These Are The 10 Worst Pittsburgh Suburbs


We used science and data to determine which Pittsburgh suburbs are the real pits.

Nick James, RoadSnacks
March 4, 2016 - 67,708 views
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This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

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Pittsburgh conjures up images of tons of things to do, quality people, and a bustling economy. The region consistently ranks as one of the best places to live across the country.

But not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Pittsburgh.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Pittsburgh ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Pittsburgh area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Pittsburgh proper, although Seven Fields certainly tries.

We examined the 109 biggest suburbs of Pittsburgh to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t find them on the worst places to live in Pennsylvania, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Pittsburgh in terms of quality of life:

  1. Duquesne
  2. Clairton
  3. North Braddock
  4. Aliquippa
  5. McKeesport
  6. Ambridge
  7. Beaver Falls
  8. Homestead
  9. Vandergrift
  10. Sharpsburg

Read on to see how we determined the places around Pittsburgh that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger. And once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of worst to best.

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How we determined the worst Pittsburgh ‘burbs

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things. We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the Census’s most recent 2010-2014 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

  • Low unemployment (Less jobs)
  • Low median income (Less pay)
  • Low population density (No things to do)
  • Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
  • High number of high school drop outs
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Then, we ranked each place that have over 5,000 people around Pittsburgh for each of these criteria from worst to best.

The place with the lowest average rankings for these criteria ranks as the worst suburb of Pittsburgh.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around Pittsburgh to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 109 suburbs ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Snarkiness incorporated for entertainment purposes only. Hold on to your pants.

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1. Duquesne

Duquesne, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 5,558
Median Income: $19,811
Median Home Value: $39,300

2. Clairton

Clairton, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 6,752
Median Income: $29,158
Median Home Value: $48,700

3. North Braddock

North Braddock, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 4,847
Median Income: $28,893
Median Home Value: $40,100

4. Aliquippa

Aliquippa, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 9,356
Median Income: $34,816
Median Home Value: $65,800

5. McKeesport

Mckeesport, PA

Source: Google Maps

Population: 19,663
Median Income: $26,224
Median Home Value: $46,600

6. Ambridge

Ambridge, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 6,973
Median Income: $30,098
Median Home Value: $64,300

7. Beaver Falls

Beaver Falls, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 8,842
Median Income: $27,908
Median Home Value: $58,100

8. Homestead

Homestead, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 3,157
Median Income: $25,595
Median Home Value: $39,900

9. Vandergrift

Vandergrift, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 5,142
Median Income: $36,111
Median Home Value: $68,400

10. Sharpsburg

Sharpsburg, PA

Source: Wikipedia

Population: 3,436
Median Income: $29,736
Median Home Value: $67,900

The areas around Pittsburgh that you probably don’t want to live in

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Pittsburgh with Duquesne landing ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Pittsburgh aren’t all bad. Seven Fields takes the cake as the best place to live around Pittsburgh.

For the chart below, these are ranked from worst to best.
For more pa reading , check out:

  These Are The 10 Poorest Cities In Pennsylvania

Detailed List Of Pittsburgh Suburbs

Place Rank Population Median Income Median Home Value
Duquesne 1 5,558 $19,811 $39,300
Clairton 2 6,752 $29,158 $48,700
North Braddock 3 4,847 $28,893 $40,100
Aliquippa 4 9,356 $34,816 $65,800
McKeesport 5 19,663 $26,224 $46,600
Ambridge 6 6,973 $30,098 $64,300
Beaver Falls 7 8,842 $27,908 $58,100
Homestead 8 3,157 $25,595 $39,900
Vandergrift 9 5,142 $36,111 $68,400
Sharpsburg 10 3,436 $29,736 $67,900
New Kensington 11 12,959 $36,555 $86,000
Pitcairn 12 3,283 $30,560 $58,400
West Mifflin 13 20,271 $47,894 $88,300
Glassport 14 4,485 $31,859 $58,200
Braddock 15 2,030 $22,942 $29,000
Rankin 16 2,142 $20,652 $34,700
McKees Rocks 17 6,088 $26,317 $48,000
New Brighton 18 5,973 $33,647 $68,700
Washington 19 13,715 $34,234 $93,500
Tarentum 20 4,514 $36,875 $48,000
Lower Burrell 21 11,653 $51,300 $130,500
West Newton 22 2,599 $32,105 $96,400
Wilkinsburg 23 15,894 $33,483 $73,300
Etna 24 3,446 $37,860 $82,000
Arnold 25 5,090 $27,421 $60,400
Coraopolis 26 5,655 $35,704 $82,000
Baden 27 4,089 $38,068 $96,100
Loyalhanna 28 3,351 $38,448 $111,800
Mount Pleasant 29 4,431 $41,074 $103,400
Youngwood 30 3,018 $42,718 $99,200
Millvale 31 3,740 $34,365 $64,000
Leechburg 32 2,137 $34,237 $72,600
Springdale 33 3,400 $49,022 $91,100
Verona 34 2,502 $35,286 $75,700
Imperial 35 2,917 $62,518 $133,000
Monaca 36 5,721 $43,393 $98,500
Baldwin 37 19,791 $53,699 $115,200
Conway 38 2,166 $43,663 $124,200
Mount Oliver 39 3,400 $31,230 $49,900
Rochester 40 3,628 $39,538 $72,800
Carnegie 41 7,960 $37,846 $101,700
Turtle Creek 42 5,335 $29,635 $64,300
Greensburg 43 14,726 $38,339 $125,300
Big Beaver 44 2,005 $59,583 $106,200
Scottdale 45 4,336 $40,061 $98,500
South Greensburg 46 2,056 $42,992 $102,500
East McKeesport 47 2,233 $39,489 $70,800
Jeannette 48 9,522 $41,780 $82,200
Wolfdale 49 3,020 $48,854 $81,600
Swissvale 50 8,963 $37,039 $73,200
Plum 51 27,386 $67,639 $139,700
Derry 52 2,649 $44,583 $89,600
Liberty borough (Allegheny County) 53 2,536 $51,071 $76,000
Bellevue 54 8,338 $40,502 $102,400
Canonsburg 55 8,973 $50,036 $124,900
Munhall 56 11,355 $44,075 $79,900
White Oak 57 7,851 $50,408 $97,500
Emsworth 58 2,471 $50,438 $112,800
Port Vue 59 3,784 $44,560 $65,400
Avalon 60 4,704 $38,304 $84,800
Bridgeville 61 5,142 $43,465 $112,400
Irwin 62 3,924 $41,967 $155,700
McGovern 63 2,687 $56,713 $173,400
Zelienople 64 3,780 $48,854 $171,500
Carnot-Moon 65 12,081 $57,013 $155,300
New Stanton 66 2,510 $55,278 $170,100
Castle Shannon 67 8,317 $47,149 $112,000
McDonald 68 2,121 $45,104 $109,500
Bethel Park 69 32,338 $70,102 $158,700
Cecil-Bishop 70 2,581 $77,386 $183,400
Jefferson Hills 71 10,984 $77,118 $185,300
Fox Chapel 72 5,397 $168,274 $521,400
Gastonville 73 2,919 $48,043 $119,400
Crafton 74 5,931 $49,888 $112,700
Brackenridge 75 3,256 $41,977 $74,000
Monroeville 76 28,365 $56,554 $129,800
Pleasant Hills 77 8,291 $62,969 $147,100
Manor 78 3,261 $69,161 $164,600
Churchill 79 3,006 $79,375 $156,600
Glenshaw 80 8,908 $76,842 $155,700
McMurray 81 4,727 $89,231 $280,500
Beaver 82 4,479 $48,830 $149,800
Muse 83 2,592 $84,103 $250,700
Dormont 84 8,565 $51,901 $110,900
Green Tree 85 4,542 $66,635 $153,900
Murrysville 86 20,171 $90,026 $219,300
Southwest Greensburg 87 2,130 $41,771 $120,100
Trafford 88 3,339 $46,771 $105,400
Upper St. Clair 89 19,303 $106,444 $254,300
Forest Hills 90 6,501 $63,378 $117,800
Ingram 91 3,310 $47,639 $93,900
Economy 92 9,133 $76,639 $162,300
South Park Township 93 13,492 $69,365 $148,000
Allison Park 94 20,867 $80,572 $201,300
Brentwood 95 9,625 $52,455 $97,400
West View 96 6,752 $59,387 $116,600
Bakerstown 97 2,277 $74,211 $417,300
Level Green 98 3,840 $76,807 $172,900
Sewickley 99 3,832 $70,268 $294,900
Whitehall 100 13,931 $56,196 $134,300
Delmont 101 2,668 $61,583 $158,400
Gibsonia 102 2,987 $87,390 $174,800
East Washington 103 2,076 $71,250 $178,900
Oakmont 104 6,358 $57,813 $172,400
Thompsonville 105 3,853 $80,132 $262,100
Franklin Park 106 13,882 $116,378 $295,500
Aspinwall 107 2,794 $65,083 $227,700
Edgewood 108 3,109 $68,925 $180,500
Seven Fields 109 2,886 $103,173 $289,700
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2 thoughts on “These Are The 10 Worst Pittsburgh Suburbs”

  1. Your science and data is flawed, Vandergrift is not a suburb of Pittsburgh, most of those you have listed are towns surrounding Pittsburgh.

    Reply

  2. Derry ranks higher than greensburg….???? And Latrobe is not even listed??? And hempfield??? Did I miss something?

    Reply

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