same $100k income, fresh start from Melbourne

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Pittsburgh, PA cityscape

from melbourne

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

$167

lighter monthly cost than Melbourne

On paper, Pittsburgh and Melbourne are twins. In practice they live very differently.
landable, recorded on the pittsburgh entry

02 · the money

a quick ledger.

01rent

$1,473/mo

22% cheaper than Melbourne(vs $1,895/mo)

02state income tax

3.07%

$256/mo more in state tax than Melbourne

vs 0% in Melbourne

03after rent

$6,605/mo

$167 more than Melbourne

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

04a house here

$223k

36% cheaper than Melbourne

vs $351k in Melbourne

05metro size

2.4M

vs 644k in Melbourne

03 · the life

field notes, weather & such.

161

pleasant days a year, in pittsburgh.

Melbourne has the edge here, logging 254 pleasant days a year. Cold snaps are part of the year: 28 days below 20° here, 0 in Melbourne.

·outdoorscore

69/100

25% higher than Melbourne

vs 55/100 in Melbourne

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

·walk score®

99/100

18% higher than Melbourne

vs 84/100 in Melbourne

Walk Score® methodology

·nonstops

37

1750% more than Melbourne

vs 2 nonstops in Melbourne

04 · see also

in the same ballpark as pittsburgh:

compare pittsburgh with: