on $100k a year, leaving Asheville

change
Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

instead of asheville

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

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01 · the verdict

the verdict

$385

under Asheville, every month

Pittsburgh gives you room Asheville doesn't. Same gross salary, lower monthly cost of living.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

15% cheaper than Asheville(vs $1,738/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$119/mo less in state tax than Asheville

vs 4.5% in Asheville

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$385 more than Asheville

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

04a house here

$223k

48% cheaper than Asheville

vs $430k in Asheville

05metro size

2.4M

vs 417k in Asheville

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Asheville gets 201 pleasant days a year, so you'd be trading some sunshine. Winter has bite, though: 28 days drop below 20° vs Asheville's 13.

126% more happening than in Asheville.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

69/100

5% higher than Asheville

vs 66/100 in Asheville

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

·walk score®

99/100

57% higher than Asheville

vs 63/100 in Asheville

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

363% more than Asheville

vs 8 nonstops in Asheville

04 · see also

neighbors of pittsburgh on the map of tradeoffs:

see also

cincinnati

more flight options

turn the page

see also

cleveland

more flight options

turn the page

see also

buffalo

more things to do

turn the page

compare pittsburgh with:

CincinnatiClevelandBuffalo