$100k salary, packing up from Anchorage

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Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

from anchorage

Pittsburgh

pa · metro 2.4M

photo: Jay Brand / pexels

a dispatch from

pittsburgh

PA

40.44°N

80.00°W

Pittsburgh has more bridges than Venice (446, and locals will tell you the exact number), three rivers crashing together downtown, and a sandwich tradition where the fries go inside. The mills are long gone but the neighborhoods they built (Polish Hill, Bloomfield, the Strip) still feed you like a great aunt. Carnegie Mellon and UPMC turned the old industrial bones into a robotics and medical research scene. The skyline reveal coming through the Fort Pitt Tunnel is the cheapest awe in America.

metro2.4M

01 · the verdict

the verdict

$15

the monthly premium over Anchorage

Almost a wash on cost. The case for Pittsburgh is about what you'd do there, not what you'd save.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

14% cheaper than Anchorage(vs $1,713/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$256/mo more in state tax than Anchorage

vs 0% in Anchorage

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$15 less than Anchorage

gross of federal tax. a comparison, not a paycheck.

04a house here

$223k

49% cheaper than Anchorage

vs $438k in Anchorage

05metro size

2.4M

vs 401k in Anchorage

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Anchorage barely cracks 93 pleasant ones.

·outdoorscore

69/100

1% higher than Anchorage

vs 68/100 in Anchorage

Closest outdoor draw: Raccoon Creek State Park, 21.4 mi.

·walk score®

99/100

25% higher than Anchorage

vs 79/100 in Anchorage

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

9% more than Anchorage

vs 34 nonstops in Anchorage

04 · see also

if pittsburgh appeals, also worth a look:

compare pittsburgh with: