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Traffic is definitely not as bad as NYC or DC, but it can be bad depending on your individual commute. I'd say in comparison that its more similar to Philly traffic, but not as consistently bad.
Most visitors find Pittsburgh to be a pretty fun place, you will probably enjoy it during Spring/Summer/Fall, not sure about winter if overcast affects you much.
Regarding cost of living, buying a house can be a bargain compared to the coast, but taxes are pretty high. Renting a 1 bedroom, if you want a fairly new apartment in a trendy area, it will probably be around $1400-1500. But you can of course get cheaper ones in less desirable but still perfectly fine neighborhoods.
Others have pretty much covered things here. Traffic will be NOTHING compared to a commute from N. Jersey into Manhattan, although avoid tunnels and bridges if you can during rush hour. I work in a suburb on the far east side of town (Murrysville) and live in an inner ring suburb west of town (Crafton), and I can make that drive during rush hour in just a bit over 1 hour (it's about 30 miles). I can't think of ANYWHERE in the NYC area where you can make a 30 mile commute passing through the center of the city during rush hour in anything close to that kind of time.
You can pretty much find any type of housing here, from more urban type row houses, high rise apartments, etc. to relatively large single family homes with decent sized yards within city limits. Expand into the 'burbs and you will get your typical suburban type housing, although there are many inner ring suburbs that are very similar in built form to the adjacent neighborhoods. The tradeoff is in terms of taxes. The city has lower property taxes but a higher wage tax. (You will pay an extra 2% of your income if you live in the city vs. living in most of the neighboring suburbs).
Even in many of the closer suburbs, public transit isn't bad. Where I live, the West Busway goes directly into town and it's maybe a 15 minute ride. If you are going to rely on public transit, though, you probably would want to live on the same side of town as your job (if you aren't working downtown). The transit system is good for getting to and from downtown, but not so great at other trips. Bus lines tend to run from downtown to and from a given destination, and unless your trip is to a destination along a bus line that runs through your origin, you likely would have to ride into downtown, transfer buses and then ride to your destination. This isn't bad if you are going from one side of town to another, but often you have to do this to get from one neighborhood to another on the same side of town. For example, to get from Oakland to Lawrenceville (both east end neighborhoods) requires a transfer in downtown. It might take 45 minutes or more to ride a bus on a trip that would be a ten minute drive. Also, if you are used to NYC public transit, you will be quite disappointed with Pittsburgh's service during late night hours -- there isn't any. Even before buses stop for the evening the wait times between buses can become quite long, one bus per hour on some routes.
"Plus all the Californians moving in are snobby, annoying hipsters or anti-social dorks. Even in the forums they're douchey."
I moved to Pittsburgh five years ago. I'm very happy here. Oh yeah, I'm a native Californian.
didn't mean to offend. I know it's not just Californians that are ruining Austin but the locals blame the Cali folks and that's the most common out-of-state plate I see here(and new york)
Quote:
Originally Posted by dbsteel
I do have Austin to Pittsburgh experience for you- I lived in Austin for 13 years before moving here. Austin was getting too expensive, traffic-y, and just overall crowded when I left 5 years ago, and it seems to be getting worse. I live in the Pittsburgh suburbs.
I loved Austin when I got there in the 90s..... I lived out in the boonies...... in round rock. Flash forward ten years and there were traffic jams getting out of my neighborhood. What a crowded mess.
Cost of living is better here than Austin, especially if you buy a house. The traffic here is bad on the Parkway into Pittsburgh in the mornings and afternoons, but that's about it. People are mostly friendly but you still get some of the same cliques and politics that you see there. In Austin, everyone is from all over. In Pittsburgh, everyone is from here. You do get a good community feel though.
The weather here will take some getting used too. Much cloudier, winter, more rain, etc..
wow! I hear a lot of people mention how country round rock used to be. I actually really like round rock and Georgetown (except that Williamson county cops are known to be ridiculously strict). I like Texas lol but I'm too far from family and would never settle in Austin. Maybe closer to San Antonio or the Temple/Harker heights areas. I like towns near the city. Work days I don't do much except hit the gym and sleep. Weekends I like to go out and explore.
Austin is growing way too fast. Traffic getting out of my area wasn't too bad when I first moved here. Now it takes me an extra 10 minutes to get to work and they're building lottssss of new houses and apartment complexes everywhere. I gotta get outta here. I'm not worried about the winters too much. From the sound of it, New Jersey winters might be worse. I'd probably prefer smaller snow days in Pittsburgh than huge snow storms in NJ with mounds of snow on the streets for weeks
didn't mean to offend. I know it's not just Californians that are ruining Austin but the locals blame the Cali folks and that's the most common out-of-state plate I see here(and new york)
Thanks, I appreciate that. I'll give you my take on relocating to Pittsburgh.
Traffic in the SF Bay Area is horrible almost all the time. Because of bridges and tunnels and tiny freeways, Pittsburgh can have some spectacular traffic jams. Even so, it doesn't compare. I tell people to remember the worst traffic they've had here and imagine that it's like that pretty much all day, every day, for a 50 mile radius and they'll have Bay Area traffic. Rush hour actually ends here.
Diversity. Pittsburgh is the whitest place I've ever lived. I'm white and well over 50. I hadn't thought about it until I moved here, but I realized that prior to moving, I had lived my entire adult life in predominantly Asian or Hispanic neighborhoods. It was a bit of a culture shock for me. That said, Pittsburgh does seem to be changing and becoming more diverse, but it has a looooong way to go to be anything like CA in that respect.
Affordability. Home prices are roughly 85% lower than in the Bay Area. Property taxes are significantly higher. But because taxes are based on a percentage of the home's value, owning a home here was waaaaaaay more affordable in my situation.
OP, if you have to ask "Is the area flat land or is it hilly like East Pennsylvania?", I think you should take a trip out and look around the area. You should never move sight unseen anyway.
Spent half an hour answering your questions... then my tablet decided to close the page...
So condensed.
Moved here from New England, TWICE. Love Pittsburgh. It is different, friendlier, not scary, diverse but not many hispanics, not scary dangerous really but it is a city so... pay attention to where you are.
Affordable housing although rents are sometimes too high, buying is cheaper.
Winters, usually short compared to new England frequent snow but not much accumulation, short deep cold spells but generally milder than NE. Very steep terrain, flash floods sometimes, mudslides have become a season this year. Summers mild, rarley reachn or exceed 90*. Autumn long and usually really nice. Wintery weather arriving usually end of November or early December. Spring usually arrives mid to late March. Tornado warnings sometimes but not a significant threat. It rains a lot ( we dont have droughts )and sunny clear blue sky days are not so common. SAD is a real problem over the winter months.
People friendly by New England standards, and not so friendly compared to my experience in Oklahoma. Fun is relative but there is lots to do.
Traffic jams happen at rush hours and when there is a big game, concert or event in the city, but they have start and end time frames that are predictable. People own guns, hunting season (opening day) is practically a holiday. You can leave the city and be in farm country, mountains. state parks in about 30 minutes.
Must be prepared to like or at least pretend to like sports. Football and Hockey are a big deal in the area.
Come visit some time and see for yourself.
Last edited by shadowfax; 05-05-2018 at 06:37 AM..
What's your take on Pittsburgh?
I've been thinking about moving to PA. I've been to Philly, the Poconos, Allentown, and Doylestown a few times.. I've been to Scranton and Bethlehem a bunch of times.
I've been in North Jersey all my life and just spent a year in Austin Texas. I hated Jersey and Austin is too expensive and crowded(just like Jersey). Online reports about the cost of living here were probably outdated because it's nowhere near as low as I expected. Plus all the Californians moving in are snobby, annoying hipsters or anti-social dorks. Even in the forums they're douchey. I know some of the questions im about to ask have probably been answered before but I'm not on here every single day so help me out please.
Back to Pittsburgh
How's traffic? Is it as bad as North Jersey?. Philly? Nyc?
I am answering only about what I know. I live near Pittsburgh, go there many times. It is very hilly, and parking is either hard to find (impossible), or you have to walk a long distance from a lot to get to your destination. I have trouble walking, so that presents a problem for me. AND -- everything is built on hills. So that means that many buildings and homes will have steps.
I have found the traffic (not so much congestion, but the highways) to be troublesome, hard to enter, and often a fast change from one route to another. That scares me.
People in these parts can be very friendly and polite, so that's nice. They will say hello sometimes even if they are just passing. Coming from NYC, it was a complete shock to me.
The winters can be horrible, and there was some caving in from some hills during a tremendous rainy period causing the sides of the hills to collapse, including damaging at least one house, into the roadway. It amazes me that with all the brilliance of people, how they manage to scrape on the sides of hills and think somehow the soil with no trees and few barriers, will protect traffic if there is a mudslide. (Which there was recently)
Pittsburgh has its good points. Would I choose to live there? No. And a few years living near there convinces me, that although people are 'nice,' although kids are given guns by their parents, I'd rather live somewhere else, if I can.
We moved here from upstate NY about a year ago. We live in a suburb about 10 miles south of the city, but spend almost all of our entertainment dollars downtown, North Side, and east end. The vehicular infrastructure sourh of the city is about the worst. Still, getting to downtown during rush hour takes 45 to 60 mins. BUT traveling outside of that time has been a breeze. Usually taking 25 to 30. There is also a light rail system that we use to downtown, Station Square and North Side.
Record winter rainfall led to some major landslides. But in context, I think I read recently that only 50 or so properties were impacted. That's not very many in a place with, I am guessing, 400-500,000 households.
As for guns, I haven't met anyone who owns one. Not that I ask that question of new people I meet.
I am not sure where that is coming from, but my guess would be that this applies to folks in outlying areas and adjacent counties? It is true that venturing not too far from Allegheny County, the culture becomes very conservative. Not too different from central NY in my opinion.
The one thing that we have been surprised about is the great trail systems (hiking and biking) and numerous park systems that are here. We were birding today in Frick Park (east end of the city) and couldn't get over the variety of birds present. This seems to be something that is only getting better. They allow bikes on the light rail which opens up amazing opportunities to traverse the city to the north and on the south end the 40+ mile Montour Trail that connects to the Great Allegheny Passage that leads to Washington DC.
All-in-all we reall do like the city and don't regret the move. Come see for yourself.
didn't mean to offend. I know it's not just Californians that are ruining Austin but the locals blame the Cali folks and that's the most common out-of-state plate I see here(and new york)
wow! I hear a lot of people mention how country round rock used to be. I actually really like round rock and Georgetown (except that Williamson county cops are known to be ridiculously strict). I like Texas lol but I'm too far from family and would never settle in Austin. Maybe closer to San Antonio or the Temple/Harker heights areas. I like towns near the city. Work days I don't do much except hit the gym and sleep. Weekends I like to go out and explore.
Austin is growing way too fast. Traffic getting out of my area wasn't too bad when I first moved here. Now it takes me an extra 10 minutes to get to work and they're building lottssss of new houses and apartment complexes everywhere. I gotta get outta here. I'm not worried about the winters too much. From the sound of it, New Jersey winters might be worse. I'd probably prefer smaller snow days in Pittsburgh than huge snow storms in NJ with mounds of snow on the streets for weeks
I don't know if you know of Avery Ranch, but when I moved there in 98....... it wasn't there! Oconnor Rd ended down the street from me. I lived in Cat Hollow. 620 was a road in the boonies with cow pastures on either side. And there was pretty much nothing on 1431 out to lake Travis. It's nuts now.
New Jersey winters have been worse lately as they get those big storms up the coast. We get 4 inches here, 4 inches there, but nothing has been too bad.
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didn't mean to offend. I know it's not just Californians that are ruining Austin but the locals blame the Cali folks and that's the most common out-of-state plate I see here(and new york)
