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Denver might be worth at least a look around. There are worse places for a recreation-seeking person to live.
Boulder is great for recreation, but as it is smaller than Denver, finding employment might be more difficult. Sacramento, CA is close to Tahoe and is the state capitol. State jobs, legal jobs, reasonably priced homes.
I don't think there are any cities that would tick off all of the above check boxes anywhere & of those that do check off multiple boxes they are helluva expensive to live anywhere near the city center.
I have many problem with Pgh, but taken as a whole prefer it to most other cities I have lived. Now if money was absolutely no issue I would most definitely rank other places higher but that's not the reality I'm in at the moment unfortunately.
I agree with much of what you say about Pittsburgh. It's just that many of the things that bother you aren't that big a deal for me. You're young. Get out there and explore. I agree with the poster who told you to determine what is important; weather, nightlife, recreation, etc. Research the places that interest you and go visit them.
When I decided to move from San Francisco to Pittsburgh I knew I would be giving up a lot of the amenities I was used to. I chose Pittsburgh because it had a lot of the things I enjoyed in SF, albeit on a much smaller scale. The biggest factor for me was that housing costs were 75% less than SF and I'm planning to retire in about 10 years. Drastically cutting my housing costs will go a long way toward making retirement a reality for me. I was willing to make compromises to do so.
I lived in a grey and foggy part of SF for much of my life so I honestly didn't notice the grey weather at all this winter, other than to think it reminded me of SF only colder. I know a lot of people who can't abide the grey weather. If I was like that I wouldn't have chosen Pittsburgh.
Outside my day job I'm a fiber artist. The Pittsburgh Fiber Arts Guild produces Fiberart International, a triennial juried exhibition. Pittsburgh may not be on the level of NYC in the art world, but in my area of endeavor, it happens to be one of the best places to be.
If I was your age and unhappy with life in Pittsburgh, I'd find a place that suited me better. It's a lot harder to move around once you're married, have kids, and are established in your field. Go for it.
I'm not sure how long you have been in Pittsburgh for, but I am curious if it has been living up to your expectations? Once I finally got settled in here after a few months to a year is when I started realizing Pittsburgh didn't have what I was looking for.
You are right though, I understand my list of complaints may not matter to some people, although it does bother me when I hear people try to deny the weather/active outdoors is lacking.
I do have a question: What do you consider great hiking?
A bit about myself: I'm a little older chronologically, but I'm fairly immature in my pursuits.
I've lived in West Texas, Arizona, Rural West Virginia, D.C. Metro and Pittsburgh. I have extensive experience with L.A. and San Diego, Colo Sprgs, Denver, and Phoenix. I've traveled to every state but North Dakota, Vermont, Maine and Hawaii.
I've discovered that just about any city over a certain size has things. they do some of them better than others:
Cultural diversity: Pittsburgh does better than people would lead you to believe, but not as great as D.C. metro. Denver also sucks at this. The research triangle kinda sucked at this, but is slowly getting better, is about the same as Pittsburgh, according to my observations. That and some change might get you a doughnut. NYC and DC metro are some of the most culturally diverse places I've been in america. That makes sense. L.A. was too, but it was so damn spread out that it was almost like planning a vacation to go visit a particular cultural enclave.
Night life: Pittsburgh would probably be worse by comparison to almost every city you named... depending on what you're looking for. For us, we've found swing (dance) events, murder mystery dinner theaters, stuff that we really enjoy. But we've been odd in that we were never heavy clubbers, even when we were in school. Denver does better here too. Denver wants to be LA of the rockies. I'm not convinced that's good, but that's my own perceptions on priority. L.A. was always frustratingly materialistic to me.
Outdoor activities: Here... this kinda baffles me. I'm an Eagle Scout and have logged way too many miles walking and paddling and skiing and swimming and walking some more all over this damn continent. I've found many aspects of western PA's outdoors to be far better than anything available besides the beach in L.A., Arizona, West Texas. I say that because while there were possible better activities available, it often requires allot heavier lifting in logistics to get to them.
For recreational boating, you'd be hard pressed to find an area with great accessible water. North Carolina would be similar, and does have a longer season if you don't have specialized gear. The Rockies have many more access challenges, not as much water. Plus the authorities around here have really embraced things like recreational release schedules.
As far as skiing goes.. well... you're on the eastern part of the country. To do better, you have to go west. SLC has everyone beat for this. There's allot of great stuff in Colo, but if you live in denver, you have to put up with the massive caravan of people fleeing the city for the mountains. It makes you part of a depressing train that leaves a fantastic smog trail up into the rockies. For an eastern city, Pittsburgh's access to skiing is great, and I don't think anything else really compares. I mean... what's the closest city to stowe?
Weather: Pittsburgh's weather absolutely sucks, if you're sensitive to that sort of thing. No arguments there.
Parks: North Park beats just about any park I've been to in every major city I've lived in. It is superlative. Cleveland has a greenway that was kinda scary. Pheonix has a few if you don't mind going out in the 120 degree heat. L.A. has beaches, but in all the cities I've lived in, North Park, and to a lesser degree south park really stand out. Deer lake park isn't bad either.
Music: I guess it depends on your thing? I've had access to more bands here in pittsburgh than anywhere i've been except for D.C. metro. now, they might not have the thriving local scene than pittsburgh does, if that's what you mean.
As for the beach, you can't get me far enough away from it. >.<
Anyhow! I think one particular aspect of Pittsburgh love is contextual. If you start from what people think Pittsburgh is, a dirty, polluted steel town, then yeah. It's a surprisingly nice place to live. I've never seen an article calling it the south beach of the great lakes greater economic zone.
All of this (good god, you're still reading?!) is not to try to convince anyone, just to offer my thoughts. I could live here long term. there's paintball, and hiking (try slippery rock area too. Not as far as ohiopyle) and musicals, and I've found a pho place I like, and good god I hate Allegheny taxes.
You are right though, I understand my list of complaints may not matter to some people, although it does bother me when I hear people try to deny the weather/active outdoors is lacking.
If you want lacking outdoor activities, try living in the south west. It is seriously too damn hot to do anything most of the time, or you have to drive hours away and up in elevation to find some place to do your outdoors stuff. For the sake of discussion, can you please provide what you consider to be a good place with lots of outdoors stuff?
Quick background about myself: I am a 27 yr old male from Eastern PA who moved to Pittsburgh after graduating from college to start a career. I heard a lot of good things about Pittsburgh before I moved here (and did visit a few times) and thought it would an exciting place to live as a young professional.
So I have been living in Pittsburgh for 4 years and have realized it is time for me to move on from this place. Pittsburgh to me has just been honestly very underwhelming. Since I have lived here there have been numerous articles praising Pittsburgh as a great place to live and most posts on this site make it sound like the only people who don't like Pittsburgh are the ones who have never been here. I'm here to say lets take it easy on all the praise this city has been getting.
I don't mean this to come off as a rant. I guess I am here to tell potential residents a few things about Pittsburgh to watch out for; and to make it known to the current residents that not everybody loves it here. Here's my issues with this place:
- Weather: Pittsburgh weather is pretty bad. When I first moved here I joked with a friend about the constant rain and gray skies we were having that I felt like I moved to Seattle, and soon after discovered Pitt and Seattle get about the same amount of sunny days per year. From Dec to April can get downright depressing when you go days/even weeks without seeing some sunshine. Don't get me wrong, the changing seasons can be nice, but there aren't enough nice summer days to make up for what comes in November.
- Underwhelming Outdoor Activities: besides the weather, this is probably one thing I wish I could tell everybody moving here, the outdoor activities around Pittsburgh are average at best. I'm tired of hearing people say "we have skiing, hiking, biking, water sports" but nobody ever mentions how mediocre it all is. The skiing here (yes Seven Springs) is disappointing. As for hiking you have to drive at least 1.5 hours to find something worthwhile (like Ohio Pyle), and even that isn't anything to get excited about. Yes there are about 8-10 parks to walk in, but I find it hard to believe you couldn't find parks in every other city in the USA.
- Far from the beach: if you enjoy the beach, Pittsburgh probably isn't for you. You're looking at a 7+ hour drive to Virginia beach or the outer banks (around 6 hours if you want to settle for the jersey shore). "Well Lake Erie is only 2 hours away" they say. I've never met one person here that was excited to go to Lake Erie.
Some other minor gripes:
- the downtown highways/roads were poorly planned and can be frustrating
- the local music scene is lacking
- if you aren't a Steelers or Penguins fan it can get annoying when it's all you hear about.
- as for the Arts, I could be wrong but I feel like it is nothing you couldn't find in any other major city.
Don't get me wrong Pittsburgh deserves credit for growing into much more than just a steel city. The cost of living is relatively low and the job market seems above average. It's definitely not all bad and I know the people that grew up here love it. However, right or wrong, I just feel there are better and more exciting places out there (for me and I'm sure for others).
If anyone moving here has any questions on why I feel like I do about Pittsburgh please let me know. Maybe Pittsburgh just isn't right for me. Maybe I am just a grass is greener guy and am giving other cities too much credit in what they could offer. If you are a person who only cares about work this may be a place for you. If you want something exciting to during your free time, I would advise looking at a different city to live in.
Deciding to leave the city doesn't merit a long winded rant to discourage others from seeing if it fits with what they're looking for. If you're unhappy here its either because the city doesn't suite you, or you simply aren't happy and need the change of venue for a distraction. Either way its time to move.
Some of your post is warranted, much of it is frivolous. The weather isn't really all that bad. Isn't too hot in the summer. Isn't too cold in the winter. We have a higher occurrence of gray skies, but you can't have everything. Every climate has its drawbacks.
I admit that there are days when the relatively rude behavior by the locals (compared to what I grew up with anyhow) gets to me, but by and large I'm quite happy with living here. Your life is what you make of it no matter where you live. Boring people are going to be bored no matter where they live, whether it be a bustling metropolis or miles from civilization.
I disagree with your comment on outdoor activities as it pertains to everything but skiing (and only because I haven't gone in over a decade). You're going to be hard pressed to find great hiking or biking in many places. I grew up in West Virginia that actually has it, and like many places to get it you're going to have to sacrifice on other things. You're defining your opportunities in too narrow a view here. One doesn't have to go to a state or national forest to experience what you're looking for. When I moved up here I spent a lot of time simply walking around, getting a feel for many of the neighborhoods. The unique architecture of many neighborhoods as well as the topography makes for an entertaining walk, and often a practical one at that as you can get many places on foot. If you own a boat there are three rivers to pick from, which is relatively great considering that we aren't a coastal city. Your comment about the beach is just flat out ridiculous. I mean who honestly moves here with that expectation to even bring it up?
I don't mean to sound negative, but you come across as being entirely someone who has a "grass is always greener" outlook as many of your complaints are quite trivial. Still, I sincerely hope that you find what you're looking for.
The weather isn't really all that bad. Isn't too hot in the summer. Isn't too cold in the winter. We have a higher occurrence of gray skies, but you can't have everything. Every climate has its drawbacks.
Without trying or intending to derail, the weather here can be brutal on people affected by SAD. I happen to love the weather here, it's hard on my wife though.
Without trying or intending to derail, the weather here can be brutal on people affected by SAD. I happen to love the weather here, it's hard on my wife though.
I know SAD sounds like a joke to most people, but the weather really can have a detrimental effect on some people's mental health. Particularly if they grew up in nicer climate.
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