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I'm looking for a Pittsburgh neighborhood to satisfy several different social factors. My 67 year old retired mother, niece (13 years), and myself (30's) are looking to relocate out of Las Vegas since my dad died for a better quality of life, doctors, schools and jobs. My mom is currently raising my niece, so she'd like good schools for her. Safety is important. I would like a decent social scene, dating opportunities, jobs in office administration or health care, living near colleges/uni's, live music, restaurants, and art galleries.
I have a friend who used to live in West Chester discourage me from exploring PA. He's lived a lot of places, so I do respect his opinion. However, he is a single father with a possibly slanted view. He told me the people are all married high school sweethearts and it's small town mind set. He said none of them had ever lived anywhere else. This gives me ugly flashbacks to my days in Dallas.
He also said the area between Pittsburgh and Philly is like Kentucky. Also had a friend from Jersey tell me PA is very redneck. Do you agree? For those afraid to speak honestly (because I know how nasty CD commenters can get) please PM as I'd like to hear more about PA and Pittsburgh.
I've also been reading on the Pittsburgh forums about the unemployment and lack of job growth. This deters me a bit too. From other research I see that cigarettes are still allowed in bars in PA. This is disappointing because the cigarettes here in Vegas are disgusting enough.
Where would you visit on a 3-4 day trip to see if one even likes it? Thank you for constructive feedback.
I'm glad you're considering Pittsburgh. Most of PA outside of PGH and Philly is rural, and rural in any state usually means more religious, conservative, and Republican on average. If you're going to be in/near the city, does it matter? FWIW, the rural areas have beautiful parks, waterfalls, hills/mountains, rivers, and more. Fall foliage is normally unbelievable though this year seems to be disappointing.
Do you want to be in the city or a suburb with close access to the city? Do you want to own a single-family house? A rowhome/townhome?
West Chester is 4 1/2 hours and almost 300 miles away. I don't think it has much relevance. Some parts of North Carolina are not much further.
Sorry to hear about your dad, mine passed 3 years ago. I don't have much bad to say about PA, a lot is a matter of opinion relative to the person saying it. I grew up in NJ, yes we had the jokes about Pennsytucky but it's no more redneck than any other rural areas. In NJ rednecks were just called Piney but on average between Philly and Pittsburgh is pretty rural overall and I don't know I'd live anywhere in between. I've been to Kentucky and its a great state, I'd rather live there than middle PA. Anyway there is a lot to offer in Pgh and a variety of people but yes many people have never lived anywhere else which I see as good, I mean why leave somewhere you like. There is a decent amount of things to do, can't talk on relationships as I moved here married. I'm not a bar person but yeah Smoking is still more visible here and more smoke than when I lived down south. It was only the last 10 years people stopped smoking in restaurants. 3-4 days would be a good idea, where really depends on what your interests are and if you want to be a tourist and research where to live.
I'm looking for a Pittsburgh neighborhood to satisfy several different social factors. My 67 year old retired mother, niece (13 years), and myself (30's) are looking to relocate out of Las Vegas since my dad died for a better quality of life, doctors, schools and jobs. My mom is currently raising my niece, so she'd like good schools for her. Safety is important. I would like a decent social scene, dating opportunities, jobs in office administration or health care, living near colleges/uni's, live music, restaurants, and art galleries.
I have a friend who used to live in West Chester discourage me from exploring PA. He's lived a lot of places, so I do respect his opinion. However, he is a single father with a possibly slanted view. He told me the people are all married high school sweethearts and it's small town mind set. He said none of them had ever lived anywhere else. This gives me ugly flashbacks to my days in Dallas.
He also said the area between Pittsburgh and Philly is like Kentucky. Also had a friend from Jersey tell me PA is very redneck. Do you agree? For those afraid to speak honestly (because I know how nasty CD commenters can get) please PM as I'd like to hear more about PA and Pittsburgh.
I've also been reading on the Pittsburgh forums about the unemployment and lack of job growth. This deters me a bit too. From other research I see that cigarettes are still allowed in bars in PA. This is disappointing because the cigarettes here in Vegas are disgusting enough.
Where would you visit on a 3-4 day trip to see if one even likes it? Thank you for constructive feedback.
Thanks for considering our city/area as potential new home! As a twenty-year transplant to the area, it's been great watching the area slowly grow and change.
The net negatives for me have been the rather stagnant wage growth in my field (I'm slightly underpaid for my position, but those who are starting out in my field are making barely more than I did as a new grad twenty years ago) and the high-ish property taxes.
The net positives have been many. There are plenty of free and or/inexpensive things to do and see both solo and with friends, family, and out-of-town visitors such as the following:
* Summertime means free movies at various city parks (and quite a few of those in the inner-ring suburbs, too), free concerts (First Fridays at the Frick come to mind as well as the pop up concerts downtown in the Cultural District), the Three Rivers Arts Festival (this one books national music acts as well as those from the local scene and is free to attend, but bring an umbrella as it always seems to rain when this festival is going on, lol)
*Comic Con and Anthrocon (the Furries!) come each year and are fun for all ages even if you're not deeply into such things.
*There's the Aviary on the North Side as well as a decent zoo with an affiliated aquarium. (I prefer the Aviary as I used to live walking distance from it and spent a lot of time there.)
*There's fine selection of museums such as the Carnegie Museum of Art/Natural History (dinosaur bones!), the Carnegie Science Center,The Andy Warhol museum, the Mattress Factory (installation art), an historical Photography museum (a sleeper hit on the main drag of the North Side), a bicycle museum and workshop (has one of the bikes from PeeWee's Big Adventure!) and, for the weirdos among us, Trundle Manor (a private home that houses an eclectic mix of taxidermy, interesting specimens in jars (both animal and human) and other oddities and Randyland (which is like a slice of 1960s San Francisco vomited a delightfully colorful mix of colors, collected objects and art on a house with its attached courtyard on the North Side).
*There a ton of fun day trips that can happen when Pittsburgh is one's "home base." Falling Water, Kentuck Knob, and cave diving in the Laurel Highlands, rafting at Ohio Pyle, bike and walking trails in and around the city (I go to Riverview Park where the Observatory Hill is quite often). It's also relatively easy to take a long weekend trip to NYC, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Cleveland, and Chicago via car or plane given Pittsburgh's convenient geographic location.
*As much as people like to ***** about "Pennsultucky," one of the huge advantages of having rural areas nearby is that locally produced grains, produce, and meats are readily available. If you're into organics, we're fortunate enough to have a two great co-ops (East End Food Co-op in the city and Frankferd Farms north of the city) as well as several Whole Foods markets.
*Safety for the most part is a non-issue. I've lived in and around the city for over two decades in places that have run the gamut from working class/low-income within spitting distance of a now-closed housing project to various city neighborhoods to an affluent exurb to my current abode in a northwestern, rather urban inner ring suburb. I have never felt unsafe--even when I was a single young woman living in a first floor apartment who parked her car on the street. The biggest thing is just to use basic street smarts, be alert at all times and just generally be aware of one's surroundings and people that give off a bad vibe.
*The restaurant scene has been steadily improving. If you and your family are into Asian food, head over to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood and eat at either Everyday Noodle (soup dumplings!) or How Lee (across the street from Everyday Noodle. Has a great Szechuan fare as well as the more typical Chinese-American food that one would expect from such a place). If you have any dietary issues, most of the independent restaurants are pretty good about taking care of clientele who have special needs--you just have to let them know (preferably in advance).
*I've not had difficulty in finding suitable people to date in this area (and I don't do online dating) either before or after my divorce, but in this particular area, your mileage might vary considerable depending on what sort of person you find appealing. None of my local married friends are married to a college sweetheart, let alone a high school one. This might be more typical of those with a lower level of education, though.
*Dating aside, making new friends and acquaintances can be quite challenging especially if you're not a parent yourself. People tend to be rather clannish in this regard and it's not easy to break into an existing friendship circle. MeetUp.org has been very helpful for me to meet new people outside of work--it just took joining a few different groups to find a good fit for me.
*Unless you're into "slumming" when it comes to bars (and it's definitely fun to do so at times), the vast majority of bars in the city proper are non-smoking. People do smoke a good bit here, but it's noticeably on the downswing now that vaping has gained popularity with both the younger crowd and those who wanted to kick the cigarette habit.
I'll leave it to another poster(s) to chime in about the sort of work that you seek and schools as I'm in a different field from yours and I do not have children in the area school districts.
I'm looking for a Pittsburgh neighborhood to satisfy several different social factors. My 67 year old retired mother, niece (13 years), and myself (30's) are looking to relocate out of Las Vegas since my dad died for a better quality of life, doctors, schools and jobs. My mom is currently raising my niece, so she'd like good schools for her. Safety is important. I would like a decent social scene, dating opportunities, jobs in office administration or health care, living near colleges/uni's, live music, restaurants, and art galleries.
If you want to live near various civic assets, then your best bet is to live in the city itself. If schools are more important, though, then you might be better off in the suburbs. The Pittsburgh Public Schools have a couple of good "feeder" systems, but home prices in those areas are more expensive. In the suburbs, most of the best school districts are to the north and west.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WildSpark
I have a friend who used to live in West Chester discourage me from exploring PA. He's lived a lot of places, so I do respect his opinion. However, he is a single father with a possibly slanted view. He told me the people are all married high school sweethearts and it's small town mind set. He said none of them had ever lived anywhere else. This gives me ugly flashbacks to my days in Dallas.
Compared to Texas and Nevada, Pennsylvania is much more native, but the wealthier areas of the state are more transient. Outside of Allegheny County, western Pennsylvania is not transient, but the closer you get to the urban core of Pittsburgh, the more transient it becomes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WildSpark
He also said the area between Pittsburgh and Philly is like Kentucky. Also had a friend from Jersey tell me PA is very redneck. Do you agree?
No. Those who think that Pennsylvania is "redneck" are very sheltered, fragile people. They're either snotty Democrats who can't stand the fact that there's still a Northeastern state with political and ideological diversity, or they're Chamber-of-Commerce Republicans who'd gladly sell the U.S. up **** creek to make a buck. To put it another way, those who believe that either George Soros or the Koch Brothers are good people, or even not bad people, are the kind who think that Pennsylvanians are rednecks. If anything, Pennsylvania is the most normal Northeastern state of all.
As for Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, it's more like an amalgam of Iowa and Montana than Kentucky or any other Southern state. Religiously, it's like Iowa. Catholics are a plurality, and the largest Protestant denominations are Methodists, Evangelical Lutherans and Presbyterians. Southern Baptists are virtually nonexistent. Politically, it's like Montana. The Republican archetype is closer to Ron Paul than Mike Huckabee. (In fact, Ron Paul himself is a Pittsburgh native.) Pennsylvania Republicans are less likely to ask you which church you went to, and more likely to tell you to **** off and mind your own business. They're closer in attitude to Republicans in the Great Plains and Interior West than the South.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WildSpark
I've also been reading on the Pittsburgh forums about the unemployment and lack of job growth. This deters me a bit too. From other research I see that cigarettes are still allowed in bars in PA. This is disappointing because the cigarettes here in Vegas are disgusting enough.
The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is 4.1%, which is identical to Alabama, California, Illinois, New York and Wyoming; lower than Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Washington and West Virginia; and 0.1% higher than Delaware and Michigan. This means that Pennsylvania has a lower unemployment rate than four of its six neighboring states.
As for job growth, here's the year-over-year job growth percentage by employment sector in the Pittsburgh MSA for September 2018:
+4.3% - Construction
+3.9% - Mining and Logging
+2.2% - Professional and Business Services
+2.0% - Manufacturing
+1.2% - Education and Health Services
+0.6% - Government
+0.4% - Leisure and Hospitality
+0.4% - Other Services
0.0% - Information
-1.1% - Trade, Transportation and Utilities
-2.7% - Financial Activities
Make of that what you will. Office administration jobs are included in the Professional and Business Services sector, and health care jobs are included in the Education and Health Services sector. The two weak employment sectors are Trade, Transportation and Utilities and Financial Activities. Trade, Transportation and Utilities involve jobs in wholesale and retail trade, warehousing and distribution, trucking and delivery, public transit and utilities. Financial Services involve the "FIRE" jobs: finance, insurance and real estate.
I have a friend who used to live in West Chester discourage me from exploring PA. He's lived a lot of places, so I do respect his opinion. However, he is a single father with a possibly slanted view. He told me the people are all married high school sweethearts and it's small town mind set. He said none of them had ever lived anywhere else. This gives me ugly flashbacks to my days in Dallas.
Most Pittsburgh residents are native Pennsylvanians (71.5% of people in the city over the age of 21), which is about the same as the whole of Pennsylvania. This is much higher than Dallas (42.7%), and vastly different than Las Vegas (6.9%--which is crazy to me). That said, I do think that depending on where you live in the city you are likely to meet people from all over.
The elephant in the room is the projected college cost for the 13 year old niece. If I was open to moving to a new city I would at least consider it as a factor. Pennsylvania has some of the most expensive state schools in the country. I bet the difference is about 10,000 a year compared with other states.
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This is disappointing because the cigarettes here in Vegas are disgusting enough. 
