on $100k a year, leaving Indianapolis

change
Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

if you left indianapolis

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

$33

lighter monthly cost than Indianapolis

Cost barely budges between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. Pick this one for the texture of the days, not the math.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

3% cheaper than Indianapolis(vs $1,511/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$6/mo more in state tax than Indianapolis

vs 3% in Indianapolis

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$33 more than Indianapolis

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

04a house here

$223k

25% cheaper than Indianapolis

vs $296k in Indianapolis

05metro size

2.4M

vs 2.1M in Indianapolis

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Indianapolis edges ahead with 174 pleasant days.

About as much going on as in Indianapolis.
on a typical month
·outdoorscore

69/100

11% higher than Indianapolis

vs 62/100 in Indianapolis

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

·walk score®

99/100

0% lower than Indianapolis

vs 99/100 in Indianapolis

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

6% more than Indianapolis

vs 35 nonstops in Indianapolis

04 · see also

in the same ballpark as pittsburgh:

compare pittsburgh with: