Overview of Findings
Apartment List has released Pittsburgh’s results from the third annual Apartment List Renter Satisfaction Survey. This survey, which drew on responses from over 45,000 renters, provides insight on what states and cities must do to meet the needs of 111 million American renters nationwide.
"Pittsburgh’s renters expressed general satisfaction with the city overall," according to Apartment List. "Interestingly, ratings for Pittsburgh vary widely across categories such as affordability and weather."
Key findings in Pittsburgh include the following:
- Pittsburgh renters gave their city a B+ grade overall.
- The highest-rated categories for Pittsburgh were commute time (A+), affordability (A) and public transit (A).
- The areas of concern to Pittsburgh renters are weather (D) and quality of local schools (C).
- Millennial renters are very satisfied with their city, giving it an overall rating of B+.
- Pittsburgh did relatively well compared to other cities in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia (C+) and Allentown (B-).
- Pittsburgh earned similar scores to cities nationwide, including Denver, CO (B+), Seattle, WA (B+) and San Francisco, CA (B+).
- The top rated cities nationwide for renter satisfaction include Scottsdale, AZ, Irvine, CA, Boulder, CO and Ann Arbor, MI. The lowest rated cities include Tallahassee, FL, Stockton, CA, Dayton, OH, Detroit, MI and Newark, NJ.
Renters say:
- "I love how pretty my city is and how much there is to do. The people are friendly. But I dislike the traffic." – Chelsey W.
- "I love that there are so many job opportunities. But I hate that a lot of places for rent aren’t very pet-friendly. It’s a pain to find a place that will accept my dogs." – Anon.
- "I love the direction my city is taking by bringing downtown back to life. But it’s missing great shopping, which would attract even better restaurants and nightlife." – Ieshia H.
- "There is something to do at any time of day so it’s easy to have fun or find an interesting hobby. Ethnic diversity could be improved, though." – Jarrod B.
For more information on the survey methodology and findings or to speak to one of our researchers, please contact our team at rentonomics@apartmentlist.com.
