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CityLedger

Pittsburgh vs St. Louis

Metro-area medians — Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area vs St. Louis, MO-IL Metro Area — not the cities proper.

St. Louis comes out ahead, winning 5 of the 8 clearly-decided measures.

Pittsburgh and St. Louis cost about the same to live in, but St. Louis households earn about 6% more. Adjusted for local prices, a typical paycheck stretches further in St. Louis.

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.

Pittsburgh, PA
$59,011
take-home / yr · 21% to tax
$62,333
real value after local prices
St. Louis, MO
$58,705
take-home / yr · 22% to tax
$61,737
real value after local prices

On $75,000 for just you, Pittsburgh leaves you about $595/yr better off after tax and local prices.

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.

Measure
Pittsburgh
St. Louis
Livability (CityLedger)
57/100
62/100
Cost of living (price level, US = 100)
94.7
95.1
Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
$81,560
$85,898
Median household income
$77,214
$81,679
Median rent
$1,083/mo
$1,154/mo
Median home value
$230,300
$268,300
Unemployment
4%
3.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
39.8%
39.5%
Average commute
26.3 min
25.4 min
Air quality (median AQI)
53
55
Avg temperature
52°F
57°F

Choose Pittsburgh for

  • + Median rent
  • + Median home value
  • + Air quality (median AQI)
Full Pittsburgh profile →

Choose St. Louis for

  • + Livability (CityLedger)
  • + Cost-adjusted income (pay's real value)
  • + Median household income
  • + Unemployment
  • + Average commute
Full St. Louis profile →

Pittsburgh vs St. Louis — frequently asked

Is Pittsburgh cheaper than St. Louis?
They are about even — the overall cost of living in the Pittsburgh and St. Louis metros is within 3% of each other (BEA Regional Price Parities), so neither is meaningfully cheaper.
Which has higher household income, Pittsburgh or St. Louis?
St. Louis has the higher median household income — $81,679 versus $77,214 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS), about 6% more.
Does a paycheck go further in Pittsburgh or St. Louis?
A paycheck stretches further in St. Louis. Adjusted for local prices, the median income is worth $85,898 there versus $81,560 in Pittsburgh.
Which has cheaper rent, Pittsburgh or St. Louis?
Pittsburgh has cheaper rent — a median of $1,083/mo versus $1,154/mo (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS).