Pittsburgh 2009 Rankings

Pittsburgh is proud to rank among the top places to live, work, and visit in the United States. Our city is consistently recognized with accolades from major travel and financial organizations as one of the most livable cities with one of the most viable economies. The following is a list of some of the major rankings bestowed upon Pittsburgh in 2009. We have been honored as a first rate city for livability, culture, and economy for several years. For a list of Pittsburgh rankings in 2008, please click here. To see how Pittsburgh placed in 2007, please click here.Brookings Institution lists Pittsburgh as one of the top 20 economically strongest metropolitan areas. Ranking 18th, Pittsburgh was noted for having a stable economy, being a center for both higher education and healthcare, and having a stable housing market with rising home prices and among the lowest rate of foreclosures.

• British magazine, The Economist, ranks Pittsburgh the most livable city in the United States for the fifth year in a row - and 29th worldwide. In The Economist's report, 30-40 factors were considered under these five categories: stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
• Pittsburgh is ranked as the 16th most fit city in the nation, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. The annual study ranks cities on how frequently people exercise, the percentage of people with health insurance, the number of obese people and the number of people who smoke.
• Pittsburgh is the 18th best city for a fresh start, according to Relocation.com. U.S. cities with over 1 million people were ranked by factors such as popularity, affordable housing, best economic prospects, and highest volunteerism rates.
  WomenCo., a social network for women professionals, rates Pittsburgh as one of the cities that offer the most overall value in 2009. Criteria included cities' growth rates, average salaries, cost of living and average commute time.
• Away.com, the web's best travel and vacation-planning resource, ranks PNC Park #2 on their list of "Top 10 Best Baseball Stadiums to Visit." Dazzling everyone who walks in, the stadium provides a spectacular view from the seating bowl, especially down the third base line.
• Frommer's names Pittsburgh as a "First-Class Second City: Where To Go Instead." They state, "Pittsburgh is a patchwork of interesting neighborhoods topped by hills and crisscrossed by rivers, with a surprising (to outsiders) artsy side. Pittsburgh's mainstream museums include top-notch art, natural history and science museums; the home of Andy Warhol also has a museum devoted to his work. The Strip District features the cuisines of the sort of muscular European ethnicities one associates with Chicago and other blue-collar Midwestern towns."
• Walk this way...to Pittsburgh! The city ranked 10th in Prevention Magazine's annual survey of the 25 Best Walking Places in America. The city had the 3rd most miles of rails to trails, with 19 trails spanning 1,757.78 miles throughout the Pittsburgh region. The survey also factored the number of people who walk or ride mass transit to work, along with the total square mileage of parks.
• Parents magazine ranks Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium the 4th best zoo in the country for kidsbased on factors such as the number of exhibits for kids, stroller-friendly paths and restaurant and food options. The enormous Kids Kingdom, plentiful baby animals, an interactive meerkat exhibit that allows kids to crawl through tunnels to pop up inside an acrylic dome, and the combination of a zoo and aquarium in one location were all added bonuses.
• BusinessWeek chooses Pittsburgh as one of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2009. The following criteria was ranked: school performance, number of schools, crime rates, air quality, family income, museums, parks, theaters and other amenities such as diversity and affordability.
• Forbes.com named Pittsburgh as the 10th Most Livable City in America. Metro areas were ranked according to: five-year income growth per household, cost of living from Moody's Economy.com, crime data, leisure index from Sperling's Best Places and annual unemployment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• A mix of entertainment and cultural venues, shop and restaurants, places of employment, universities, rail transit and ample sidewalks make for a walkable urban location. MSN City Guides considers Pittsburgh one of the top ten of America's Most Walkable Cities, which includes Downtown Pittsburgh to the Strip District, South Side and Oakland.
• Retirement Places Rated and US News chose Pittsburgh as the 7th most affordable place to retire in the U.S. Amenities sought were low-cost living with affordable housing, access to arts and culture, sports, and healthcare that retires want and need.
• ForbesTraveler.com, along with Stamberg Aferiat Architecture in NY, voted Pittsburgh as one of the world's most stunning skylines. Urban silhouettes with , exceptional characteristics that were instantly recognizable to travelers and enticing views of building and monuments were given priority. They stated, "The city (Pittsburgh) is right at the intersection of three fairly large rivers, and you approach it through a mountain tunnel, so you arrive completely deprived of a view - and then you're on a bridge looking at the city. It's very beautifully proportioned the way it starts fairly low at the river and then climbs to the U.S. Steel building, which is the tallest one there."
• Pittsburgh ranks sixth in the top ten best cities for recycling according to Men's Health magazine. A variety of factors determined the rankings, including recycling programs, materials recycled and number of participating households.
• Orbitz Travel ranks Pittsburgh in the top five of close-to-home family vacation ideas near Washington, D.C. Highlighted attractions named were Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Idlewild Theme Park, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh Children's Museum and the Andy Warhol Museum. Family friendly hotels named were Sheraton Station Square and SpringHill Suites on Pittsburgh's North Shore.
• Pittsburgh's commercial real estate market is No. 1 according to Moody's Investors Service. The seven-county region is ranked as the top overall among 60 metropolitan markets across the county. Performance measured in multiple categories of real estate, such as multifamily, housing, neighborhoods, shopping areas, hotels and industrial offices. Also, NAI Global, a commercial real estate firm in New Jersey, proclaimed Pittsburgh as a safe haven for real estate, and one of the best cities to ride out a recession.
• Pittsburgh ranks among one of the most fit cities in the nation, according to the Health and Fitness index. Pittsburgh's many parks, bike trails and farmer's markets had influence in the ranking.
• Forbes ranked Pittsburgh number six among the top 10 cities for job seekers. Cities chosen around the county was based on low unemployment rates and the number of jobs created since summer 2008.