Moving to the Region

[Blake]

Gentlemen,

I'm a LEO, and I will be moving to the Pittsburgh area this summer. I'm curious if any of you could give me some recommendations on some safe areas/suburbs of the Pitt area with quality school systems. I appreciated any help that you can provide. Looking forward to shooting with some of you all, once I get settled as well.

[Aray]

That's no problem. What town/area will you be working in and how long of a commute do you want. Do you want cul de sac or more rural?

[Blake]

I will be working in downtown Pittsburgh. Looking for a commute that is within 30 minutes ideally, but could be a touch longer if necessary. Mainly looking for clean, safe neighborhood, with good schools.

[Aray]

I would say Wexford, McCandless, Cranberry Township area. Also Moon Twp, Hopewell area and Maybe Ross Twp. Cranberry is in Butler county, Hopewell is in Beaver, all counties surrounding Allegheny County are cheaper for taxes and such. I live out in the country in northern Beaver County, so I'm a little partial to this area. So I'm only familiar with west and north of Pit, east and south not so much.

Good luck with the job and the move.

[Gutshot John]

This is going to confuse you somewhat because you have Pittsburgh City and then you have about 120 municipalities with about 40 different school districts that are within Allegheny County. Cranberry is way out of town and you're probably looking at closer to an hour commute with traffic. Aray knows North and West and I know South and East. Are you working for Pittsburgh Police? If so you might have to stay within Pittsburgh proper but that might have changed. The thing about Pittsburgh is that most nice places can still border places that aren't so nice.

Most of the Pittsburgh City Schools are pretty good with a few exceptions. A lot is going on right now with Pittsburgh city schools that make them a good bet down the road. There are some excellent parochial schools in the region.

Depending on how much you want to spend Squirrel Hill is an excellent neighborhood with good schools but can be pricey. Other parts of the East Side are very nice (Point Breeze, Bloomfield, Highland Park) and you can get some really nice housing stock for not a huge amount of money. Some parts are making a nice comeback like East Liberty/Friendship. Outside of that, Regent Square/Edgewood are both excellent neighborhoods (not part of the city proper) but the school district is meh. From any of those two you have a half-hour TOPS commute by public transportation even during rush hour. I wouldn't recommend driving if you don't have to since parking downtown is expensive.

I live in a neighborhood called Swissvale which can be sketchy towards the Monongahela River but where it borders Edgewood is excellent. Everyone on my block knows each other, we get together for holiday dinners, and we have firefighters, cops and paramedics living on our block. There are some really awesome old houses for not a lot of money and you can get downtown very quickly along the East Busway a special road dedicated to public transportation so no traffic to fight.

Heading North along Route 8 you get into Butler/O'Hara Township and that has a lot going for it. Having worked in the west end I would avoid it with a few exceptions. Sewickley, Moon and some parts of Kennedy township are acceptable but you're looking at a lot longer than 30 minutes commute.

Avoid anything with "McKee" in the name.

[Blake]

Not working for Pittsburgh City PD. I definitely don't have to live in the city proper. Additionally I have a work car given to me, and I must use it to go to and from work, so I won't be using public transportation. I have heard of a few good areas, but none of those that you talked about. The ones recommended to me are Fox Chapel area, Mt. Lebanon, and a few others. I'm looking for a pretty basic place, hopefully around $200,000 or under. I'm not familiar with the area at all, so I'm just trying to get a general idea at this point.

[Aray]

Not working for Pittsburgh City PD. I definitely don't have to live in the city proper. Additionally I have a work car given to me, and I must use it to go to and from work, so I won't be using public transportation. I have heard of a few good areas, but none of those that you talked about. The ones recommended to me are Fox Chapel area, Mt. Lebanon, and a few others. I'm looking for a pretty basic place, hopefully around $200,000 or under. I'm not familiar with the area at all, so I'm just trying to get a general idea at this point.

Fox Chapel and Mt Leb are going to be tough to get into for 200k, I think.

I don't have a great handle on traffic since I rarely travel on weekdays to Pittsburgh, so John is probably right, most of my recommendations may well be further than 30 min. McCandless Twp is about 11 miles from downtown according to Google maps.

Avoid anything with "McKee" in the name.

That's 100% true.

My wife and I checked out Edgewood when she had a job offer there, it seemed nice enough. As John said it may only be 1/8th of a mile from nice to ground zero.

[Gutshot John]

Fox Chapel and Mt Leb are going to be tough to get into for 200k, I think.

Tough but not impossible with some effort/research. It's actually one of the reasons O'Hara TWP has some virtue, same school district as Fox Chapel but at a lower cost. Fox Chapel is a very tony neighborhood but there are some good deals on the borders of Indianola/O'Hara/Aspinwall. Mt. Lebanon is a nice mix of both, there are some very expensive housing but can be done. Honestly though Mt. Lebo isn't one of my favorites (having worked as a paramedic there). Add to that Upper St. Clair and Bethel Park and you've got a few options but you're pushing the 45-60 minute commute during rush hour.

Check out Craig's list for houses, you'd be amazed at the stock that makes it there but not to realtors and often at a nice price.

If you post the areas that you're looking at we can definitely give you a yay or nay.

[Blake]

Mount Lebanon had some respectable places for around $200k, but they were certainly older homes. I'm a one income house for the time being. In a few years I could afford more, but I may be gone in a few years as well. Just not sure yet. I'll ask about locations as they come along. Thanks for the assistance.

[Blake]

Anyone know much about Whitehall, near Mt Lebanon.