Pittsburgh named most 'undervalued city' in the U.S.
For the second straight year, Pittsburgh has been deemed the best bargain in America.
A deal, if you will.
The title comes from SmartAsset, a website that offers financial advice. It’s their annual Most Undervalued Cities in America rankings. And Pittsburgh comes in on top. Again.
Not that we are arguing in any way, but what makes Pittsburgh so frugally advantageous?
“Some towns just give you more bang for your buck, from the quality of life you’ll experience to the living costs you’ll incur,” writes SmartAssest’s Ben Geier.
And SmartAsset has crunched the numbers — unemployment rates, prices per square foot, high school graduation rates, crime rate, entertainment establishment density, average days with precipitation, average number of days with bad weather — and found Pittsburgh to be the best deal.
The study cites Zillow’s estimate of Pittsburgh’s price per square foot at $104.50, but SmartAsset’s models have Pittsburgh’s worth at $262.79 per square foot — a discount of about $158. That would be 250% off the sticker price.
The research also found Pittsburgh has the second-highest high school graduation rate (93%) among the 189 cities examined. We also have a population in which 37% of adults have at least a a bachelor’s degree — which is the best among the study’s top 10 bargain cities. A quick scan of SmartAsset’s page on Pittsburgh’s cost of living reveals we do have a pretty good thing going.
However, Pittsburgh didn’t fare so well with one specific ranking factor: walkability. Among all cities in the top 10, Pittsburgh came in as the second-least walkable city.
East coast cities fared the best on the list. Six of the cities in the top 10 are East Coast cities, three of the top 10 cities are in Pennsylvania alone — Philadelphia came in at No. 4, with Allentown at 10.
Only two Midwestern cities cracked the top 10 (Chicago at 7, St. Louis at 9) and none in the Mountain West or the Pacific Coast made the top 10.
Other area cities weren’t too shabby: Cleveland came in at No. 37, Cincinnati at No. 35, Akron at No. 32. However, Erie missed the cut completely, as did any city in West Virginia.
Here’s the full list:
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
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