The 10 Cheapest Pittsburgh, PA Neighborhoods To Live In For 2022


We used science and data to determine which neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are the cheapest of the cheap.

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Everything else equal, I think 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.

So 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 find out which neighborhoods in Pittsburgh are the cheapest.

What's the cheapest neighborhood to live in Pittsburgh for 2022? According to the most recent census data, Marshall-Shadeland looks to be the cheaptest 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 in return 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.

Once you're done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of every neighborhood we looked at from cheapest to most expensive.

For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:

The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Pittsburgh For 2022

1. Marshall-Shadeland

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 4,396
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.2 (7th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (15th cheapest)
More on Marshall-Shadeland: Homes For Sale | Data

2. Beltzhoover

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 1,783
Cost Of Living Index: 81 (3rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.2 (8th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (23rd cheapest)
More on Beltzhoover: Homes For Sale | Data

3. Lincoln Place

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 3,534
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.8 (36th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.003 (3rd cheapest)
More on Lincoln Place: Homes For Sale | Data

4. Fairywood

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 1,249
Cost Of Living Index: 89 (38th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.6 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.013 (13th cheapest)
More on Fairywood: Homes For Sale | Data

5. Chartiers City

Overall SnackAbility

/10

Population: 404
Cost Of Living Index: 86 (23rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.7 (27th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.0 (2nd cheapest)
More on Chartiers City: Homes For Sale | Data

6. Esplen

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 175
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (11th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.1 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (36th cheapest)
More on Esplen: Homes For Sale | Data

7. Mt Oliver

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 562
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (18th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.3 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (26th cheapest)
More on Mt Oliver: Homes For Sale | Data

8. Homewood West

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 831
Cost Of Living Index: 80 (2nd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 0.7 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.021 (59th cheapest)
More on Homewood West: Homes For Sale | Data

9. Bon Air

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 944
Cost Of Living Index: 88 (30th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.4 (15th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (19th cheapest)
More on Bon Air: Homes For Sale | Data

10. Homewood South

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 2,415
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (39th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (24th cheapest)
More on Homewood South: Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Pittsburgh Hoods In 2022

In order to rank the cheapest places to live in Pittsburgh, we had to determine what criteria defines "cheap".

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 83 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.

Read on below to learn more about what it's like to live in the cheapest places Pittsburgh. Or 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.

As we mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh aren't all cheap. North Oakland takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Pittsburgh.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.

For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Pittsburgh For 2022

Rank Neighborhood Cost Of Living Index
1 Marshall-Shadeland 84
2 Beltzhoover 81
3 Lincoln Place 84
4 Fairywood 89
5 Chartiers City 86
6 Esplen 84
7 Mt Oliver 85
8 Homewood West 80
9 Bon Air 88
10 Homewood South 82
11 Arlington 84
12 East Hills 84
13 North Shore 90
14 East Carnegie 90
15 Ridgemont 88
16 Perry North 89
17 Elliott 88
18 Fine View 85
19 Summer Hill 92
20 Manchester 86
21 Brookline 90
22 Central Business District 99
23 Sheraden 88
24 Terrace Village 79
25 Wind Gap 92
26 Spring Garden 85
27 Knoxville 88
28 Homewood North 84
29 Beechview 88
30 Saint Clair 87
31 Mount Oliver 85
32 Westwood 93
33 Carrick 89
34 Swisshelm Park 95
35 Allentown 86
36 Banksville 94
37 Spring Hill-City View 84
38 Brighton Heights 92
39 Overbrook 90
40 Highland Park 98
41 Hazelwood 86
42 Troy Hill 92
43 Mount Washington 92
44 Southside Slopes 95
45 Duquesne Heights 98
46 Greenfield 97
47 Perry South 89
48 Crafton Heights 93
49 Stanton Heights 96
50 Central Lawrenceville 94
51 Herrs Island 95
52 Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar 88
53 Hays 84
54 Point Breeze 113
55 California-Kirkbride 83
56 Larimer 86
57 Garfield 88
58 Morningside 98
59 Crawford Roberts 83
60 Polish Hill 92
61 West Oakland 84
62 Upper Lawrenceville 93
63 Squirrel Hill North 128
64 Squirrel Hill South 109
65 Lower Lawrenceville 98
66 East Liberty 90
67 Oakwood 90
68 Point Breeze North 102
69 Regent Square 115
70 Northview Heights 85
71 Middle Hill 89
72 Allegheny West 118
73 Oakland 89
74 Bloomfield 99
75 Southside Flats 109
76 East Allegheny 92
77 Upper Hill 94
78 Central Northside 99
79 Allegheny Center 109
80 Strip District 125
81 Friendship 105
82 Shadyside 116
83 North Oakland 100

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2022. This is our third time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Pittsburgh.

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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