Pittsburgh, PA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Pennsylvania·Pittsburgh

Allegheny County · Pittsburgh · population 307,668

First-time buyersBig-city amenities
Pittsburgh, PA
Image: Wikipedia · Pittsburgh
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
60
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Pittsburgh stands

At or near all-time high.

Median home $240,538
1-year -0.5%
5-yr CAGR +2.5%
vs 5-yr peak -0.7%
Population +0.4%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2025-02$241k$129k$170k$211k$252k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
64/100
Somewhat walkable
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
55/100
Some transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
85/100
Excellent for remote work
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$1,578/mo$1,167$1,420$1,673202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent113127100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 12.7
Buy

At a 12.7 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Pittsburgh on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 12.7 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
48 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
50 · w22%
Distance from peak
86 · w18%
Population growth
53 · w16%
Rent YoY
72 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
66 · w10%
Long thesis

Pittsburgh is a Rust Belt market with +0.4% population growth — a rare combination. You're buying real housing for less than the cost of a coastal studio in a city the data says is finally turning.

Short thesis

Pittsburgh's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.

About Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, with an estimated population of 307,668. The median home value in Pittsburgh is $240,538 as of 2026-04, down 0.5% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +2.5% annual growth, with prices at or near the 5-year peak. Rents in Pittsburgh average $1,578 per month, up 4.1% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 60 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Held the highs: currently -0.7% from the 5-year peak — this market refused to give back gains.
○The data is the data: Pittsburgh has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

○Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Pittsburgh (Wikipedia)

Pittsburgh is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located in southwestern Pennsylvania where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River, it had a population of 302,971 at the 2020 census, making it the second-most populous city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh metropolitan area has over 2.43 million people, making it the largest in the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 28th-largest in the U.S. The greater Pittsburgh–Weirton–Steubenville combined statistical area includes parts of Ohio and West Virginia.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorCorey O'Connor (D)
Area58.35 sq mi
Motto''Benigno Numine'' ("With the benevolent deity")
Densityauto/sq mi
Named forWilliam Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Allegheny County right now.

NWS active alerts (PA)Pennsylvania Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Allegheny County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Pittsburgh

88 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Squirrel Hill North$797,404+5.0%
2Herrs Island$704,505+3.7%
3Point Breeze$638,869+7.4%
4Allegheny West$591,139+4.0%
5Strip District$559,320-0.9%
6Ben Avon Heights$505,240+12.9%
7Shadyside$483,145+3.1%
8Squirrel Hill South$477,641+2.3%
9Highland Park$472,260-3.5%
10Mount Lebanon$416,867+2.7%
11Regent Square$409,948+1.1%
12Friendship$402,891-2.8%
13Central Northside$371,365-3.0%
14Ben Avon$368,872+4.5%
15Central Lawrenceville$353,617-7.3%
16Lower Lawrenceville$347,036-0.1%
17Edgewood$328,452-1.7%
18Point Breeze North$320,523-6.1%
19East Liberty$308,582+1.1%
20North Oakland$304,420+5.9%
21Bloomfield$300,281-7.2%
22Churchill$295,655+3.1%
23Central Business District$294,661-5.5%
24Upper Lawrenceville$288,565-5.7%

See the full neighborhood ranking →

Cities like Pittsburgh

Philadelphia, PA59 · StableState College, PA66 · RisingBerwick, PA59 · StableGreensburg, PA61 · Stable

Run the numbers for Pittsburgh

ToolCan I afford Pittsburgh?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Pittsburgh rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Pittsburgh to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolPittsburgh cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
36° / 21°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
83° / 63°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
186
~51% of year
Annual precip
42″ rain
30″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Low
Tornado
Low
Wildfire
Very low
Earthquake
Very low
Flood
Moderate

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Pittsburgh area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Pittsburgh listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
71%
Humid climate
Median household income
$73,800
Pennsylvania state median
Top industries (state-level)
Healthcare (Pittsburgh)Finance (Philly)Manufacturing

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

Cities similar to Pittsburgh

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