Pittsburgh provides top "bang-for-buck" among larger metros (Akron: foreclosures, to live)

[BrianTH]

Of course this is not really a surprise, since there couldn't be a much more favorable topic for Pittsburgh:

America's Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities - Forbes.com

Note they ranked 100 metros and Pittsburgh was #22, but all the metros above Pittsburgh were considerably smaller. In fact you don't get to a larger metro than Pittsburgh until #43 (Denver).

[Hopes]

Interesting that Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland & Toledo all have more affordable housing than Pittsburgh. But Pittsburgh's economy is ranking better in many areas.

I'm surprised Pittsburgh's ranking for commuting time is so bad. Our commutes are very good so the commutes in these other cities must be nonexistent.

[Tiger Beer]

There is something seriously wrong with that list if HONOLULU made #54 out of 100 American cities.

[jazz06]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

There is something seriously wrong with that list if HONOLULU made #54 out of 100 American cities.

But it's ranked 100 for the housing list. It has it's appeal but that place is not where I'd want to live mostly because of how expensive it is.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Interesting that Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland & Toledo all have more affordable housing than Pittsburgh. But Pittsburgh's economy is ranking better in many areas.

I'm surprised Pittsburgh's ranking for commuting time is so bad. Our commutes are very good so the commutes in these other cities must be nonexistent.

Colorado Springs and Omaha, both ranked above Pittsburgh have very short commute times. Omaha is called "the 20 minute city" b/c you are never more than 20 min. away from your destnation (supposedly). Commute times in COS run 15-20 min.

[Copanut]

My commute is 20 seconds unless I trip over my wife. No doubt, they did not figure that into the equation.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Copanut

My commute is 20 seconds unless I trip over my wife. No doubt, they did not figure that into the equation.

No doubt! Actually, I think there is a category for "work at home".

[BrianTH]

Pittsburgh's commutes are indeed pretty decent for a larger city (in fact you can see that by scanning the rankings for larger cities), but it can't compete with most of the considerably smaller cities on this list.

[Hopes]

Yeah, I thought that was pretty obvious from my post that our commute isn't shabby.

It's a no brainer why so many cities have faster commutes---there's no point in naming all 78 of them.

[TelecasterBlues]

yeah the "faster commute" thing....ummmm, it's no secret that our roadway system is dated, in bad repair, and basically 100% crazy due to the terrain. It really can't be helped though. We're an older city with older roadways, we have crazy topography to deal with and pretty much can't install a proper loop or anything that most other newer cities have. Just check out the aerial view of different cities on any sort of online road map and it's easy to see a visual difference in terms of organization and structure between somewhere like Columbus, San Antonio, Dallas, Louisville, etc comapred to Pittsburgh. Haha, I'm surprised that so many people are trynig to refute that ranking, the first thing about Pittsburgh that people always seem to complain about is the roads and highway system. I know people that have to commute 45 minutes in the morning just to go 10 miles down the road, we're talking downtown and close by areas and not so much the surrounding 'burbs with a ranking like that.