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A big part of who I am was shaped by the historically terrible Pittsburgh job market of the 1980s. My family was part of the Pittsburgh diaspora that was pushed out in waves after the steel industry’s collapse. I’m not going to pretend that was more traumatic than it was for a little kid, who was mostly insulated from the stresses of my parents. But we did end up in Ohio, which was not an upgrade.
So it’s wild to see things like this: Pittsburgh is 2025’s second best city to find a job in 2025, out of the 180 top markets in the U.S., according to WalletHub. We’re only behind Scottsdale, Ariz. (which is basically just a giant suburb of Phoenix). We’re number one for job opportunities and unemployment rate, and 19th for housing affordability (hey, that sounds familiar).
WalletHub’s report notes:
“Pittsburgh has the most job opportunities per capita, along with the third-most full-time job opportunities per capita at companies rated 4.5+ stars on Glassdoor. The high-quality nature of jobs in Pittsburgh is evident by the fact that residents have the ninth-highest level of job satisfaction in the nation…the city has the fourth-highest percentage of workers with access to an employer-based retirement plan.”
Of course, Pittsburgh learned the hard way what not to do: bet everything on the steel industry never changing. Since the collapse of steel in Pittsburgh, we’ve diversified our economic mix considerably, so that even if US Steel doesn’t get their way, shuts down their Pittsburgh operations, and moves the headquarters south — which they specifically threatened to do — it will be terrible for a few thousand families but won’t rip the rug out from under the entire region. The rest of us might notice cleaner air, but that’s about it. Monday Night Football will have to use stock footage of blast furnaces, though.
Predicting the jobs of the future is almost impossible, but you have to try. What will future Pittsburghers be doing for a living? Will we be vying for gigs as drone pilots, AI prompt writers, pierogi-makers, pothole spelunkers, cyborg stalkers, Shenderoviches (or Fishmen)? Who knows?
For sale: 7229 Susquehanna St., Homewood, $239,000.
You know all this snowy weather we’ve been having? It’s the best! I mean, if you’re going to be a cold weather city (and we don’t have much choice), you might as well cover yourself in a pristine blanket of soft snow. This is the winter I remember from childhood, though it probably seemed like a lot more snow because I was a lot shorter. Hey, nice job to this home seller who put up a picture with snow. Don’t fake like you’re a sun-dappled oasis of tropical greenery when you’re not. I’m not sure about that thick wooden fence, but that porch and brickwork make up for it.
For rent: 7022 Chaucer St., fl. 2. Homewood, $850/month.
As a former English major, I’d probably keep my distance from Chaucer St., even if there’s only a remote chance of being asked to write a timed essay on Geoffrey Chaucer’s place in the development of English poetry. Your mileage may vary. This place has a very bright, clean, and inviting interior, which isn’t apparent from the street. But that sort of thing is easier to spot than, say, the words that make sense in Middle English.
For sale: 80 Royal St., Spring Hill, $75,000.
Pardon me, did it just get cozy as hell up in here? This tiny house (a roomy 1,140 square feet), built in 1910, doesn’t seem to have any particular reason why it’s got a price that’s not too far removed from the post-steel-hangover ‘80s. It looks just fine. That’s enough porch for a house twice as big, too. There are still pockets of Pittsburgh where prices seem unaffected by time, the economy, or anything, really — and this is one of them.
For rent: 102 Brahm St. #3, Spring Hill, $800/month.
Those are some dark green walls alright; I don’t hate it, actually. That’s your reward for climbing a steep set of stairs every day; besides strong legs, you also get a bit of color that fits the verdant hillsides that surround it. $800 is not going to get you a lot of bells and whistles, so we have to squint a little to see the bright side sometimes.
For sale: 405 Alger St., Greenfield, $165,000.
You know what you rarely see in Pittsburgh? A house just falling down the side of a mountain. We get floods and mudslides, but somehow we find a way to anchor our houses to the hillsides with very little reason to doubt their tenacity. This is in “the Run” too, which is a weird micro-neighborhood that’s in walking distance to Oakland and Squirrel Hill, yet feels as quiet and secluded as city living gets. Plus, you can stake a claim to a spot in one of Pittsburgh’s greatest remaining dive bars, Big Jim’s in the Run.
For rent: Bowtie High, 120 E. 9th Ave., Homestead, $1,175-1,650.
As a byproduct of the steel bust, Pittsburgh has developed a certain expertise in figuring out what to do with buildings that were constructed with extreme care and detail, that have lost their economic rationale, like churches and schools. It’s not easy and requires a lot of patience, creativity, and capital — but when it works, like Bowtie High in Homestead, a former high school, it’s pretty special. The gym-as-common-room is especially nice, though I’d have left at least one hoop intact.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2025.
