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.
It is bad policy to fear the resentment of an enemy. -Ethan Allen
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