Who did it? How do you feel about your career? What was the impact on your commute time, TC and take-home money? And that fucking weather? I'm really considering that. House prices up there are crazy low.
You can buy a house on an acre of land for what you would call a down payment here. Folks are way nicer . Weather sucks in the winter but the lower cost of living makes up for it.
Lived in Pittsburgh for grad school. 1. Career wise Pittsburgh is slowly making mark as the AI/Robotics hotbed. Before I left (in 2018) it was already home to some of the hottest AI places- Facebook FAIR, Duolingo, Uber ATG, Argo AI, Petuum, Intel Research, Apple AI research teams. Google has a big presence there, other companies coming up with tech offices include Facebook, VMWare, Microsoft, Amazon,Apple. 2. Commute time- the average Pittsburgher uses public transportation (PAT buses) this I feel commute time is low in general due to less cars on road. 3. Weather is a little bad- can’t do anything about that. 4. Housing and living- I used to live in a really spacious 2bed at a great location for $1400. You do the math - it’s insanely cheap when compared to the valley. Average cost of a meal would be under $15 per person (whereas in Bay Area it’s always $20 and above)
There aren't a lot of career opportunities. I was lucky to get an offer for 90k, the low cost of living also means low pay. The weather will make you depressed, this is worse than you think. The houses can be old and have serious problems, bad pipes, bad electrical, bad water. A lot of the city isn't pretty; it has rust, chain fence, poor roads. The grid is laid out poorly, making commutes a disaster. The Pittsburgh cemeteries and low income housing take up all the prime real estate. This means you have to live further from downtown than you should.
There’s no need to move to Pittsburgh when there’s Seattle
Can you buy a 4-bedroom, 3000 sqt house, within 30 minutes of work, with $500k in Seattle?
You probably can buy it around Tacoma and then find a job with 30 min commute (not in Seattle). Job is likely to pay as much as the one in Pittsburgh.
Our friends moved back within three years. That part of the country has been experiencing a slow economic death for a century for a reason.
OP, did you move to Pittsburgh?
Weather is over rated. If you are going to stay in the Bay area, it should be for a reason greater than the weather.
Having lived in Toronto, weather SHOULD ABSOLUTELY be a KEY FACTOR. Canadian weather threw me into depression and I wasn't even half as productive as summer during the other 8 months.
Native chicagoan and can confirm weather matters unless you love -50° windchill