best city schools vs. suburban schools, and taxes (Pittsburgh, Taylor: income, work)

[chiro]

When considering moving my family to Pittsburgh, I am confused about 2 issues when comparing squirrel hill and shadyside to Fox Chapel and was it Hampton?

1) Upscale neighborhoods with excellent schools-I read that the two suburban neighborhoods I listed are very good school districts, but I don't know anything about the schools in squirrel hill and shadyside. How do they compare? Do many in the city areas end up sending their kids to private schools, or are the public schools just fine there as well?
2) taxes-I keep reading mils but don't understand this terminology. I am just curious for example, what total taxes would be on perhaps a 500K home, in the areas I am interested in. People say the taxes in Pittsburgh are very high, but I live in NY, and I think ours are outragious.

Can anyone help me with my questions?

[Maaz]

1) Squirrel Hill and Shadyside are both good neighborhoods. The public schools in these neighborhoods are considered better than other city schools. Taylor Alderdice is considered one of the top high schools in the county. Not sure where the elementary or middle school rank. I'm sure private school is better but the public schools aren't bad. Fox Chapel is a good suburban area and I've heard the schools are good but I'm not familiar with them. Not familiar with Hampton; you may have the name wrong.
2) Mills is simply a rate of taxes. You multiply it by the assessed value of the house and divide by 1000. For the city of Pittsburgh, rate is 13.92 for school and 10.8 for the municipality. In addition, there is a county tax of 4.69. So, when you add everything up, you get $14,705 in taxes a year if your house is assessed at $500,000. However, they will likely be less as assessed values are generally less than the purchase price and right now they are using year 2002 values though that is subject to change in the future. So I would think you would pay more like $10,000 in taxes but don't quote me on that. Also, in the City of Pittsburgh (including Squirrel Hill and Shadyside), there is a 3% earned income tax while in areas outside of the city, the tax rate is generally 1% or 1.5%.

[trlstreet]

Public elementary school in Squirrel Hill (Minadeo) is very good. We purchased a home a few blocks away as it really improves the resale value in the area. The middle schools (Colfax and Sterrett?) I am less sure about. I believe Colfax has a good reputation.

As far as taxes go, I debated the 1.5% higher wage tax when buying in the city. I figured that the extra money spent (~1000 in my case) is offset by the gas I will save since I can walk to get most anything I need. I work from home and my gf works in Squirrel Hill, so it works for us.

[schwinghammer]

one of the best school districts in the state, let alone pittsburgh is North Allegheny.