Pittsburgh Rankings

2008

Great For Couples

Forbes.com ranked Pittsburgh 9th Best City for Couples. Forty of the country's largest metropolitan areas were identified and ranked on marriage and divorce rates for the 20- to 34-year olds, affordability of a starter home, area's income disparity and availability of family counseling.

Top Travel Destination

Frommer's, the travel guide, selected Pittsburgh as one of the top 13 travel destinations for 2008. Each location is based on big city fun, rural relaxation and physical vigor. Frommer's also points out that Pittsburgh has retained its past glory, which makes it travel worthy!

2007

Most Livable

Pittsburgh has been ranked #1 Most Livable City in America by Places Rated Almanac. The 379 metropolitan areas surveyed were evaluated in nine categories: housing affordability (cost of living), transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation and ambience (museums, performing arts, restaurants and historical districts).

 

Home Sweet Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has been named to Relocate-America's 100 Top Places to Live. The list ranks cities using a combination of feedback from people who live and work in the communities and statistics like education, employment, economy, crime, parks, recreation, and housing.

Creative

Pittsburgh is rated one of the five best places for members of the so-called "Creative Class"—a segment that fuels cultural and economic vitality—in a study released by Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine in cooperation with former Carnegie Mellon University professor Richard Florida, who developed the "creative class" concept.

Relocation Favorite

Worldwide ERC and Primacy Relocation listed the Pittsburgh region as the sixth best metropolitan area for relocating families. The ranking is based on 50 metropolitan areas with populations of 1.25 million or more.

Home Improvement Mecca

Pittsburgh has the second-best home improvement professionals, according to ServiceMagic.com. The ranking was based on results of a survey of 66,000 customers who said they would recommend the professional they hired to a friend or relative.

Best Arts

Voters at American Style magazine have named Pittsburgh the Best Arts Destination in the Country among mid-sized cities. Pittsburgh also scored points among readers for the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art and smaller private art galleries.

Cleanest

Pittsburgh has been ranked among the top 10 of the World's Cleanest Cities by Forbes magazine. The magazine recognized the city's transformation stating, "though formerly a steel capital of the U.S., it has turned around and is now into healthcare, education, robotics, technology and financial services."

City Of The Future

Pittsburgh has been named one of North America's top three Cities of the Future by Foreign Direct Land Investment magazine, an affiliate of the Financial Times, London. The rankings are based on a variety of criteria, and Pittsburgh topped the list of large cities in cost effectiveness, which included business space rental and purchase prices, salaries and energy costs.

Open For Business

Pittsburgh ranks among America's 50 Hottest Cities for business relocation and expansion, according to Expansion Management. The magazine's list was determined by site selectors and their perceptions of a city's potential based on factors like business environment, work force quality, operating costs, incentive programs, work force training programs, and the ease of working with the local political and economic development community.

Great Dinosaurs

Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History has been ranked sixth in the nation in the Travel Channel's top picks for Best Museums for Dinosaur Sightings. The museum is acknowledged for having "some of the best dinosaur exhibits in the world."

Great Ballpark

PNC Park is listed among the Top Ten Best Ballparks in the nation by FOXSports.com. The park is touted for being the best of the new "retro" parks for its "great sightlines, terrific view of downtown and comfy without sacrificing ambience," states Dayn Perry of FOXSports.

Great For Geeks

Pittsburgh has been named Top City for Geeks by Wired magazine. Pittsburgh ranked seventh and received high marks on such geek-friendly measures as its proximity to top-ranked engineering schools and the number of comic book stores and Circuit City stores per capita.

Find Love And Keep It

The Pittsburgh area has been rated the No. 1 Place in the Country for Baby Boomers to find love and keep it. The study, conducted by Sperling's BestPlaces, used Census data on marriage and divorce rates among the 45-65 set.

2006

Great Destination

Pittsburgh is among the nation’s 25 Bargain Destinations for travel and tourism, according to Expo Magazine’s annual review of affordable cities. Pittsburgh was touted as "an easy-to-walk, safe city with amenities such as the Cultural District, a variety of low-cost carriers and the free subway system."

Green

The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh received the Silver LEED Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in March 2006, making it the largest Silver LEED-certified museum in the country. The Museum also received the 2006 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Award for Architecture. Design Architect Koning Eizenberg Architecture of Santa Monica, CA, and Executive Architect Perkins Eastman of Pittsburgh, PA, received this honor for excellence in architecture—considered the highest recognition of works in the field—for the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh's expansion, completed in November 2004.

 

Great Dinosaurs

The Travel Channel ranked the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as among the "Best Museums for Dinosaur Sightings." Ranked 6th in the nation, the museum was recognized for its "impressive Tyrannosaurus" and the "best collection of long-necked and tailed sauropods."

Amusing

Kennywood Amusement Park has been voted the second best amusement park in the country by readers of Theme Parks Magazine.

Artsy

Pittsburgh has been ranked the third-best mid-sized city for art lovers, according to readers of AmericanStyle Magazine. The city was noted for its four Carnegie Museums, as well as its "emerging glass" status.

 

Best Food

Pittsburgh’s Original Hot Dog Shop in Oakland has "America’s Best French Fries" and "America’s Best Hot Dogs" according to AOL City Guide.

 

History Matters

Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood received the Urban Pioneer Award, one of three national awards, by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The South Side was recognized for transforming its economy while preserving its history.

 

Smart

Pittsburgh has been ranked one of the smartest places to live in America by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. Based largely on its affordability, cultural and leisure activities, education options and quality housing, Pittsburgh is the ninth smartest place to set down roots. The magazine studied data that also included the quality of healthcare, crime rates, weather and commute times in an effort to determine the 50 most fiscally sensible cities in America in which to live. The magazine had positive comments about Pittsburgh: "Currently undergoing a renaissance, this hidden gem has distinctive neighborhoods, tree-lined streets, glittering skyscrapers, upscale shops and a diversified economy."

 

Airport

Pittsburgh International Airport has once again received recognition for having one of the best airports in the country and scored top honors in three out of five airport categories. Airport Revenue News, a leading trade publication for airport retailing, has announced that Pittsburgh International Airport has won among mid-sized airports in the trade magazine’s prestigious annual Best Concessions Poll. The categories the Airport won are: Best Concession Program, Most Unique Services and Best Overall Concession Program.

 

Children + Art

Child magazine has ranked the Carnegie Museum of Art number five in the nation and one of the ten best art museums for kids. In a first-ever data-driven survey to assess the family friendliness of American art museums, criteria taken into consideration for the ranking were the tours, kids’ and family classes, educational programs for school groups, staffing, accessibility of the exhibitions to kids, and other factors that add up to create a memorable museum experience for families.