Forgot link. Can't seem to edit post.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/30/realestate/home-buying-budget.html?smid=tw-share

Maybe a mod can sticky this comment?

LOOK AT THE POPULATION OUTLIER

Also if this was already posted please tell me and I will delete.

Funny combination with the PG article about Allegheny County's continued population today.

I’ve been to most of those other places and I’d still pick Pittsburgh over them all every time.

That has to be all of Allegheny county

I get Pgh's inexpensive by national standards, but having lived near Lansing MI for a few years, these numbers are kinda hard to believe. It's a bit more believable considering that these are entire metro areas (not cities proper -- look at the populations) and there are tons of houses further outside of Pgh proper that are really cheap, which has to be affecting this. That said, housing around Lansing still seemed way cheaper. I knew a good number of grad students there who didn't earn much buying entire houses and my rent was always a good amount lower than in Pgh (though I'm aware differences in rent ≠ differences in home values).

What was the cutoff for including metros on this list, 100k population? If so, I'm also surprised places like Cumberland MD or Decatur IL aren't on here.

I think it’s the metropolitan area.

Yes. Allegheny county is about half.

Interestingly my mom grew up in Lansing and Decatur.

Ha, that is random. Haven't been to Lansing in years. My SO's family is from Decatur, so we're out that way a fair amount. That drive feels like it never ends.

they're using median home price, which generally smooths out the data at the far ends of the curve.

lol shhhh, stop telling people about how it's still affordable here

I spent my early childhood in Chambersburg, and I remember it being a cute little town. That being said, I am going to bet that salaries there aren't as high as they are in Pittsburgh. I started out my post-college life in rural PA, and I moved to this area so that I could get a job in downtown Pittsburgh and double my salary.

I noticed that, too.

To my point above re: living in Michigan, seeing median vs. mean home prices reminds me of looking at house value data in Detroit a couple years after the '08 collapse. At one point, median house prices there got down to something insane like $10k. The mean value was significantly higher due to homes owned by extremely well-off people.

edit: It was $7,500. Wow.

Can someone please overlay this with median household income? This table is interesting but it would be an added bonus to see, like others have eluded to, how much money people are making in these places. I presume Pittsburgh has a higher median household income than most of these places but that would just be a guess.

I remember going down to the Joe and Cobo and Greektown in the early 90s and large parts of Detroit were pretty downtrodden then too. And it got magnitudes worse after the great recession. Ditto with Cleveland. Pittsburgh dodged a bullet with that one.

Yeah I rented a brand new apartment for like…$700 a month in a very urban area of Lansing. A similar apartment here is easily 1600+. I never know how these places get their numbers because as someone who’s lived both places, Pittsburgh is way way more expensive.

One of my advisors in school bought a nice 3 bed 2 bath house close to MSU for like $150k. Unheard of here to pay that for an actually livable building near any amenities.

The faculty I knew at MSU had some beautiful houses. A lot of them lived in Okemos or near Lake Lansing which I think was a little more expensive, but still probably super reasonably priced.

Too late. Out of towners figured us out years ago. It's been so long those out of towners now consider themselves Pgh'ers.

[deleted]

in upstate ny, we call it "suckacuse" for a reason.

Pittsburgh itself has a population of a little over 300,000. The greater metropolitan area includes 6 other counties, some of which don't even border Allegheny.

I want to move to Bangor, Maine.

I would love to if I get the time. I guess it’s not in the article.

That’s actually right though since it’s for the metro area.

Interestingly it’s the closest comparable in size and cost to Pittsburgh on the chart.

Home of the Bangor Daily (news).

You gotta say it right to get the full effect.

I’m originally from Gettysburg.

You’re right, didn’t see the ‘Metro’ in light font at the top. My bad

And a wet basement with a toilet if you need anything more than a 1 bathroom

Bangor ain't nothing to write home about. Much of the rest of Maine is wonderful though.