Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Pittsburgh might be more expensive than living in rural Pennsylvania, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Pittsburgh neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Pittsburgh for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Marshall-Shadeland looks to be the cheapest Pittsburgh neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Pittsburgh. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Pittsburgh that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Pittsburgh.
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Pennsylvania
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Pittsburgh For 2024
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Population: 4,396
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.2 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (14th cheapest)
More on Marshall-Shadeland: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,046
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (16th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.3 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (8th cheapest)
More on Lincoln Place: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,815
Cost Of Living Index: 88 (34th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.6 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (17th cheapest)
More on Allentown: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 518
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (16th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.5 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (30th cheapest)
More on Chartiers City: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 636
Cost Of Living Index: 88 (34th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (24th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (2nd cheapest)
More on Ridgemont: Data | Real Estate
Population: 315
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (5th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (4cheapest)
More on Arlington Heights: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 962
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (22nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.2 (38th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (9th cheapest)
More on Hays: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,368
Cost Of Living Index: 83 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (4cheapest)
More on Arlington: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 805
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (53rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.6 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (6th cheapest)
More on Summer Hill: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 291
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (12th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.018 (4cheapest)
More on Mt Oliver: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Pittsburgh Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Pittsburgh, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 85 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Pittsburgh.” We’re lookin’ at you, Marshall-Shadeland.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Pittsburgh. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Pittsburgh
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are Marshall-Shadeland, Lincoln Place, Allentown, Chartiers City, Ridgemont, Arlington Heights, Hays, Arlington, Summer Hill, and Mt Oliver.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh aren’t all cheap. North Oakland takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Pittsburgh.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are North Oakland, Friendship, Shadyside, Southside Flats, and Oakland.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
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