Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

As far as home prices go, the “Steel City'' might want to consider renaming itself the “Steal City.” With median home prices well below the national average, Pittsburgh provides a wide variety of living options for smart money, despite being a city that provides the same amenities as bigger or more popular cities. The money, however, isn’t the only thing that’s smart about Pittsburgh. A number of first class universities within the city limits, including Carnegie Mellon and The University of Pittsburgh, provides amazing local opportunities for higher education, and gives the city a younger vibe than other bigger cities.

Even better that these great housing opportunities exist on the stunning landscape of the hilliest city in America (sorry San Francisco). Who knew the midwest had such hills?

Here's a list of pros about Pittsburgh from a local:
-Friendly people
-Condensed downtown (one of the few areas where you can walk/bike from the suburbs to downtown)
-Amazing geography (hills, rivers, forests, lakes); more bridges than any other city in the world (yep, we passed Venice)
-Medical care — long history (Salk was here) and excellent
-University culture (bunches of colleges), leading to high-tech environment
-Tightly-knit communities, without cliquishness — Kids still march in parades on holidays — and get candy from firetrucks
-Fall — the display of colors is amazing
-Sports — Steelers football, Pirates baseball, Penguins hocky, Riverhounds soccer, PIT or Duquesne basketball, (Jerseys are considered acceptable wear to church, and during playoffs, by the pastor)
-Cost of living — quite modest compared to many cities with all of the above

For more reviews of Pittsburgh from locals check out: The Buzz

Ever gotten road rage? If not, you might feel inclined to start getting it while driving through Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh’s drivers are consistently rated as either the worst or one of the worst in the nation. To make matters worse, whoever designed Pittsburgh’s road system would likely be rated as either the worst or one of the worst at their job as well if that were a thing. Steel City is notorious for its nonsensical and confusing road map, turning normal commutes into complicated odysseys. Wear a helmet, bike riders.

Here's a local on oddities of Pittsburgh roads:
Every city has some idiosyncratic intersections. Pittsburgh is all idiosyncratic intersections. It is a very challenging city to drive in. Cities also have unique rule systems that develop outside of the laws. You may think that all situations are covered by the laws, but it is impossible to do so. And thus in a place like Pittsburgh, with so many unusual intersections, local customs and exceptions spring up all over the place. It is the design, not the people

There are very few cities in the U.S. that genuinely shock people – Pittsburgh is definitely one. If you think you’re visiting a rust belt city struggling to recover from the decline in manufacturing you will have missed that shift by more than 50 years. It never lost population the way Detroit or Cleveland did and so individual neighborhoods remain energized as is the city as a whole.

Pittsburgh has the “city” lifestyle you get from two great universities, an incredibly rich performing arts and museum culture, and downtown sporting stadiums. It also has excellent restaurants, pubs, clubs and boutique shopping. The intimacy and energy of the truly unique neighborhoods is well matched by the vibrancy of the city at large.

If you want to know what happens in Pittsburgh check out the calendar of events: https://www.visitpittsburgh.com/events-festivals/