same $100k income, fresh start from Hickory

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Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

swapping out of hickory

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

cheaper each month than Hickory

Money-wise it's a wash. The case for Pittsburgh is everything that isn't rent.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

3% more expensive than Hickory(vs $1,434/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$119/mo less in state tax than Hickory

vs 4.5% in Hickory

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$81 more than Hickory

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

04a house here

$223k

17% cheaper than Hickory

vs $268k in Hickory

05metro size

2.4M

vs 370k in Hickory

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Hickory edges ahead with 189 pleasant days. A real winter, not a brutal one: 28 days under 20°, vs 4 in Hickory.

Nights and weekends fill up faster. 4.2× more on the calendar than Hickory.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

69/100

8% higher than Hickory

vs 64/100 in Hickory

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

·walk score®

99/100

41% higher than Hickory

vs 70/100 in Hickory

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

0% fewer than Hickory

vs 0 nonstops in Hickory

04 · see also

if pittsburgh appeals, also worth a look:

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