Looks like Pittsburgh area will be hour home! (Bethel Park, Ross Township: sales, to rent)

[Bong477]

A family with 4 kids and low debt should be able to live in moderation on 75k.

Cable/internet/phone runs about the same everywhere. You can get a basic combo package for around $100 a base price but starts going up quick when you add things like multiroom dvrs, multiple tvs, premium channels, faster internet, etc. We pay like $160 but have the top fios lineup (although no premium channels that are billed separately like HBO), 50mbps internet service, a multiroom dvr, and 5 tvs. I question its value regularly but haven't yet done anything about it. I also think we could/should drop the phone service and just use cell plans, but I agreed to a contract and I'm stuck with it for a while longer.

Natural gas has gotten so cheap that energy costs are low. Whether that will continue is debatable. Right now I pay about $300 a month year round for a large (~4000 sq ft) 110 year old home with 2 kids, central air, okay insulation, mostly original windows, newer energy efficient appliances, and some small but not particularly extravagant attempts at energy conservation. Change your variables and what you pay will change, but I don't think you are looking at drastically different costs than Florida. In the city I pay about $100 a month for water/sewer/garbage... in the burbs it was a bit less but not drastically different. I know garbage in Ross Township in about $200/year and billed quarterly. I assume other muni's are similar.

The only toll road I know of here is turnpike which I only take if going to NJ or DC areas. Rarely used for local travel although I guess depending where you live you might use it more. Its pretty expensive (like $25 now? not sure because I use ezpass) to drive across the state but I don't think it is a major issue for you.

Food shouldn't be drastically different. You can still shop at Sams (or Costco) for a lot of your food. There are increasing number of cheaper grocery stores (Aldi's, Bottom Dollar, etc) that are breaking up the former essential monopoly that Giant Eagle (which is relatively expensive for a supermarket) had for a long time. Super Walmart (if you end up living close to one) is inexpensive as well.

[Geeo]

I'm just going to give you some general thoughts:

Yes, you will be able to live on his income, not extavagantly, but it's doable.

Pittsburgh overall is a pretty safe city. It certainly has its pockets of crime, but you probably won't be anywhere near that.

As others have mentioned, there is no sales tax on food and clothing, which for a family, will mean substantial savings.

The state does not enact that "car tax" that many other states have, which adds up to several hundred dollars each year.

State income tax is one of the lowest among states that levy the tax.

There are plenty of discount grocers around, from Aldi's and Bottom Dollar to farmer's markets in the summer and fall.

Lots of thrift shops, and lots of discount clothing places like Marshalls, Burlington, TJ Maxx, Ross, etc.

You don't need cable right away, just hook up a good digial antenna to your TV and you'll get 15 - 19 channels, depending on where you live.

Plenty of free family stuff all year long - good parks, libraries with family programs, children's festivals. etc.

Oh, and welcome to Pittsburgh! It's a nice city with a good quality of life. Big enough to have all the amenities you want, yet small enough so as not to be overwhelming.

[wyoh]

Originally Posted by shadoffmom

So the things we use - Cable/internet/landline - we don't want anything special - and if we could get away with just local channels we would love it - but right now we pay $95/mo for a bundle that has internet, cable, and landline - would love to know about what it runs there.

Electricity/heat - we pay about $250 a month combined from May through September here, then it goes down to about $150/mo during the winter months - would love to know what people are paying for heat and electricity up there. I know in Michigan we payed about $250/m just for heat and about another $120/m for electricity during the winter (Michigan was where we lived before Florida). Water is another thing - right now with six people in our home - one a teenager who takes long showers - we pay about $80/mo in water/sewer. Garbage is included in our rent (paid in property taxes) - so that would be a new expense for us as well - about how much does garbage run?

If you don't need a landline you could definitely go local (over-the-air) only. That's what we do so our only bill is internet through Comcast. Currently that's $65 a month but that's on one of the higher speed internet plans. I'm going to knock that down to their cheaper plan when I get a chance which should make it around $50 I think.

We've been in our current house in the city for a year. It's a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath, maybe 1400 sqft total. Our electric has been between $100-150 per month since then. That's with electric central AC and gas heat. Our gas bills since december of last year (not sure why I'm missing February's number in there):

8/19/2013 24.91
7/18/2013 37.73
6/19/2013 52.03
5/20/2013 123.43
4/22/2013 220.34
3/20/2013 297.4
1/17/2013 155.73
12/17/2012 157.58

One thing to keep in mind about Pittsburgh is that a lot of the housing stock is older (though this is less true in the suburbs) and thus might not be very energy efficient. Our house is 80+ years old and has no insulation in the walls. We're going to blow them with insulation soon which will hopefully help with those gas bills.

We don't pay for garbage in the city, I guess that's included in our city tax or property tax? Our water/sewer bills have very consistently been about $60 for two adults and one kid.

Originally Posted by shadoffmom

As for clothing - I like to hit the Salvation Army here - great namebrands - are there decent thrift shops in Pittsburgh? Once that are in a safe area where a mom and her four kids can shop?

Yes and yes, I think you'll find Pittsburghers to be a pretty thrifty bunch.

Originally Posted by shadoffmom

I will say - it does look like there are loads of free things to do in the area (things we like to do). We love to hike and visit parks, we love to swim, we love to visit historical places. We do like to go bowling occasionally, and one of my daughters has just found a love for roller skating. Here in Florida it seems like everything costs something. It is really too hot and nasty to hike in the woods (not to mention the bugs - yuck) which leaves the beach (more than an hour away, crowed, and costs to park!) and indoor things which will cost a family our size at least 100 to do (and that isn't talking about Disney and Busch Gardens!) So that looks like it will work with our family.

The Pittsburgh metro area is pretty small and it's really easy to get outside of the city itself into rural areas. You can start driving and in 20 minutes be in the middle of nowhere. At the same time there are a lot of cultural offerings for such a small city so you can just as easily go downtown to a museum, park, etc. The museums aren't cheap but there are plenty of free things to do as well and things like Pirates tickets are cheaper than you'd find in bigger cities. The Pittsburgh parks are really nice. The weather is great (or at least has been the year we've been here) for outdoor activities from April-November. It rains quite often but at least in the city it seems to be more spotty downpours than sustained rain. It's perfect for me, not too hot or sunny.

Originally Posted by shadoffmom

My husband's job will be at UPMC south location - we are OK with up to an hour drive to that facility (that is what he has now). He will also be traveling with this position - so the kids and I will be home alone when he travels - so again safety is an issue. We are country people and would love to live more in the country - but we realize this may not be an option (especially since we will have to rent for at least a year - we had to short sale our home in Michigan and we need to wait one more year before we can get a mortgage).

You won't have any trouble living in the country if you're south of the city. I mentioned this above but it doesn't take long outside of downtown before you're surrounded by farms. Take a look at this house listing site to see what's available near your husband's job:

Coldwell Banker Real Estate Services - Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania Real Estate

I'm guessing that you'll see some properties with some acreage.

[robrobrob]

I would think that 75K is fine but would be very tight depending on how much money you spend on your kids activities. Kids sports/activities can be pretty pricey. Soccer can be over a 1000 if you are on a club team. Same goes for hockey. I would imagine that you already know this.

I would be open to buying a house. Plenty of options that way. Renting is a little tricky since the rental market is pretty tight.

[Noodlenoggin]

Originally Posted by Tinare

Also keep in mind that in addition to most food items not being subject to PA sales tax, most clothing items are exempt as well.

Are you married to noodlenoggin by chance?

Poss. Move from Tampa to Pittsburgh

Yup, we're married.

And to answer SteelCityRising's question, the position would be at the UPMC Southside Mercy Outpatient Hospital location.

And thank you for all of the comprehensive replies, you're going to make my wife's head explode!

[jay5835]

I agree with those who say "buy, don't rent." And since You. Hate. Suburbia. here are the latest listings in the zipcode where you work.

15203 Real Estate & 15203 Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

[OniNoKen]

I just stumbled on your threads, as I'm an infrequent visitor to the bbs. We moved to Pittsburgh from a town in West Virginia of about 1400 people. Let me second the Mars area mentioned before. We had to buy when we moved here because, for us, re-homing our dogs was never even on the table. I don't know if you'll ever be able to find the full small town experience here, but you can get pretty close within a sub-section of a good community. Our neighborhood is great about that. It takes effort, because many, many of the people in this region are from here and have their network fully intact. Grandparents live five minutes away, high school friends are still around, etc. Like anything in life, you have to present some reason for them to include you. I've found that if you can manage that, the people here are great.

[shadoffmom]

I would love to buy a home (and Pittsburgh is filled with the older homes that we love!) - but we had to short sale our house when we left Michigan - thus we need to wait about a year to be where we can buy a home again!

Thank you all so much! I will say everything I have been reading says Pittsburgh has the benefits of a city with the charm of a smaller town. That makes me really makes me happy to read! Everything I am reading about the area makes me think we would love it - seems very friendly (we are the type of people who want to know our neighbors and have them be almost like extended family!)Honestly - if we could just jump straight into purchasing a home I wouldn't be so iffy on moving there - it is the rental market that makes me question if we can afford this move(the cost, re-homing our pets, the possibility of living in a school district that is not good for our kids).

[ferraris]

Looks like others are covering most of this pretty well but I just wanted to chime in on the "not-so-nice" neighborhood you wound up in accidentally. Pittsbrugh has the oldest housing stock in the nation and also experienced a huge population decline in the latter half of the 20th centure. Those two things combined mean that there are a lot of areas that look old and dilapidated, but are perfectly safe. I'm not suggesting you live in those areas, just pointing out that a lot of Pittsburgh neighborhoods look really rough, but their bark is way worse than their bite.

[OniNoKen]

Originally Posted by shadoffmom

seems very friendly (we are the type of people who want to know our neighbors and have them be almost like extended family!)

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but be prepared for this to take a while. We've been here for almost 3 years, and it has been very difficult to form anything beyond wave at each other from your yard friendships. People in Pittsburgh are friendly, but they are also not inclusive, for the simple fact that their lives are already complete. This isn't a Pittsburgh thing as much as it is a thing anywhere you have allot of people who are native to the region. We've been fortunate before in that we were in highly transient communities and that made it very easy to find people in a similar situation. That's not the case here, and every transplant I've spoken to has indicated that they've found their experience similar.

It can get very cheerfully lonely sometimes. So it takes work, and it won't happen over night, or even necessarily over year.