Why isn't Pittsburgh growing? (Washington, Butler: transplants, how much, employment)

[123MoltenCore]

All I keep hearing about is how much Pittsburgh has improved over the past 15 years and how it's the new hip city for professional millennials. If it's doing so well than why isn't it's metro area growing at all. Right now Cincinnati seems to be growing faster than Pittsburgh.

[Dequindre]

A lot of "Pittsburgh's" growth has been taking place in surrounding counties, so it's not really Pittsburgh's growth per say. If growth is to happen again in Allegheny County, is need to happen in the depressed de-industrialized river towns where the most population loss is occurring.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by 123MoltenCore

All I keep hearing about is how much Pittsburgh has improved over the past 15 years and how it's the new hip city for professional millennials. If it's doing so well than why isn't it's metro area growing at all. Right now Cincinnati seems to be growing faster than Pittsburgh.

This was dealt with in another thread. The reason is mostly because there's a big difference between Pittsburgh's urban core and the outlying exurbs.

In the Cincinnati region, there was (outside of northern Kentucky) very little besides farmland if you went back to 1950. In contrast, in Southwestern Pennsylvania industry was hugely decentralized during this period, with mill towns dotting the areas of Allegheny County outside of the City of Pittsburgh, and also heavily found along the rivers in counties like Beaver, Westmoreland, Washington, and Fayette.

Pittsburgh proper has been able to transition from the body blow of the steel industry imploding in the early 1980s. The downtown white-collar office concentration has never lost jobs since the 1950s. University-related employment has grown tremendously, but this is all concentrated within city limits). New medical-related jobs are also mostly in the city proper. In contrast, basically nothing replaced the employment concentrations of the mills which either closed entirely or are down by 90% or more of their original peak employment.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Dequindre

A lot of "Pittsburgh's" growth has been taking place in surrounding counties, so it's not really Pittsburgh's growth per say. If growth is to happen again in Allegheny County, is need to happen in the depressed de-industrialized river towns where the most population loss is occurring.

You have this mostly backwards. Growth hasn't been big in the surrounding counties at all. Butler has consistently seen growth, but it's pretty much entirely driven by a small area around Cranberry in the far southwestern corner of the county. Washington County grew from 2000-2010, but with the collapse of the energy industry major exurban growth has slowed down quite a bit thataways - and there's areas like the Mon Valley which have continued to see steep declines. And Westmoreland, Beaver, Fayette, and Armstrong counties are all experiencing continuous decline.

Of course, there are also areas within Allegheny county experiencing decline. The areas in the Mon Valley and to the East of the city in particular are not healthy now. But the outer counties aren't helping the equation one bit.

[gladhands]

The better question is who cares? Amenities are getting better and the tax base is increasing. People in C-D are overly fixated on growth.

[123MoltenCore]

Originally Posted by gladhands

The better question is who cares? Amenities are getting better and the tax base is increasing. People in C-D are overly fixated on growth.

Growth means that people want to move there. Lack of growth generally means people are leaving or have no desire to move there. Seems like Pittsburgh is an exception to this and I wonder why that is. Does the bad weather have something to do with that maybe?

[gladhands]

Originally Posted by 123MoltenCore

Growth means that people want to move there. Lack of growth generally means people are leaving or have no desire to move there. Seems like Pittsburgh is an exception to this and I wonder why that is. Does the bad weather have something to do with that maybe?

We've discussed this a million times, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you're not a troll. Only DC and Jersey City have higher rates of millennial population growth than Pittsburgh. That means people, especially young (college educated) people DO want to move here. Young singles and childless couples are replacing poor families, so the population is not rising commensurate with the influx of transplants. This year, the city collected 17 million more in income taxes without population growth OR at tax increase.

[123MoltenCore]

Originally Posted by gladhands

We've discussed this a million times, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you're not a troll. Only DC and Jersey City have higher rates of millennial population growth than Pittsburgh. That means people, especially young (college educated) people DO want to move here. Young singles and childless couples are replacing poor families, so the population is not rising commensurate with the influx of transplants. This year, the city collected 17 million more in income taxes without population growth OR at tax increase.

I'm not sure why you'd even begin to think that. This is my first comment on this section. I was not aware of those stats, thanks for pointing them out.

[erieguy]

Originally Posted by 123MoltenCore

I'm not sure why you'd even begin to think that. This is my first comment on this section. I was not aware of those stats, thanks for pointing them out.

Don't sweat it. Some think da 'burgh is the end all be all of places to live and get upset when issues about it are brought up.

[_Buster]

The death rate is still higher than the birth rate, but there has been a net influx of people from elsewhere that has kind of kept the population trend flat recently. Which means that people are moving to Pittsburgh. The state and city could do a whole lot more to be business friendly though to help produce stronger job and wage growth.