As of the 2020 census, the Greater Pittsburgh region had a population of over 2.37 million people. Pittsburgh, the region's core city, has a population of 302,971, the second-largest in the state after Philadelphia. Over half of the region's population resides within Allegheny County, which has a population of 1.24 million and is the state's second-largest county after Philadelphia County.[6]
U.S. Decennial Census[7] 1790–1960[8] 1900–1990[9] 1990–2000[10][1]
Garrett Nelson and Alasdair Rae's 2016 analysis of American commuter flows, "An Economic Geography of the United States: From Commutes to Megaregions", identified the Pittsburgh megaregion as a region encompassing the entirety or significant portions of 54 counties in Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia, and Western Maryland.[11] By this definition, the informal regional boundaries are similar to historical interpretations where the region is defined as the central portion of the Allegheny Plateau to the west and north of the Allegheny Front and south of Lake Erie and Pennsylvania's Northern Tier.[12] The hills and river valleys along the Upper Ohio River and its many eastern tributaries, including the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers have historically been the major centers of population of the region.[12]
Historically, Pittsburgh has been grouped in the "Rust Belt";[17] however, reflective of the rebound of the region within the last generation, the metro area has been included as a part of the "Great Lakes Basin" gaining representation in the Great Lakes Metro Chamber Coalition.[18][19]
Pittsburgh's association with the Great Lakes region is due in part to its economic, demographic and commuter connections to Great Lakes cities like Cleveland, Erie, Toledo and even Detroit.[20] Christopher Briem, an economist at the University of Pittsburgh's University Center for Social and Urban Research, has argued that southwestern Pennsylvania is "far more interconnected" with northeastern Ohio than it is with the eastern half of Pennsylvania, and that the industries of Pittsburgh are primarily linked to Ohioan cities such as Youngstown, Akron, and Cleveland, not to Pennsylvanian cities such as Allentown, Scranton, or Philadelphia.[21] He notes that, conversely, the population centers of northeastern Ohio are primarily connected with Pittsburgh and only secondarily connected to the state capital of Columbus. Briem argues that "In so many ways the state boundaries we think of as important are no more than lines on a map."[21] In recognizing their economic interdependence, Briem coined the term "Cleveburgh" to refer collectively to the cities of Cleveland and Pittsburgh, along with the smaller towns dotting the corridor of I-76 between the cities.[21][22][23] Robert Lang and Arthur Nelson of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech also identify the region between Cleveland and Pittsburgh as being an interconnected "megapolitan area" and refer to it as the "Steel Corridor".[24]
The largest school district in the area is the Pittsburgh Public Schools, with the school districts of Allegheny County also boasting large student bodies. Many private schools also serve the core county of Allegheny. More public districts are found throughout Beaver, Westmoreland, and Washington counties, and private schools in each county.
Pittsburgh International was the fortress hub of US Airways from 1952 to 2005 with over 500 daily departures to more than 110 destinations in 2000. By 2007, fewer than 70 departures to 21 destinations remained.[26] In 2007, US Airways did select the airport for its new $25 million, 27,000 sq ft (2,500 m2), 600-employees-strong Global Flight Operations Center. Since being de-hubbed the airport has seen expanded service from JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines' direct trans-Atlantic service to Paris.
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport offers commercial service via Spirit Airlines to Florida and South Carolina. Palmer has had commercially scheduled air service since the 1980s.
Allegheny County Airport (IATA: AGC) in suburban West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, is the area's largest general aviation airport. The historic landmark, art deco terminal was the main passenger airport for the area until 1952. Allegheny opened in 1931 as the nation's third-largest and first with "hard surface" runways.
Smaller suburban airports serve as private plane and corporate jet bases include:
The Pittsburgh area is served by four main-line Interstates including the Pennsylvania Turnpike (which is co-signed with I-76 and in the extreme eastern part of the region also co-signed with I-70):
PA 65 serving commuters along the Ohio River valley to the northwest of the city.
PA Turnpike 66 (Amos K. Hutchinson Bypass) as a partial east hills beltway for traffic from both Interstate 70 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 76.
Fort Duquesne Boulevard serving as a downtown expressway between I-279 and I-579.
Port
The Port of Pittsburgh ranks as the 21st-largest port in the United States with almost 34 million short tons of river cargo in 2011. It is the 9th-largest in the U.S. when measured in domestic trade.[27]
Pittsburgh and its surrounding area has a distinct regional identity and has historically been regarded as a transitional region within the Northeastern United States. The region's counties also fall within the borders of Appalachia as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission.[29] The City of Pittsburgh has been characterized as the "northern urban industrial anchor of Appalachia"[30]: which makes it an anomaly compared to much of Appalachia which has traditionally been characterized as southern, rural, and economically distressed.[30]
The Pittsburgh area was sort of isolated. It was very hard to get back and forth across the mountains. There's always been a sense that Pittsburgh was kind of a place unto itself—not really southern, not really Midwestern, not really part of Pennsylvania. People just didn't move very much.[32]
In his 2009 book, The Paris of Appalachia, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Brian O'Neill meditates on this aspect of Pittsburgh's regional and cultural ambiguity. The title of the book is intentionally provocative:
"The Paris of Appalachia" some have called Pittsburgh derisively, because it's still the largest city along this gorgeous mountain chain that needs a better press agent. I've long felt we should embrace that title, though few are with me. Several tried to talk me out of slapping it on the cover, but were we called "The Paris of the Rockies," we wouldn't run from it. Sometimes we're so afraid of what others think, we're afraid to say who we are. This city is not Midwestern. It's not East Coast. It's just Pittsburgh, and there's no place like it. That's both its blessing and its curse.[33]
The Pittsburgh area served as a launchpad for the professionalization of both American football and ice hockey in the 1890s and 1900s. The first professional player (William Heffelfinger) played for a Pittsburgh football team in 1892, which was followed by the first open professional (John Brallier), the first all-professional team (the Latrobe Athletic Association), and a participant in the first all-professional league (the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League). In the case of ice hockey, the Western Pennsylvania Hockey League was the first hockey league to pay its players in 1901, eventually merging into the first fully pro league, the International Professional Hockey League, in 1904. Professional hockey in Pennsylvania predated the professionalization of the game in Canada (where it eventually came to dominate in the early 20th century) by four years.
Today, the region is home to three major league franchises in baseball, football, and hockey; several minor league teams in soccer, baseball, and hockey; and three major NCAA universities.
^Deto, Ryan (8 August 2023). "Lawrence County added to Pittsburgh metro area". TribLIVE.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024. the Pittsburgh metro area now includes eight counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland
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