Pittsburgh Ranked Among Nation's Best Big Cities: Study

PITTSBURGH, PA - At least we're ahead of Cleveland. A new study ranks Pittsburgh among the nation's best big cities in which to live, but the ranking is unlikely to entice many people to move here.

Financial data site WalletHub rates Pittsburgh as the nation's 17th best city out of 62 metropolitan areas it ranked based on 56 indicators of attractiveness. The data set ranged from public In schools quality and life expectancy to job opportunities and property taxes.

In attempting to take the guesswork out of which cities are best for urban dwellers, here's how WalletHub rated Pittsburgh in several key livability categories:

• Job opportunities: 4th.

• Access to public transportation: 10th.

• Quality of public school system: 10th.

• Income growth: 16th.

• Walkability: 18th.

• Parkland as percentage of city area: 27th.

• Violent crime rate: 27th

• Housing affordability: 27th.

How can Pittsburgh attract and retain new residents. Transit and transportation options are key factors, according to Kit Krankel McCullough, a lecturer at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

"The two largest cohorts, millennials and baby boomers, are both looking for places that are walkable, bikeable and transit-rich, with transportation options beyond the car," she said. "Millennials typically see car ownership as an expensive hassle. They much prefer the convenience of app-enabled services such as ride-hailing (Lyft, Uber), car shares like Zipcar or car2go, bike shares or hopping on a scooter.

"Boomers are recognizing they will soon lose the ability to drive. One in 5 people over the age of 65 don't drive, many for health reasons. By age 85, 65 percent are no longer driving, while only 40 percent have difficulty walking. We outlive our driving years by on average a decade. So Boomers are looking to age in places with transportation options so they aren't trapped by an inability to drive."

The top 20 big cities, according to theWalletHub study:

1. Virginia Beach, VA

2. Austin, TX

3. Seattle, WA

4, San Diego, CA

5. Las Vegas, NV

6. San Francisco, CA

7. New York, NY

8. San Jose, CA

9. Honolulu, HI

10. Portland, OR

11. Raleigh, NC

12. Minneapolis, MN

13. Denver, CO

14. Colorado Springs, CO

15. Tampa, FL

16. Washington, D.C.

17. Pittsburgh

18. Mesa, AZ

19. Omaha, NE

20. Boston, MA