Best PlacesPittsburgh, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Pittsburgh metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Chych at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via commons
Pittsburgh ranks 139th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and state infrastructure. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Pittsburgh metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Pittsburgh
The towns and districts of the Pittsburgh metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Butler, Allison Park & Gibsonia
Crime runs lower, schools score higher, and incomes run higher.
Washington, Canonsburg & Bethel Park
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Coraopolis, Mckees Rocks & Carnegie
Transit reaches more jobs and local pay stretches further.
New Castle, Aliquippa & Beaver Falls
Tree cover is thicker.
Monroeville, Plum & Murrysville
Streets are more car-dependent.
Greensburg, Irwin & Uniontown
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
New Kensington, Kittanning & Lower Burrell
It is quieter, though health outcomes score lower.
Downtown Pittsburgh
More homes sit empty and prices have run up more.
Jefferson Hills, McKeesport & Monongahela
Scores close to Downtown Pittsburgh, except that commutes are longer here.
Pittsburgh shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Pittsburgh's strengths and weaknesses
Pittsburgh lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Health care access and civic engagement follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, state infrastructure, and a weak job market hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Pittsburgh ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 90% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of metro areas
- School gradeB+, better than 86% of metro areas
Where Pittsburgh ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of metro areas
- Short commute25.8 minutes each way, better than only 21% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Pittsburgh
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pittsburgh home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,582, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Pittsburgh's effective rate of 1.34%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pittsburgh.
Who works in Pittsburgh, and how
Work in Pittsburgh centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh has more parkland per resident than 71% of metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Pittsburgh and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pittsburgh growing, and who is moving in?
Pittsburgh has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Philadelphia, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pittsburgh go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pittsburgh, month by month
Pittsburgh sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.8 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pittsburgh
Schools across Pittsburgh average a B+, better than 86% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Streams El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Baker El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Sunset Valley El SchA+ · 98% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Couch MsA+ · 83% proficient
- South Fayette MsA+ · 80% proficient
- Shaler Area El SchA+ · 77% proficient
Top high schools
- Peters Twp HsA+ · 100% proficient
- South Park ShsA+ · 95% proficient
- Fox Chapel Area HsA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pittsburgh school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pittsburgh measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Pittsburgh against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Pittsburgh suits
Common questions about living in Pittsburgh
Is Pittsburgh a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pittsburgh ranks 139th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pittsburgh expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,892. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $85,582 median income, cost of living beats 70% of metro areas.
Is Pittsburgh safe?
Pittsburgh is safer than 32% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $337 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Pittsburgh?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Butler, Allison Park & Gibsonia, Washington, Canonsburg & Bethel Park, and Coraopolis, Mckees Rocks & Carnegie. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Pittsburgh good for families?
Schools beat 86% of metro areas, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $956 a month.
Is Pittsburgh good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 26% of metro areas. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Pittsburgh with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pittsburgh. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pittsburgh represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Pittsburgh detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pittsburgh: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pittsburgh: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pittsburgh: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pittsburgh: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pittsburgh detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.