OT: Considering Moving to Pittsburgh~!~Educate me like Im 4

[mikethelegacy]

As someone who lived in California for 7 years and now lives in the Northern portion of Allegheny County, I always laugh whenever anyone complains about the taxes here

Seriously, the only difference between Allegheny County and the surrounding counties in taxes is the 1% extra sales tax (that doesn't apply to food or non-luxury clothing), and the drink tax. If it's down to a tie, that's a reasonable tie-breaker. Otherwise, pretty much any other factor should trump it easily.

This isn't exactly true. It's not exactly false, either. The taxes in Allegheny county are decently high if you are speaking of property tax, but they aren't astronomical. My parents live in Butler, and pay $1,500 per year for an acre of land. The equivalent in Wexford where I live is anywhere from $3,500 - $5,000 depending on home price, specific area, etc.

In fact, some areas of Fox Chapel, I've heard people pay $12-20k per year due to the property and school taxes in that area.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Taxes in Allegheny County are 3 percent of the value of your property each and every year, which is one of the highest in the country.

On the other hand housing prices are very very reasonable which balances it out some.

 

[OnMyOwn]

Just saw on yahoo the pub burger from meat and potatoes was ranked as the best burger in the state...by yahoo of course.

 

[nhindian]

Just saw on yahoo the pub burger from meat and potatoes was ranked as the best burger in the state...by yahoo of course.

Meh. If I'm going to Meat & Potatoes, I'm not getting a burger. Seems like a waste IMO. Go to Fat Head's or Wingharts for that.

 

[Freeptop]

Taxes in Allegheny County are 3 percent of the value of your property each and every year, which is one of the highest in the country.

On the other hand housing prices are very very reasonable which balances it out some.

Like I said before, I moved here from CA, so I didn't even think about the property tax. My mortgage plus taxes combine to be the same as what I was spending on rent for an apartment in Silicon Valley. The housing prices here are just astoundingly cheap in comparison!

The comparison I like to make between the two is this:
In PA, land is cheap. You're paying for a house, and practically getting the land for free (comparatively speaking).
In CA, you buy a plot of land and basically get a house for free.

 

[Til the End of Time]

for the OP who wanted to live in a primarily white community, i bring good news.

pittsburgh's work force is among the least diverse among similar regions.

http://wesa.fm/post/pittsburgh-region-s-workforce-least-diverse-among-similar-regions

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

Taxes in Allegheny County are 3 percent of the value of your property each and every year, which is one of the highest in the country.

On the other hand housing prices are very very reasonable which balances it out some.

Do you happen to have a site where I can look up property taxes and compare?

 

[OnMyOwn]

Do you happen to have a site where I can look up property taxes and compare?

if you go to realtor.com or any other home buying site and search for homes in the pittsburgh area it will show you what the yearly taxes are for that property. Then just compare that to ones on the outskirts of the city, etc.

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

Still using all of this information and researching, thank you.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Sorry missed your question before, but that is misleading as there are two taxes, municipal and county I think. Paid two different times of the year. Basically expect around 3 percent of the value per year, a little less un surrounding counties. You get a lot of house for that compared to other parts of the country though.

 

[Valarukar]

I'm 25, and if I was moving from somewhere to Pittsburgh I'd probably move to either lawrenceville or bloomfield. Damn close to the city, a young population, up and coming, lots of good bars. Hell if you can buy property there I only see it increasing in value. It's the most hipster area of Pittsburgh, but that's a good thing in my opinion.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Here you go.

http://www.anytimeestimate.com/CALCULATORS/pa-allegheny-calculator.htm

 

[Xavier Laflamme*]

I'm 27 and my friends and I have a blast. I live in the South Hills, and my friends are scattered about living in Green Tree, South Side, Robinson, Mt. Lebo and Mt. Washington.

I don't know what your budget is, but the Strip District has great affordable apartments. The North Shore has sick apartments by PNC Park. South Side is busy with a lot of young kids but it's a solid spot if you're about that nigh life. Mt. Washington is great as well. If you can afford a place on Grandview, then your'e awesome, but if you can't there's still nice places in the area.

Green Tree is where I would suggest. Affordable living, it's close to everything. You jump on the Parkway and can head to Robinson in 10 minutes for a great mall and restaurants or head the opposite way and be downtown in 10 minutes.

The night life is great as far as bars. Southside is filled with 100's of bars and young adults every weekend. Shady side is a little less crazy, more yuppy and has nice bars.

My friends and I head to Penn Avenue downtown more often as the night life downtown is progressively getting a lot better.

You'll love it here.

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

Here you go.

http://www.anytimeestimate.com/CALCULATORS/pa-allegheny-calculator.htm

Awesome thank you

I'm 27 and my friends and I have a blast. I live in the South Hills, and my friends are scattered about living in Green Tree, South Side, Robinson, Mt. Lebo and Mt. Washington.

I don't know what your budget is, but the Strip District has great affordable apartments. The North Shore has sick apartments by PNC Park. South Side is busy with a lot of young kids but it's a solid spot if you're about that nigh life. Mt. Washington is great as well. If you can afford a place on Grandview, then your'e awesome, but if you can't there's still nice places in the area.

Green Tree is where I would suggest. Affordable living, it's close to everything. You jump on the Parkway and can head to Robinson in 10 minutes for a great mall and restaurants or head the opposite way and be downtown in 10 minutes.

The night life is great as far as bars. Southside is filled with 100's of bars and young adults every weekend. Shady side is a little less crazy, more yuppy and has nice bars.

My friends and I head to Penn Avenue downtown more often as the night life downtown is progressively getting a lot better.

You'll love it here.

great thank you this is new information for me. Love it.

 

[eXile59]

Meh. If I'm going to Meat & Potatoes, I'm not getting a burger. Seems like a waste IMO. Go to Fat Head's or Wingharts for that.

My brother use to be a cook at M&P. Best Pork Chops I've ever had.

I love Fat Heads but hate waiting 45 minutes to get seated.

 

[ColePens]

I hope this doesn't come off weird, but Green Tree is strange. Some apartment complexes are all indian families. Like it's weird to see one group of individuals in one area. Pittsburgh is quite diverse in terms of not having different areas for different ethnicity. But out of nowhere Green Tree has some complexes that are just all Indian fams.

 

[WVP]

I hope this doesn't come off weird, but Green Tree is strange. Some apartment complexes are all indian families. Like it's weird to see one group of individuals in one area. Pittsburgh is quite diverse in terms of not having different areas for different ethnicity. But out of nowhere Green Tree has some complexes that are just all Indian fams.

Wouldn't live in Greentree either. Stop there for that Starbucks or to get gas, that's about it.

To the OP, Pittsburgh is more of a metro area. I think the actual city is 300k people but the metro area is around 2.5M. So you first need to decide if you want to live in the actual city or if you would prefer to be just outside with the ability to drive in within 15-30 minutes. Personally I live 25 minutes South, just outside Allegheny County (in Washington County). Get to that point and you might as well cross out of Allegheny for lower taxes.

As far as living in the city:

If I was 18-23, I'd probably want to live in the South Side. Getting blasted drunk all weekend with the rest of the college kids. Now at 32, I know I've changed but it seems the South Side has as well so I would never live there.

24 up to 30, I would have picked one of the hipster areas such as Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, East Liberty. Tons going on, interesting women but not centered around binge drinking.

Now at 32 with 2 kids, probably Shadyside or Squirrel Hill even. More mature crowd, some high end housing and good restaurants.

Pittsburgh's restaurant scene is actually awesome now, something we'd never say as recently as 5-6 years ago. Much progress in the last several years and now my wife and I still have a decently long list of places we still haven't made it to yet with more opening all the time. Many have been mentioned in this thread already. Our 2 favorites are probably Meat & Potatoes and Butcher and the Rye (decent chance you run into Letang there on any given night also).

 

[madinsomniac]

I grew up in Lincoln Place, a little known part of the city at its southernmost tip. ten minutes from the south side, close to the pleasant hills mall area. Not far from Kennywood. Its a decent neighborhood and cheap compared to some other options.

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

I hope this doesn't come off weird, but Green Tree is strange. Some apartment complexes are all indian families. Like it's weird to see one group of individuals in one area. Pittsburgh is quite diverse in terms of not having different areas for different ethnicity. But out of nowhere Green Tree has some complexes that are just all Indian fams.

Wouldn't live in Greentree either. Stop there for that Starbucks or to get gas, that's about it.

To the OP, Pittsburgh is more of a metro area. I think the actual city is 300k people but the metro area is around 2.5M. So you first need to decide if you want to live in the actual city or if you would prefer to be just outside with the ability to drive in within 15-30 minutes. Personally I live 25 minutes South, just outside Allegheny County (in Washington County). Get to that point and you might as well cross out of Allegheny for lower taxes.

As far as living in the city:

If I was 18-23, I'd probably want to live in the South Side. Getting blasted drunk all weekend with the rest of the college kids. Now at 32, I know I've changed but it seems the South Side has as well so I would never live there.

24 up to 30, I would have picked one of the hipster areas such as Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, East Liberty. Tons going on, interesting women but not centered around binge drinking.

Now at 32 with 2 kids, probably Shadyside or Squirrel Hill even. More mature crowd, some high end housing and good restaurants.

Pittsburgh's restaurant scene is actually awesome now, something we'd never say as recently as 5-6 years ago. Much progress in the last several years and now my wife and I still have a decently long list of places we still haven't made it to yet with more opening all the time. Many have been mentioned in this thread already. Our 2 favorites are probably Meat & Potatoes and Butcher and the Rye (decent chance you run into Letang there on any given night also).

So grateful for these posts, very helpful, thank you for taking the time.

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

Are there any places to boat, tube, waterboard, etc?

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Are there any places to boat, tube, waterboard, etc?

Um, Pittsburgh. Three Rivers meet there.

A lot of this within a hour of here too:

 

[djt153]

regent square is an underrated awesome neighborhood for lates 20s + crowd

 

[OnMyOwn]

Um, Pittsburgh. Three Rivers meet there.

Yea, haha. Literally everywhere around the area has access to watersports. I grew up boating and there are tons of marinas in the area.

 

[CurseOfKavorka]

Um, Pittsburgh. Three Rivers meet there.

A lot of this within a hour of here too:

Ok I didn't know if there were restrictions or water cleanliness issues that limited that to just boating as opposed to being in the water.

Where is that second picture?

Also are there any other places besides three rivers?

 

[brewski420]

One thing I don't miss about Pittsburgh is tax time. Not how much but how many different taxes (fed, state, county, local, school) to pay. Here in Washington I just pay federal and real estate along with sales.