Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Pittsburgh ranks 138th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 139th for income. A household earns $77,214 a year while median rent runs $1,083/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 5% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (45th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (255th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 73rd and home prices 68th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Pittsburgh, your take-home is worth about $62,333 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 139th of 300↑23.3%$77,214
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 145th of 30095 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $81,560
- Per-capita income
- $46,628
- Full-time pay
- $49,330
Housing
- Median rent
- 73rd of 300↑27.9%$1,083/mo
- Home value
- 68th of 300↑38.8%$230,300
- Property tax
- $2,778/yr · 1.2%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 109th of 3004%
- Bachelor's+
- 79th of 30039.8%
- Avg commute
- 218th of 30026.3 min
People
- Population
- 2,429,917
- Population change
- +4.8%
- Median age
- 43.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4.6%
- Broadband
- 91.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 255th of 30053
- Natural-hazard loss
- 88th of 300$10/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Education
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Commute
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — pittsburgh allegheny co ap.
What jobs pay in Pittsburgh
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $275,930
- IT managers
- $159,090
- Financial managers
- $136,330
- Pharmacists
- $134,180
- Lawyers
- $133,040
- Software developers
- $124,500
- General & operations managers
- $100,840
- Civil engineers
- $100,680
- Police officers
- $83,190
- Web developers
- $82,560
- Registered nurses
- $82,370
- Secondary school teachers
- $81,350
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,940
- Elementary school teachers
- $76,550
- Plumbers
- $70,100
- Electricians
- $69,340
- Carpenters
- $61,180
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $57,880
- Construction laborers
- $50,600
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,250
- Customer service reps
- $42,790
- Janitors
- $36,500
- Waiters & waitresses
- $35,470
- Retail salespersons
- $30,840
- Cashiers
- $29,470
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Pittsburgh metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Pennsylvania are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Ohio5,009
- New York4,566
- Florida3,035
- California2,998
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Pittsburgh
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Pittsburgh metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Pittsburgh metro?
- Median gross rent across the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area is $1,083 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Pittsburgh.
- What is the median household income in the Pittsburgh metro?
- A typical household in the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area earns $77,214 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Pittsburgh expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area runs about 5% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Pittsburgh metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $81,560 (versus its face value of $77,214). CityLedger rates the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Pittsburgh metro?
- The median home value across the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area is $230,300 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area is 4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).