Are people still leaving Pittsburgh? (Penn: 2009, rental, employment)

[TootsieWootsie]

I haven't checked the Census numbers, but understand many of the residents of Pittsburgh left awhile ago. Are they still leaving the city like crazy? Has it calmed down? And why did natives leave in the first place? Is the city dying a slow death?
It's been on the news that Pittsburgh was going thru a resurgance? Is this true?
Any information helps.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Are they still leaving the city like crazy?

No.

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Has it calmed down?

Yes.

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

And why did natives leave in the first place?

Due to the collapse of the steel industry in the United States, there were few jobs in Pittsburgh at the time because Pittsburgh was a large steel town. It's similar to how today Detroit is an auto making town. If the auto industry collasped, many people would need to leave Detroit too.

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

Is the city dying a slow death?

Not at all. The population continues to slowly decline because our elderly are dying. Companies sometimes need to hire from outside of the region to fill positions. That brings more people into the area.

I guess you could say that Pittsburgh sort of has a revolving door. It's not uncommon for new college graduates to leave the city to make their mark in the world and later return to Pittsburgh when they're ready to raise families.

Originally Posted by TootsieWootsie

It's been on the news that Pittsburgh was going thru a resurgance? Is this true?

Yes. It has re-established a new economy that doesn't rely on the steel industry. It's not a booming resurgance. It's stable and rather diverse, not reliant on one industry.

[highway29south]

According to the latest Forbes survey of cities, Pittsburgh still maintains it's 70's image. After living here over 20 years, I haven't seen any signs of change in the past several years. Population is still declining, government still the same, taxes still high. There are efforts, but it's slow.

America's Downsized Cities - Forbes.com

[Hopes]

If you've only lived here for slightly over 20 years, you have no idea what Pittsburgh was like after the fall of the steel industry. That happened in the 70s. It was downright depressed. The late 80s are not a comparison. Heck, the late 90s was an employment boom where I was able to dictate my salary, yet you haven't seen a change. That tells me that you're looking at Pittsburgh with a eye bent on the negative.

[TootsieWootsie]

Thanks for the answers so far. Very insightful. I'm really studying this city to move to, since there seems to be so much going for it; however, articles that state that Pittsburgh is still losing population scares me some.
I wonder when the population will start growing? If ever? Any ideas?

[LiveinPA]

I'm on my way out. I'm 30. Of my close circle of friends, most of them went to college here in PA and have all left. Probably about 10 of them I know of. I'm the last one left and I actually left once, moved back and we are on our way out again.

Pgh is not a dirty steel polluted city as many think...it has some nice things going for it.

But the massive elderly population, obscene taxes, traffic and garbage weather wear on a person quickly.

I have met more than a few people who moved here from areas as diverse as Los Angeles and Virginia but could not hack it here.

If I am to be called a pessimist or "Pittsburgh hater" then so be it, but there are far too many people on these boards who have decided to live in Pgh and feel that others need to be convinced of the same.

Visit. If you like it, move into a rental and see if it suits you. Really, that's good advice anywhere.

I would still say that many people under the age of 45 are moving out...my dentist (who is awesome) is about 40 and just informed me that his family is moving out of Pgh as they can't handle it here anymore...and he is a native.

Between the young "brain drain" and the high elderly population, Pgh is slowly shrinking. The solution appears to be more taxes. As a self-employed person I can tell you that PA has been the most frustrating and draconian state gov I've ever had to deal with.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by LiveinPA

I would still say that many people under the age of 45 are moving out...

Let's look at facts.

Below are the percentage of people within age groups:

Ages 25 to 45:

26% of Allegheny County

27% of Pennsylvania

28% of the United States


17 or younger:

8% of Allegheny County

8% of Pennsylvnia

9% of the United States


Ages 18 to 24:

26% of Alllegheny County

27% of Pennsylvnia

28% of the United States


Ages 45 to 64:

28% of Allegheny County

27% of Pennsylvania

25% of the United States


Age 65 and up:

16% of Allegheny County

14% of Pennsylvania

12% of the United States

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed

[LiveinPA]

Pittsburgh is an OLD area...FACT.

2000 Census information about southwestern Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Long known for its abundant elderly population, the Pittsburgh region saw its number of senior citizens barely edge upward in the last decade.

Together, the boomers and the elderly pulled the region's median age up to 40, its highest level ever. The U.S. median is now 35.3, also a record high.

Children - the people whose Social Security taxes will support today's boomers in their retirement - continue to dwindle in relation to the total population, regionally and nationwide.

Those under 20 outnumbered the elderly in Allegheny County more than 5 to 1 in 1940. Their numbers are drawing nearly even today.

In the region, the 85-and-older age group reached a record high of more than 50,000, a 41 percent increase over the decade. The United States has a million more very old citizens than it did in 1990.

The city wants to tax the young working class to support services for the elderly that are also moving here from neighboring states since PA has more favorable tax laws on retirement income.

Most of the people on the Pgh board feel that because they love Pgh that everyone else must. I don't care....move here if it calls you. It's an old struggling area that is toxic to the young working class.

I've had people here tell me to my face it's "my duty" to pay more taxes to take care of them. I can't live in a place with that mindset.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by LiveinPA

Pittsburgh is an OLD area...FACT.

Pittsburgh might have a slightly older population, but the statistics I provided prove that it's only a few percent.

I'm sorry you're unhappy here. I hope you are able to afford to leave soon. Nobody should live somewhere they hate.

[BrianTH]

The population dynamics in Pittsburgh are quite complicated. The disproportionate loss of young adults during the steel bust is still reverberating because in many cases their parents are still here, which is what has continued to cause a larger-than-average older population and unusually large population losses due to migration to retirement communities and death. Of course this is not a stable situation by nature (eventually that entire older generation will migrate or pass away), and most estimates have Pittsburgh returning to a normal population distribution in a couple more decades.

Meanwhile, the population loss has not been distributed evenly throughout the metropolitan area. Specifically, between 1990 and 2000, while the Pittsburgh metropolitan area lost population, the Pittsburgh urban area (defined by the Census to include the City plus the major close-in suburbs) actually grew in population. So, the overall loss in population in Pittsburgh's metropolitan area was driven entirely by population loss in rural areas and small towns outside Pittsburgh's urban area (note this includes many former steel towns, particularly out along the river valleys). That, by the way, is a pattern seen across the country: we have continued to become a more and more urban, as opposed to rural, country with each Census.

Accordingly, I am personally not very worried about population in Pittsburgh, since I live in the urban area and the urban area is actually on a normal slow growth path. I'd be more worried, however, if I was living in the farther reaches of the metropolitan area.