North Hills vs South Hills (Bethel Park, Ross Township: cul-de-sac, renting, new home)

[sch412]

My girlfriend and I are planning on moving in together here in the very near future. While I'm open to all suburbs, she is very fond of the North Hills area. I never actually have visited the South Hills, so I am inclined to the Cranberry, Wexford and McCandless area, but I am open to hearing what others have to say.

I am a huge fan of Mt Lebo, Bethel Park and South Fayette from all the research I have done.

So fellow City-Data people, if you had to choose, would you choose the North or South Hills?

[RogersParkTransplant]

I think they're pretty comparable, and I would pick based on what sort of drive you have to do for commuting or where you plan/need to be going on a regular basis. (If you work downtown I think it's easier to come in from the North Hills; if you work in Oakland I think it's easier coming in from the South Hills...though all that depends on exact locations, etc.)

I really like the North Hills, but I think it's mostly because I live on the North side in the city and so it's a little easier for us to go up 279 or McKnight road and we end up exploring and getting to know the area better. So I'm partial to North park and Coffee Buddha, but I'm sure the South Hills area has comparable stuff. Of course the South Hills have better access to certain shops at Robinson Township and the airport, so if you love to travel or you buy everything at IKEA that might be a consideration too.

(Though of course that also depends on where you are...if you're thinking of living all the way in Cranberry, you have good freeway access to Robinson, etc on 79...but anyway, that would be my first question, what difference it makes for your commuting times.)

[PghYinzer]

If you don’t really care but she wants the North Hills, I say pick the North Hills.

I think it really depends where you work, and how you plan on getting there.

Personally, as a South Hills resident, the farthest North I would ever live is the Central North Side or Spring Hill, so I am probably not one to ask. I like the South Hills (driving around can be a pain, although you tend to learn where the pinch points are and when and where to go) because when I think of North Hills I think of mall shopping and Applebees. I know there is much much more to the area, but as someone who avoids driving, shopping, and most things that are new, the North Hills just isn’t my thing.

Again, I think it depends on how you plan to commute to work.

[villageidiot1]

I lived in Mt. Lebanon and Scott Township. I've never lived in the North Hills. I'm a big fan of the Mt. Lebo community and school district. Where I lived was very convenient to both downtown and the airport (north of Beverly Road). Traffic is an issue in the South Hills. Route 19 is a huge bottleneck. The further south and west you live, even in Mt. Lebanon, will extend your commute to Downtown and the east considerably. The T can be an advantage, especially if you live within walking distance, but is extremely slow.

It might be a good idea to actually commute to work from a location before you commit in order to experience the rush hour traffic.

[RonSantoRules]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

I lived in Mt. Lebanon and Scott Township. I've never lived in the North Hills. I'm a big fan of the Mt. Lebo community and school district. Where I lived was very convenient to both downtown and the airport (north of Beverly Road). Traffic is an issue in the South Hills. Route 19 is a huge bottleneck. The further south and west you live, even in Mt. Lebanon, will extend your commute to Downtown and the east considerably. The T can be an advantage, especially if you live within walking distance, but is extremely slow.

It might be a good idea to actually commute to work from a location before you commit in order to experience the rush hour traffic.

Concur with this. I live 10 miles from Downtown in the Scott/Mt. Lebo area. It takes me 45-60 door to door to get to my office downtown no matter if i drive, take the 41 bus or drive to the T. If you're in Oakland or East End like my spouse, you're talking 1 hour drive and then 60-90 minutes coming back during rush hour. I enjoy the South Hills but wish I would have considered commute more before purchasing. Particularly if you don't have compelling reasons (i.e. family) to be in this area.

[jea6321]

North hills gets the vote from me in every way. I would not consider cranberry as north hills though. depending where you are commuting to will dictate what area of the north makes the most sense.

[lifepgh2op]

North Hills has always felt very spread-out and sprawling (large) to me. South Hills is more condensed and contiguous, but has more traffic.

Also, portions of both can feel very buried and far away from a major highway depending on where you are. I have friends that live in North Allegheny SD, and it takes them a solid 12 minutes (5 miles) to get to the Wexford (910) interchange of I-79. However, they can get to Ross Park Mall/McKnight Road in about the same amount of time via back roads, so I guess they're not totally isolated.

[guy2073]

I am from the south hills and my wife is from the north, she did not want to move to my place but i had the nicer home and I was dead set on not moving. She now likes it better over here. She likes all the small business districts. If I was going to live in the north I probably would pick the west view area.

[SteelCityRising]

I've lived in what I like to call "The West End of the East End" since moving here in 2010. I've spent a considerable amount of time in both the North Hills and South Hills.

Save for McKnight(mare) Road the entire Greater North Hills area feels much less congested and less populated than the entire South Hills area, which seems to be more densely-populated, even if the population of both areas overall is probably roughly the same number. Both areas have a ton of detached single-family homes; however, they are more frequently on postage stamp-sized lots in the South Hills (Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Castle Shannon, Brentwood, Baldwin Twp., Green Tree, etc.) whereas most homes seem to have >1/4-acre-sized lots as close to the city as Ross Township, Reserve Township, and Shaler Township, all of which directly abut the city line.

We try to do as much shopping/dining as possible in the city at locally-owned and -operated businesses, but once in a while we do get the "big box itch". For us we find Ross Park Mall to be better than South Hills Village Mall, and we like the new McCandless Crossing lifestyle center---the new Cinemark theater there is really nice. I will say I wish the North Hills had more cohesive/walkable town centers besides West View. Otherwise the North Hills is generally one giant mass of cul-de-sacs and parking lots whereas the South Hills has a lot of established charming business districts. Once in a while we like to drive to Dormont to have breakfast at the Dor-Stop Diner and explore the town on foot a bit. Uptown Mt. Lebanon, to me, is the "Squirrel Hill of the South Hills"---affluent, safe, leafy, walkable, but congested.

If I had to pick I'd first pick based upon my potential commute. For a city of ~300,000 we have the rush-hour traffic of an area of 5,000,000 for some reason. I've driven in Greater Cleveland, a larger area, at rush-hour, and our traffic is worse, believe it or not, despite our higher transit participation rate. Up until earlier this month my primary source of income was as an on-demand delivery driver, and being behind the wheel for 10 hours per day is something I never want to endure again.

Even parts of the city proper have a "suburb in the city" atmosphere---Swisshelm Park, New Homestead, South Stanton Heights, and Ridgemont are a few that immediately come to mind.

If I worked Downtown I'd pick somewhere close to the "T" in the South Hills or anywhere in the North Hills, really. I-279 isn't a cake-walk, but it's much better than I-376. I went for a Saturday morning drive yesterday out to WV and back and took 19 from the Liberty Tunnels down to Gilkeson Road and cut over to Vanadium Road to Bridgeville to catch 50. Traffic on 19 between Uptown Mt. Lebanon and the Galleria was insane. It was like having the same amount of cars as McKnight Road on narrower roads.

[erieguy]

OP are you buying or renting?

I've lived in the city, North Hills, and now Cranberry. If you're buying, Allegheny County/city taxes are pretty ridiculous. Much more bang for your buck across the line in Cranberry. Also very convenient to Turnpike, 79, and a short commute to da 'burgh.