North Hills vs. South Hills (Pittsburgh, Bethel Park: new house, neighborhood, good schools)

[jeffinpghpa]

I live in Upper St. Clair. The schools are a bit better in the South Hills. I also find that for kids activities, everything is much closer together around USC, Mt. Lebanon, Scott, Bethel Park and Peters. The drives are shorter. North Hills are way more spread out if you have activities spanning Cranberry, Wexford, Ross, etc.

I have lived here for 6 years. When I looked at Cranberry at the time it seemed like they were building all these houses and not many nice shops or restaurants were there yet. There looked like there was nowhere to go. It has since expanded, but I think there is so much more character in South Hills. Mt. Lebanon has sidewalks and places to walk around at night, nicer restaurant options, more upscale shopping (not "mall stores" but nicer boutique places).

Where I live in Upper St. Clair, there are trees everywhere and my 40 year old house has character, even though it's smaller than the McMansion I could have bought in Cranberry for the same price.

[Copanut]

Cranberry, The Monroeville of the North.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by londonbarcelona

South Hills = Old money
North Hills = New money

More like

South Hills = less money
North Hills = more money

This is one area where perception differs from reality. The reality is that the North Hills are much much more affluent than the South Hills.

Here are Wikipedia 2000 household incomes for select townships.

$147k North Hills - Fox Chapel
$116k North Hills - Sewickley Heights
$102k North Hills - (Wexford) Marshall
$93k North Hills - (Wexford) Pine
$87k North Hills - (Wexford) Franklin Park
$87k South Hills - Upper St Claire
$79k North Hills - Sewickley Hills
$73k North Hills - (Wexford) McCandless
$67k Eastern Subs - Churchill
$64k Eastern Subs - Murrysville
$66k North Hills - Cranberry
$60k South Hills - Mt. Lebanon
$57k South Hills - South Park
$57k Western Subs - Moon
$55k Western Subs - Robinson
$53k Eastern Subs - Monroeville
$53k South Hills - Bethel Park

[BrianTH]

I don't ordinarily think of Fox Chapel and Sewickley being in the "North Hills". And for what it is worth:

North Hills (Pennsylvania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The independent suburban municipalities that are typically included in the North Hills are Ross Township, Borough of West View, Shaler Township, Franklin Park, Marshall Township, Bradford Woods, McCandless, Hampton Township, Pine Township, Richland Township, Cranberry Township, and Seven Fields.

[PeterRabbit]

In real estate, anything on the other side of the Allegheny River is generally considered North Hills. Aspinwall, Fox Chapel and Blawnox don't seem to fit but I think they are in the North section of a Homes magazine.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by PeterRabbit

Aspinwall, Fox Chapel and Blawnox don't seem to fit but I think they are in the North section of a Homes magazine.

Sure, but I think there is a distinction between the whole "North" quadrant of the Pittsburgh region and specifically the "North Hills", with the North Hills only being part of the greater North quadrant.

[zip95]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Sure, but I think there is a distinction between the whole "North" quadrant of the Pittsburgh region and specifically the "North Hills", with the North Hills only being part of the greater North quadrant.

I'm not one for semantics, so whatever you want to call it....the point is that most of the Money in Pittsburgh is North of the Allegheny.....there may even be more money North of the Mon in some Eastern Suburbs????

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by zip95

I'm not one for semantics, so whatever you want to call it....

Well, if we are going to be using a term like "North Hills" we need to have a mutual understand of what that means. That is indeed just "semantics", but it is a prerequisite to having a substantive discussion of what characteristics the North Hills actually has.

the point is that most of the Money in Pittsburgh is North of the Allegheny.....there may even be more money North of the Mon in some Eastern Suburbs????

Again this might strike you as semantics, but "North of the Mon" sorta loses meaning when you head farther east, since the Mon turns and becomes basically a north-south river. Similarly, once you are heading up the Ohio River valley (e.g., where you will find Sewickley), technically you are no longer North of the Allegheny, because the Allegheny doesn't exist anymore.

Which brings me back to North Hills ... that really is a pretty descriptive name for just the part of the North well between the river valleys, putting the "Hills" into "North Hills". And although we can define broader terms, I actually think it is quite helpful to distinguish the North Hills from the river valley communities.

[Katiana]

Sewickley is sort of a northwest community, IMO. Maybe one of these odd ducks that is in its own category. The Ohio is flowing north at that point, BTW. It turns west at Beaver, PA.

[alleghenyman]

Gre up in Upper St. Clair, live in Allison Park. Miss the south hills because the neighborhoods were more established and there is better shopping, dining and drinking.

It's probably just nostalgia on my part.