Ross and west view could not afford those homes today. West view in particular has gone from a place that blue collar workers used to live to now it’s young doctor’s and others of that ilk. You can find homes under 200k, but there are likely to be a ton of issues.
In general this isn’t a Pittsburgh issue, it’s societal. I think the breaking point is when older boomers start selling homes en masse I’m not sure you will have enough people that can afford to buy if they aren’t simply passing the home down to a child who lives there.
