on $100k a year, leaving Dallas

change
Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

if you left dallas

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

$81

pricier each month than Dallas

A small premium for Pittsburgh. Worth it only if the rest of the city earns it back.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

11% cheaper than Dallas(vs $1,647/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$256/mo more in state tax than Dallas

vs 0% in Dallas

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$81 less than Dallas

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

04a house here

$223k

39% cheaper than Dallas

vs $367k in Dallas

05metro size

2.4M

vs 8.1M in Dallas

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Dallas actually gets more: 171 pleasant days a year. Cold snaps are part of the year: 28 days below 20° here, 2 in Dallas.

But the calendar thins out: Dallas stays 5.6× busier.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

69/100

21% higher than Dallas

vs 57/100 in Dallas

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

·walk score®

99/100

6% higher than Dallas

vs 93/100 in Dallas

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

81% fewer than Dallas

vs 190 nonstops in Dallas

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