What is the general differences between Pittsburgh & Philadelphia areas? (Erie: crime, homes)

[MSPLove]

Hi guys,

I've never been to PA before but I've had a calling to visit there for a long time. I'm from Wisconsin originally and am moving back there later this year. (Yay!) I've been told PA is like "Wisconsin with mountains." I don't know why I've had a calling to visit there, but it appeals to me. It seems like a beautiful state with a lot of history.

I'm curious what the differences are between the Pittsburgh area and the Philadelphia area as far as attitude of people, work, schools, and other things like that. I've been wondering casually for a while, and I finally thought, "Well I'm a member of that City Data forum, so why not ask?"

Thanks in advance. I'm interested in anything you all have to say.

Also - are there even better parts of the state than those two for living/visiting?
Myself, I'm from the Northwestern part of Wisconsin - the part that the fewest amount of people think of at all when they think of Wisconsin. (Most people think about Madison, Milwaukee, or Green Bay, which are in the southeast and eastern regions.)
And I think my part of WI is my state's best-kept secret.

[JRTurner]

The first thing to stand out between Pittsburgh and Philly is the terrain. Philly is more a part of the East Coastal plain while Pittsburgh is extremely hilly (I pause at saying mountainous because someone will come along and say the Rockies or West Virginia has "real" mountains...lol).

Pittsburgh sits in a valley created by the three rivers and it has spectacular views. Newcomers who come into Pittsburgh by way of the airport always comment on how they enter a tunnel in the side of a mountain and upon the exit....WHOOSH...suddenly there's this modern beautiful city with skyscrapers! Pittsburgh, due to the hilly terrain, is more compacted into a smaller area. If you don't like bridges and tunnels, then you won't like Pittsburgh. Also due to the terrain, ingress and egress to and from the city is more limited since it's harder to build large highways (Pittsburghers always complain that more PA tax dollars are spent in the Philly area too).

I may be biased being from Pittsburgh, but in my experience Pittsburgh is a much friendlier town. It's like a large city, but it has distinct neighborhoods each with a homey kind of feel to them. People just seem a bit friendlier and more helpful. I think Philly has a more New York City flavor so to speak. Philly has some beautiful areas and surrounds though. Pittsburgh wasn't hit by the economic downturn nearly as much as the rest of the country or Philly. It is also (by reports) recovering faster. Pittsburgh's transformed itself from the being mainly the steel industry to a hi-tech and health care related hub. It's been voted America's #1 Most Livable City and #2 Most Scenic views. I believe the cost of living is also lower in Pittsburgh as well as crime. Both cities have excellent colleges and universities. Both cities have tons of history. Philly does have the only true Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches and terrific soft pretzels. Pittsburgh has Primanti Brothers sandwiches and perogies.

Pittsburgh has some cool and unique stuff too. Like the two Inclines which are little "trolley like" cars that take you up and down from Mount Washington (check out the picture thread under Pittsburgh) and there are paddle-wheel river boats. It has excellent museums, a history center that's awesome, a great science center, the Andy Warhol museum, a WWII submarine parked on the river you can tour, and two new state of the art stadiums for baseball and football (and in Sept. it will open it's band new hockey arena for the Penguins).

In addition to the Pittsburgh Photo Thread, here's a couple links to photography websites with great photos:

PittsburghSkyline.com - Original Photography from the Great City of Pittsburgh by Matt Robinson

Talke Photography | Pittsburgh, PA

PS: As I mentioned, I'm probably a bit biased and I DO NOT mean to insult any Philadelphians. I probably don't know everything I possibly could have said about Philly and a resident or someone who knows it better might add to it.

[CupofJoePA]

Philly is a larger city and is part of the northeastern corridor of big cities from Boston to DC. Pittsburgh is more Appalachian and not really as "big" of a city but it is a city. Coming from Wisconsin I think Pittsburgh is a little more slower slower paced or at least not as big of a culture shock. But Philly does have a lot of small town elements to it too. Both have really colleges and hospitals. Both cities are surrounded by a lot of suburban sprawl but there are some really beautiful scenery near both cities.

Philly has more crime for the simple fact that there is more people and more congestion but Pittsburgh has its problems too.

Some other parts of the state I would recommend would be Lancaster PA a pleasant town tucked away in Amish country, Lake Erie and the Presque Isle, Delaware Water Gap, and the Laurel Highlands. There is a lot of beautiful country between the two cities. Oh and I can't forget Gettysburg.

[zitsky]

Originally Posted by JRTurner

Pittsburgh has some cool and unique stuff too. Like the two Inclines which are little "trolley like" cars that take you up and down from Mount Washington (check out the picture thread under Pittsburgh) and there are paddle-wheel river boats.

The car up to Mount Washington is interesting, but not unique. The Inclined Plane in my hometown of Johnstown, PA is the steepest incline in the world. The one in Pittsburgh is older though. Growing up there always was a West-East rivalry in PA, just like the North-South rivalry in California. Western PA is hill country, more beautiful, coal and steel areas. Philadelphia is "the big city", historic, etc. When we want a Pepsi, we'll ask for a "pop" in Western PA and a "soda" in Eastern PA.

Asking how are they different in attitudes of people, work, and so on, is too broad a subject. There is just so much you could talk about....

[Love2Golf09]

The difference between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia is like night and day. It's hard to imagine these cities are in the same state because they are so different. About the only thing the cities share is a passion for sports. Philadelphia is a much larger city, far more expensive to live there, far more liberal, they have far more minorities, a lot of crime and violence, tons of garbage on the streets, lots of poverty, gangs, homeless people, etc. Philadelphia is extremely flat compared to the hills of Western PA and the city is laid out in a grid pattern, just like NYC or Chicago.

Pittsburgh's streets, on the other hand, are not laid out in a grid patter. Because of the hills, rivers, streams, etc. the roads have almost no pattern at all. They just go all over the place and it can be easy to get lost in Pittsburgh. Also, Pittsburgh is a mix of a zillion little neighborhoods grouped together. Pittsburgh is a more friendly town than Philadelphia, but it's also very insular. A lot of times you have to have someone from the region introduce you to people. It can be hard for an outsider to move into a place like Bethel Park or Ross and just make a ton of friends. In Philadelphia, it's a big city and they are equally rude to everyone.

You will find that across the state there is an anti-philadelphia bias. Ask nearly anyone in the state which city they would rather live in and they'd say Pittsburgh. A lot of this has to do with the cost of living being cheaper in Pittsburgh, as well as it being less crowded and less crime. Race plays a part in this too, I believe. Probably around 70% or so of people that live in the city of Pittsburgh are white. Hispanics are almost non-existant. Once you get into the suburbs it's probably 95% white and up. It's easier for people in the rest of the state to indentify with Pittsburghers compared to people from Philadelphia because of that. Plus, Pittsburgh is much more moderate, even conservative on a lot of issues, compared to Philadelphia. For example, Western PA is far more pro-gun and anti-abortion compared with the philadelphia area. Also, Marcellus Shale gas drilling has become a bigger issue. A lot of people around philadelphia are big environmentalists and their views are clashing with the rest of the state that is more open to drilling for gas. Of course, philadelphia is not part of Marcellus Shale area, so drilling will not be done there, but they are complaining anyway and trying to stop it from happening in the rest of the state.

Fair or not, most people in the state do not have a positive opinion of philadelphia. It's seen as a crowded city, too expensive, full of poor people, minorities, gangs, drugs addictions, and corrupt liberal politicians always begging for a bailout from Harrisburg. Also, Pittsburgh's housing market has been very stable over the past several years, while a lot of previously wealthy people in the philadelphia suburbs have seen the value of their homes drop drastically.

There are some positive things about philadelphia though. They have great museums, a rich history that dates back to colonial times, and good food. Most people in the rest of the state, though, don't really care about all their museums or history anymore.

[JRTurner]

I realize that Inclines are not unique only to Pittsburgh. At one time, they were popular in other cities with hills.

It is quite unique though for someone from Wisconsin and other places.

I should add here that both Pittsburgh and Philly have different dialects. I can go almost anywhere and people will immediately ask if I'm from Pittsburgh (even though I lack the really hardcore accent). People call it Pittsburghese and people from Pittsburgh "Yinzers". That's because Pittsburghers have a form of Y'all like Southerners, but we say it Yinz (or: Yinz Guyz). My Wife is not from Pittsburgh and never heard of terms like "read up" (meaning clean up), "nebby" (nosey - curious), "gum band" (for rubber band), "Jaggerz" (for a bush with thorns), "Chip-chop ham sammich", "Sowsside", "Norsside" (South and North Side), "dahntahn" (downtown), and many others.

Philly dialect is more like a mix between New Jersey and Baltimore. For example, they say "wooter" for "water"

Humorous linguist site: Pittsburghese: Interesting Thing of the Day

Pittsburghese.com: PITTSBURGHESE .com

[pman]

I think the two cities have a lot in common and outside hockey, the rivalry isn't very strong (not like Philadelphia's distaste for NY teams or the cowboys). both are old industrial cities with unique neighborhoods and compact, walkable downtowns. the alleghenies remain, to this day, a huge divide. as for politics, Philly is certainly more liberal (esp the city) but it seems every place in PA suspects the other guy is getting a better deal, in reality, we're all getting a raw deal from harrisburg but that's another matter.
Philly is much larger, more dense. yes it has more crime and trash, but it's core is far more vibrant at this point (this wasn't always true). It has more diversity as well, but roll back the clock 15 years and it looked more like Pitt. the most striking difference is terrain, with large changes in elevation in Pitt within the city. Philly (where two rivers meet) most of the city has a modest grade to it, sloping down to the rivers. People in Pitt are a little less guarded since it's smaller, but they are definitely pennsylvanians, for better and for worse. Philly gets more sun than Pitt and is slightly warmer (good in winter, bad in summer). I often equate Pitt's 2004 with Philly's 1992 when the respective cities hit rock bottom.

[Mar0]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

You will find that across the state there is an anti-philadelphia bias. Ask nearly anyone in the state which city they would rather live in and they'd say Pittsburgh

Ask anyone in the state and they will only say they would rather live in Pittsburgh if they are not from the Philadelphia area. I would be very unhappy if I had to live in Pittsburgh. Also, I cannot think of anyone I know from Philly who moved to Pittsburgh after graduation, but know quite a few ppl who moved to Philly from Pittsburgh.

I went to Penn State where Pittsburgh meets Philly. I found that people from each respective city are very loyal to their roots and often put down one another. I find Pittsburgh to be much more midwestern and not nearly as metro as Philly. Philly is a major, national city and Pittsburgh is not. I would say that Pittsburgh is a friendlier city and not as intense (don't know what I'm trying to say here). People from Philly are die hard, born and bred and are a race unto themselves. Honestly, Pennsylvania has three, maybe four, regions- Pittsburgh and Western PA, central PA, PA and the north east. While similarities between central and northeastern PA exist, for the most part the other three are very different. I was born and raised outside of Philly and have only been to Pittsburgh twice- once when I was about 11 and once visiting college friends at Pitt. The first time I visited, I felt like it was such a different place from Philly. I think that people from Central and Northeastern PA have more in common with Pittsburgh, as it is more small-town in a city setting. Philly is an entity unto itself and no other area can really compare. I think Philly, with its colonial history and current metro status, has more in common with other coastal Atlantic cities- Boston, NYC, Baltimore, DC, than it does with its sister city of Pittsburgh.

Really, I'm not trying to put down Pittsburgh, I just wouldn't want to live there. It's too far from the cities I listed above..plus all of my family members, the diehard Eagles fans, would kill me.

[Gil3]

Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite

Hi guys,

I've never been to PA before but I've had a calling to visit there for a long time. I'm from Wisconsin originally and am moving back there later this year. (Yay!) I've been told PA is like "Wisconsin with mountains." I don't know why I've had a calling to visit there, but it appeals to me. It seems like a beautiful state with a lot of history.

I'm curious what the differences are between the Pittsburgh area and the Philadelphia area as far as attitude of people, work, schools, and other things like that. I've been wondering casually for a while, and I finally thought, "Well I'm a member of that City Data forum, so why not ask?"

Thanks in advance. I'm interested in anything you all have to say.

Also - are there even better parts of the state than those two for living/visiting?
Myself, I'm from the Northwestern part of Wisconsin - the part that the fewest amount of people think of at all when they think of Wisconsin. (Most people think about Madison, Milwaukee, or Green Bay, which are in the southeast and eastern regions.)
And I think my part of WI is my state's best-kept secret.

To add to the other excellent posts, Philly and Pittsburgh are definitely unique places and have their own distinct cultures and dialects.

Additionally, The Philadelphia area is bounded by and has quite an influence on Northern Delaware and South Jersey, and vice versa. Plus, you are within a few hours of either NYC, Baltimore and DC, whereas Pittsburgh is not situated along a corridor of major metro areas and terrain-wise, it has more hills. Philly's location makes it much more racially and ethnically diverse, while Pittsburgh does not have such diversity.

As also mentioned by others, both share a strong industrial past, have several colleges and universities and have undying loyalty to their respective sports teams.

[JRTurner]

I just wouldn't want to live there. It's too far from the cities I listed above

I'd say that is an individual preference and opinion.

For example....the cities you mentioned (and including Philly) are all places that I try to steer clear of as much as humanly possible.