Slippery Rock, Pittsburgh Suburb??? (Erie, Greensburg: real estate, how much, houses)

[runpens1]

https://kdkaradio.radio.com/articles...R_Thn7RLhbG-4M

I saw this article where Slippery Rock was recently voted best suburb in Pennsylvania. I don't really consider it such. It is almost an hour drive from Pittsburgh even with highway mileage. I was curious as to what anyone else thought?

[Copanut]

Seems like a stretch to me. No TRUE Pittsburgher would drive all way aht there n'at.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Seems like a stretch to me. No TRUE Pittsburgher would drive all way aht there n'at.

This is funny as I thought the same thing and then my sister recently moved to the Slippery Rock area and she works in Pittsburgh. Cranberry has become too expensive for many people and going a little bit further north can be significantly cheaper and is just a slightly longer commute on 79. Hopefully, someday Erie will become Pittsburgh north and I will be able to zip on down in a high speed train.

[runpens1]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Seems like a stretch to me. No TRUE Pittsburgher would drive all way aht there n'at.

Yeah I thought so. The Pittsburgh Metro area is defined by the census as all of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Slippery Rock is at the northern edge of Butler County if that's what they're basing it on. It's like 3 miles from the Mercer County border. You have the little college town with a few smaller ranges of subdivisions on the outside, but that's about it. If it wasn't for the college there, there would be nothing there. It would be like the rural northeastern portion of Butler County (Karns City areas). I would not really consider the rural portions of the outlying counties to be suburban Pittsburgh.

[eschaton]

I think this is basically considered a suburb based on a technicality.

I mean, Butler County is part of the Pittsburgh MSA - and has been for decades, largely due to its southeastern corner in and around Cranberry. This results in the entire county being considered to be "metropolitan" by the census. Hence data-scraping sites will look at everything in the county as a "suburb" of Pittsburgh - even areas like Slippery Rock which are pretty far out.

The inclusion of Armstrong County in the Pittsburgh MSA has always seemed stranger to be to be honest.

[szug-bot]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

This is funny as I thought the same thing and then my sister recently moved to the Slippery Rock area and she works in Pittsburgh. Cranberry has become too expensive for many people and going a little bit further north can be significantly cheaper and is just a slightly longer commute on 79. Hopefully, someday Erie will become Pittsburgh north and I will be able to zip on down in a high speed train.

or a faster, much cheaper, more environmentally friendly option - HYPERLOOP!

there HAS to be more reasonable options. slippery rock to pittsburgh? there are no reasonably priced houses in ross township? even in the city of pittsburgh?

with kids in the picture, i can understand more....but that commute, every day.....yikes.

[Knepper3]

Yeah aside from crazily considering SR a suburb of Pittsburgh, I wouldnt even consider it a great suburb. My wife used to have a college student focused business up there for 7 years and my daughter currently goes there so we have spent tons of time there and I'd wonder how much time anyone involved with that article actually spent there. There are some nice homes and I am not saying it is a bad town but overall for adults you have mostly college students, a crazy drive to any real jobs unless you work at the college, and there is nothing really to do around there nor is there much significant shopping in town.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

Yeah aside from crazily considering SR a suburb of Pittsburgh, I wouldnt even consider it a great suburb. My wife used to have a college student focused business up there for 7 years and my daughter currently goes there so we have spent tons of time there and I'd wonder how much time anyone involved with that article actually spent there. There are some nice homes and I am not saying it is a bad town but overall for adults you have mostly college students, a crazy drive to any real jobs unless you work at the college, and there is nothing really to do around there nor is there much significant shopping in town.

IMHO the Pittsburgh MSA has one of the weakest overall collections of "college towns" in the country - in large part because all of the main universities around here are urban/located in Pittsburgh, with the outlying colleges too small to really develop a decent "college town" vibe.

I think Indiana is the best college town in Western Pennsylvania overall, but Indiana County isn't part of the Pittsburgh MSA.

[runpens1]

Originally Posted by eschaton

I think this is basically considered a suburb based on a technicality.

I mean, Butler County is part of the Pittsburgh MSA - and has been for decades, largely due to its southeastern corner in and around Cranberry. This results in the entire county being considered to be "metropolitan" by the census. Hence data-scraping sites will look at everything in the county as a "suburb" of Pittsburgh - even areas like Slippery Rock which are pretty far out.

The inclusion of Armstrong County in the Pittsburgh MSA has always seemed stranger to be to be honest.

Yeah somebody else did this a few years back on how would you define metro Pittsburgh. I would say the following:

North: Cranberry Township, Seven Fields, Mars, Valencia, etc. (Zelienople area is maybe starting to seem like greater Cranberry area, but still doesn't seem like metro Pittsburgh to me for some reason)
Northeast: Freeport, Sarver, Buffalo Township, etc.
East: Murrysville/Export/Delmont
Southeast (1): Irwin/North Huntingdon Township (further east would be considered greater Greensburg/Latrobe)
Southeast (2): Elizabeth, etc.
South: Peters Township, McMurray, Finleyville, etc.
Southwest : Canonsburg, Cecil Township, etc.
West: McDonald, Midway, North Fayette Township, Findlay Township, Moon Township, etc.
Northwest: Aliquippa/Hopewell, Ambridge/Economy/Baden, etc. (Further out would just be considered Beaver Valley)

Freeport borough is actually at the tip of Armstrong County, so maybe that's the only reason it's included, don't have anywhere in Fayette on this list though.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by szug-bot

or a faster, much cheaper, more environmentally friendly option - HYPERLOOP!

there HAS to be more reasonable options. slippery rock to pittsburgh? there are no reasonably priced houses in ross township? even in the city of pittsburgh?

with kids in the picture, i can understand more....but that commute, every day.....yikes.

It depends on people's preferences and my sister has always liked having more land and living at least a little bit away from the city center. The place my sister bought is on Slippery Rock creek and has a little over an acre of land and cost less than $200,000. Her daily commute to the city ranges from 45-60 minutes depending on traffic and she has very easy access to Cranberry, which has basically become a city on its own with many amenities. I will also point out that her house is in very good shape and as most of you know finding real estate with several nice features that is recently renovated with prime land in the Pittsburgh metro for under $200,000 is not easy.