Cost of living in Pittsburgh, PA
The Pittsburgh, PA metro area (2,429,917 people) ranks #106 of 149 for prices among the U.S. metro areas we cover. Here's what it costs to live there.
Hover over or tap a dot to see its value.
See all 149 cities
Price level, from cheaper to pricier.
- The Villages, FL 85.4
- McAllen, TX 85.9
- Springfield, MO 88.6
- Wichita, KS 88.9
- Jackson, MS 89.0
- Tulsa, OK 89.2
- Columbus, GA 89.3
- Little Rock, AR 89.4
- El Paso, TX 89.9
- Oklahoma City, OK 90.4
- Sioux Falls, SD 90.6
- Baton Rouge, LA 90.8
- Clarksville, TN 90.9
- Fargo, ND 90.9
- Killeen, TX 91.1
- Spartanburg, SC 91.1
- Fayetteville, AR 91.4
- Chattanooga, TN 91.5
- Toledo, OH 91.5
- Birmingham, AL 91.6
- Des Moines, IA 91.7
- Augusta, GA 91.9
- Omaha, NE 91.9
- Fayetteville, NC 92.0
- Winston-Salem, NC 92.0
- Jacksonville, NC 92.1
- Memphis, TN 92.2
- Kansas City, MO 92.5
- Fort Wayne, IN 92.6
- Knoxville, TN 92.6
- New Orleans, LA 92.6
- Dayton, OH 92.7
- Greensboro, NC 92.9
- Lexington, KY 92.9
- Huntsville, AL 93.1
- Louisville, KY 93.1
- Greenville, SC 93.3
- Akron, OH 93.4
- Billings, MT 93.5
- Myrtle Beach, SC 93.6
- Columbia, SC 93.7
- Cleveland, OH 93.9
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- Pittsburgh, PA 94.7
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Albuquerque, NM 95.5
- Columbus, OH 95.5
- Grand Rapids, MI 95.5
- Indianapolis, IN 95.7
- Syracuse, NY 95.7
- Buffalo, NY 95.8
- Nashville, TN 96.3
- Wilmington, NC 96.4
- Asheville, NC 96.5
- Cheyenne, WY 96.5
- Gainesville, FL 96.7
- Milwaukee, WI 96.9
- Tucson, AZ 96.9
- Crestview, FL 97.0
- Rochester, NY 97.0
- Lakeland, FL 97.1
- Charlotte, NC 97.3
- Madison, WI 97.3
- Panama City, FL 97.3
- Durham, NC 97.6
- Pensacola, FL 97.7
- Richmond, VA 97.9
- Virginia Beach, VA 97.9
- Hilton Head Island, SC 98.0
- Austin, TX 98.1
- Provo, UT 98.2
- Raleigh, NC 98.2
- Prescott, AZ 98.3
- Boise, ID 98.4
- Houston, TX 98.6
- Harrisburg, PA 98.7
- Daytona Beach, FL 99.4
- Jacksonville, FL 99.5
- Albany, NY 99.6
- Allentown, PA 100.0
- Palm Bay, FL 100.0
- Atlanta, GA 100.1
- Greeley, CO 100.2
- Las Vegas, NV 100.2
- Port St. Lucie, FL 100.2
- Detroit, MI 100.3
- Ogden, UT 100.3
- Spokane, WA 100.3
- Norwich, CT 100.4
- Punta Gorda, FL 100.5
- Colorado Springs, CO 100.7
- Ann Arbor, MI 100.9
- Bakersfield, CA 100.9
- Burlington, VT 100.9
- Salt Lake City, UT 100.9
- Tampa, FL 100.9
- Charleston, SC 101.0
- Reno, NV 101.0
- Fort Collins, CO 101.1
- Orlando, FL 101.4
- Eugene, OR 101.6
- Providence, RI 101.8
- Portland, ME 101.9
- Fresno, CA 102.2
- Cape Coral, FL 102.3
- Sarasota, FL 102.4
- Worcester, MA 102.5
- Philadelphia, PA 102.6
- Hartford, CT 102.7
- Dallas, TX 103.1
- Naples, FL 103.2
- Trenton, NJ 103.2
- Phoenix, AZ 103.3
- Bend, OR 103.6
- Chicago, IL 103.6
- Olympia, WA 103.7
- Baltimore, MD 104.5
- New Haven, CT 104.6
- Minneapolis, MN 104.8
- Stockton, CA 105.1
- Boulder, CO 105.2
- Anchorage, AK 105.4
- Portland, OR 105.4
- Bremerton, WA 105.6
- Manchester, NH 105.7
- Denver, CO 105.8
- Riverside, CA 106.4
- Sacramento, CA 106.7
- Bridgeport, CT 106.9
- Santa Rosa, CA 107.8
- Boston, MA 108.3
- Vallejo, CA 108.5
- Santa Barbara, CA 108.8
- Washington, D.C. 108.9
- Salinas, CA 109.0
- Poughkeepsie, NY 109.4
- San Jose, CA 110.4
- Oxnard, CA 110.5
- Honolulu, HI 111.0
- Seattle, WA 111.1
- San Diego, CA 111.9
- New York, NY 112.6
- Los Angeles, CA 113.6
- Miami, FL 114.2
- San Francisco, CA 115.6
Compare Pittsburgh with your city
See what you'd need to earn in Pittsburgh to keep your lifestyle, after taxes and local prices. The calculator starts from New York, NY, which sends the most households here of the metros we cover (IRS, 2022–2023), using its median household income as an illustrative single-earner salary. Household income can include several earners and other income; it is not a typical individual wage. Pick your own city, salary and filing status.
Equal salary in Pittsburgh: $78,500
Compare any two of 149 U.S. metro areas. All cities
To keep the same lifestyle, you need about $78,500 in Pittsburgh, PA to match $100,000 in New York, NY ($21,500 less), after 2026 taxes and local prices.
Single filer, W-2 salary. Uses New York and Pennsylvania state income tax; includes New York City resident tax $3,441 and Pittsburgh resident tax $3,000 (inside city limits).
Prices and housing cover the metro area; taxes use New York and Pennsylvania, their principal states. A metro can span several states; living in its other state can change the tax result.
See the full New York to Pennsylvania report
There is no city-to-city report for this move. The state report compares statewide taxes, housing and moving costs; it does not use the city or suburb tax settings above.
What things cost in Pittsburgh
The vertical line marks the U.S. average (100). BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 for the metropolitan area.
Taxes in Pittsburgh
In this fixed example, one single filer earning a $75,000 W-2 salary keeps $56,988 after 2026 federal tax ($7,670), Social Security and Medicare ($5,738) and Pennsylvania income tax ($2,303), plus $53 in state payroll programs, and $2,250 in Pittsburgh resident income tax. The salary is rounded from median household income, not an observed individual wage. This example stays fixed when you change the calculator.
Pittsburgh residents pay a 3% earned income tax (1% city plus 2% Pittsburgh School District). Suburban Pennsylvania towns charge their own earned income tax, usually 1% including the school district. If you live elsewhere but work in Pittsburgh, you pay your home rate or Pittsburgh's 1% nonresident rate, whichever is higher.
Housing
| Measure | Pittsburgh area |
|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,083/mo |
| Median home value | $230,300 |
| Median property tax | $2,778/yr |
| Monthly cost to own the median home (20% down) | $1,581 |
| Median household income | $77,214 |
Climate and jobs in Pittsburgh
In the Pittsburgh area the average January low is 21°F and the average July high 83°F, and the area has about 10 days a year at 90°F or hotter. Unemployment averaged 4.2% in 2025, below the U.S. rate (4.3%), and the median wage across all jobs was $49,650 a year, 3% below the U.S. median.
| Climate | 1991–2020 average |
|---|---|
| January low | 21°F |
| July high | 83°F |
| Days 90°F or hotter | 10 a year |
| Precipitation | 40 in a year |
| Snowfall | 44 in a year |
| Jobs and pay | Metro area | U.S. |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate, 2025 average | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Median wage, all jobs (May 2025) | $49,650 | $50,980 |
| Wage and salary jobs (May 2025) | 1.1 million | 155.5 million |
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020 averages at the Pittsburgh International Airport station (USW00094823). Weather varies across a metro area, especially with elevation and distance from the coast. Jobs: unemployment from BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics; wages and job counts from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, which count wage and salary jobs, not the self-employed; wages are before taxes. The 2025 average covers 11 months: October 2025 data were not collected during the federal government shutdown.
Retiring in Pittsburgh
Our modeled retiree budget is about $3,151 a month here with a home owned outright, or $3,440 renting. It uses spending benchmarks for households with a reference person age 65 or older (BLS 2024), adjusted for local prices. These are household-based estimates, not observed spending by a single retiree in Pittsburgh. See where your budget goes furthest.
Where people move to and from Pittsburgh
IRS county-to-county migration data, 2022–2023, aggregated to the 149 metro areas we cover.
Natural hazard risk
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores for the Pittsburgh area is 89.6 of 100 (very high county-score mean), with modeled expected losses of about $269 per resident per year. A mean of county percentiles is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. It describes the counties in the metro; your property's risk can differ. Disaster risk by county in Pennsylvania.
The vertical line marks county-score scale midpoint (50).
Frequently asked questions
What salary do you need to live in Pittsburgh?
In a fixed single-filer W-2 example living inside the principal city, about $77,100 in Pittsburgh matches the buying power of $75,000 in an average-priced area with no state income tax. The example uses 2026 federal taxes, Pennsylvania state taxes and modeled resident local taxes where applicable. It stays fixed when calculator inputs change. Renting the median home at 30% of income takes $43,320, and buying the median home with 20% down takes about $67,761.
Is Pittsburgh expensive?
The Pittsburgh metro area's price level is 94.7 (U.S. = 100), #106 of the 149 metro areas we cover, from most to least expensive. Its housing rents price index is 72.0, 28% below the U.S. average.
Are people moving to Pittsburgh?
Counting moves to and from the other 148 metro areas we cover, Pittsburgh had a net loss of about 2,659 households in 2022–2023 (IRS county migration data).
What is the weather like in Pittsburgh?
In NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for the Pittsburgh area (Pittsburgh International Airport weather station), the average January low is 21°F and the average July high 83°F. The area has about 10 days a year at 90°F or hotter and gets 40 inches of precipitation a year and about 44 inches of snow.
What are jobs and pay like in Pittsburgh?
The Pittsburgh metro area's unemployment rate averaged 4.2% in 2025, below the U.S. rate (4.3%). The median wage across all jobs was $49,650 a year in May 2025, 3% below the U.S. median of $50,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
What natural disasters affect Pittsburgh?
RelocateMath's population-weighted mean of FEMA county risk scores is 89.6 out of 100 (very high county-score mean). This is not an official FEMA metro rating or a national metro percentile. The highest county-score means by hazard are riverine flooding, lightning, landslide.
Compare Pittsburgh with other cities
Moving from Pittsburgh to…
Cities with similar prices
- San Antonio, TX 94.7
- Daphne, AL 94.7
- St. Louis, MO 95.1
- Savannah, GA 95.2
- Ocala, FL 95.2
- Cincinnati, OH 95.4
- Moving from Pennsylvania
State-agency links identify the responsible tax office; they do not verify every modeled rule. Use forms and guidance for the year you are filing. Local-tax references retain their own publication or filing years. Some documents cover an earlier filing year; a source link is not a claim that every rule has just been rechecked.