Nice towns around Pittsburgh? (Penn Hills, Lebanon: upper-class, real estate, high crime)

[gilitis]

Pittsburgh is one of the places my husband can relocate to. I would like info about nice towns around Pittsburgh within a 30/ 40 min. drive, and where we can buy a nice house with a good size yard for about 300 to 400's k. Also would like to know how is the market for jobs around that area.
We are a christian/jewish household and we celebrate both religions, a lot of people told me that the towns around Pittsburgh are very religious. Is it true? Are we going to feel a little bit as outsiders for not being religious christians?
Also how is the nightlife in Pittsburgh? We really don't go out at night much, but we like to once in a while. Thanks

[Lookingforasafehome]

You may like Squirrel Hill or Mt. Washington..Both are upper class suburbs with many jews...I should know! I would not worry bout pgh being too conservative or religious... nope... its mainly democratic and blue collar atmosphere, and they are proud of that too!

Both suburbs are close to the city and are lower in crime than other areas but you will pay much more for a home there. Stay away from Oakland, Shadyside, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, to name a few. They might look nice, but they are high crime areas...lived her most of my life...bought bad real estate in one part and learned the hard way!

Parts of Monroeville are ok, depends on where you go. There are some cute charming towns that are further out, but they are not like they were 30 years ago, alot of crime and corruption in the small sleepy towns, history does repeat itself.

Good luck!

[June Cleaver's Revenge]

Come up to Butler County. The taxes are low and so it the crime. The Seven Fields area is nice, and so is Cranberry Township.

I wouldn't live in Pittsburgh if you paid me. It's so much nicer up here!

[marjean]

I sent you an email. I forgot one issue. No , you will not feel like outsiders if you are not religious. There are some good places of worship but it isn't like the south where everyone goes to church.

[PAguy15142]

Wilkins Twp. is the place to be

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Williamsburg,Va

You may like Squirrel Hill or Mt. Washington..Both are upper class suburbs with many jews...I should know! I would not worry bout pgh being too conservative or religious... nope... its mainly democratic and blue collar atmosphere, and they are proud of that too!

Well actually, Squirrel Hill and Mount Washington are not suburbs, they're in the city proper. (How exactly does a neighborhood that is literally right across the river from downtown get confused as a suburb????) Mount Washington "upper-class?" Yeah, maybe along Grandview Avenue. The rest of it is standard run-of-the-mill worn-on-the-edges blue-collar bedroom community, and not exactly immune from crime (though not particularly dangerous either).

And stay away from Shadyside? Funny, it's the most expensive neighborhood in the city precisely because of its extremely high demand. People don't typically demand to live in high-crime areas.

Penn Hills a high crime area? Have you looked at the crime data there? It is well below the national average.

Where do you get your information from?

[ontheroad]

Shucks, the original post is from September

Drover, thanks for your response, though, it must be difficult for folks to distinguish a neighbourhood from a suburb with so many names!

[meganCS]

Originally Posted by Lookingforasafehome

You may like Squirrel Hill or Mt. Washington..Both are upper class suburbs with many jews...I should know! I would not worry bout pgh being too conservative or religious... nope... its mainly democratic and blue collar atmosphere, and they are proud of that too!

Both suburbs are close to the city and are lower in crime than other areas but you will pay much more for a home there. Stay away from Oakland, Shadyside, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, to name a few. They might look nice, but they are high crime areas...lived her most of my life...bought bad real estate in one part and learned the hard way!

Parts of Monroeville are ok, depends on where you go. There are some cute charming towns that are further out, but they are not like they were 30 years ago, alot of crime and corruption in the small sleepy towns, history does repeat itself.

Good luck!

penn hills isnt bad.. i've lived here all my life and its not. we get a bad rep for things you hear about in the news but if you live close to the plum or monroville or the verona side its just fine. as long as you avoid the bad areas you'll be just fine.. you'd be suprised of how nice it is.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by Lookingforasafehome

You may like Squirrel Hill or Mt. Washington..Both are upper class suburbs with many jews...I should know! I would not worry bout pgh being too conservative or religious... nope... its mainly democratic and blue collar atmosphere, and they are proud of that too!

Both suburbs are close to the city and are lower in crime than other areas but you will pay much more for a home there. Stay away from Oakland, Shadyside, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, to name a few. They might look nice, but they are high crime areas...lived her most of my life...bought bad real estate in one part and learned the hard way!

Parts of Monroeville are ok, depends on where you go. There are some cute charming towns that are further out, but they are not like they were 30 years ago, alot of crime and corruption in the small sleepy towns, history does repeat itself.

Oh good lord.....

Anyway, to the original poster...here's the rough idea.

The Pittsburgh metro is small, so if you travel 40 min outside of the city you will usually be in some small country hick town where everyone knows each other. Here, people may very well be very religious and unaccepting of outsiders.....after all, everyone has known everyone else for years.

Within the metro, most all of the 'nearby' suburbs are populated with enough people so that no one will care who you are or what you do....As long as you aren't committing crimes or driving down property values.

[guylocke]

You may like Squirrel Hill or Mt. Washington..Both are upper class suburbs with many jews...I should know! I would not worry bout pgh being too conservative or religious... nope... its mainly democratic and blue collar atmosphere, and they are proud of that too!

Both suburbs are close to the city and are lower in crime than other areas but you will pay much more for a home there. Stay away from Oakland, Shadyside, Wilkinsburg, Penn Hills, to name a few. They might look nice, but they are high crime areas...lived her most of my life...bought bad real estate in one part and learned the hard way!

Parts of Monroeville are ok, depends on where you go. There are some cute charming towns that are further out, but they are not like they were 30 years ago, alot of crime and corruption in the small sleepy towns, history does repeat itself.

Please do not listen to this advise. I'm sure the poster has good intentions but like drover said, this advice is extremely backwards. Mt. Washington is not "upper class" by ANY means at all. Oakland is almost a completely college town filled to the brim with students from Pitt, Carlow, and CMU. I'm not really sure if it has a high crime rate, maybe it does like vandalism or when kids get into mischief, but I seriously doubt a lot of violent crime or homicide goes on there. Shadyside is actually a GREAT place to look into for your price range and is always in hot demand in Pittsburgh. It's really beautiful.

I would also recommend Sewickley Heights, Mt. Lebanon, Fox Chapel, and Upper St. Claire with your price range. In fact, I doubt there is an area in Pittsburgh you couldn't live with your price range.