The 5 Best Family-Friendly Neighborhoods In Pittsburgh

If you're from Pittsburgh, you have an undying love for the Steelers, a penchant for putting French fries on sandwiches and salads, and your version of "you all" is the all-inclusive "yinz." It's a city with a reputation for being blue-collar, but Pittsburghers know that a world-class symphony, National Aviary, and one-of-a-kind Andy Warhol Museum make the city appealing to people in any kind of collar. It's a unique city with an old history, a fearlessness in reinventing itself, a patchwork of diverse neighborhoods, and a backdrop of modern structures jostling with old architecture and forests in the middle of cityscapes. It's where funiculars (what Pittsburghers call the "inclines" — rail cars going up the side of the mountains) take you from the edge of a river to the top of a slope and where seemingly impossibly steep steps and narrow roads climb hillsides. It's Pittsburgh, and once you're here, your family won't want to be elsewhere.

Pittsburghers will tell you that if you're looking to move here with a family, you couldn't ask for a better place to be. From the endless festivals to fireworks for just about any occasion to parks in every corner of the county, Pittsburgh is the place for families to have fun. But family life also means having great schools, medical facilities, shopping, and other amenities, as Visit Pittsburgh would tell you. It was tough to narrow it down, but we found five of the best family-friendly neighborhoods in the Greater Pittsburgh region.

Located in Pittsburgh's East End and comprised of pieces of several municipalities, Regent Square is a top destination for families. It earns high honors on Niche, a data analysis website that provides rankings and comparisons across multiple metrics like schools and residential areas. The neighborhood has a diverse, urban feel, with walkable streets winding past trendy stores and cafes. Niche puts the median home value at $300,808 and gives Regent Square a respectable B+ on crime and safety, indicating that the community's numbers fall well below national averages, making it a safe place to live.

Discover the Burgh praises Regent Square's proximity to the hiking trails in the beautiful Frick Park, which is a big bonus for nature-loving families. Families also will appreciate the top-rated schools, which include Taylor Allderdice High School, which Pittsburgh Magazine pointed out was the alma mater of more than a few well-known names, including rap artist Wiz Khalifa, acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua, and Broadway star Billy Porter. An active homeowners group, the Regent Square Civic Association, gives families another reason to relocate to the community, as they keep families connected, informed, and organize activities like the annual Run Around the Square, holiday light displays, and Spooky Saturday in the Square in the fall.

Just north of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh sits, is a burgeoning neighborhood called Seven Fields that is surrounded by, not surprisingly, a sea of farm fields but has grown into a community of beautiful homes, townhouses, restaurants, and shops. The community is sparking attention, such as that given to it by Money Inc., which recently ranked the neighborhood on its top 20 Best Places to Live in Pittsburgh list. Seven Fields is the real deal small town but doesn't forget it isn't all that far from the bustle of the big city and its towering skyline.

Best Places gave the borough a thumbs up, noting that it has a good student-to-teacher ratio (15 students per teacher) and spends more money per student on education than the national average. Crime rates are very low, but housing costs are relatively high, with median home prices at $368,600, 26% higher than the national average.

Seven Fields is close to major highways for easy commuting and still has a very country feel, given its location in the far northern reaches of the Greater Pittsburgh footprint. Family farms still surround the little borough, and a community center provides a gathering place for residents.

Marshall Township comes in at #1 on Niche's Best Places to Raise a Family in Pittsburgh Area. With just under 10,000 residents, the township gets high marks across the board, including an A+ rating for the public school, North Allegheny School District.

Three parks are located in the township: Altmyer Park, a former farm that includes a renovated barn that is offered as a rental facility; Knob Hill Park, a spacious area featuring baseball fields, trails, playgrounds, pavilions, and much more on its 157 acres; and Warrendale Park that attracts sports enthusiasts to its ball fields, horseshoe pits, and tennis and basketball courts (via Marshall Township Pennsylvania).

Niche characterizes Marshall Township (where median home values are near the $400,000 mark, clocking in at $382,600) as having a "rural" feel, which describes the completely suburban community nicely. There are neighborhoods with dozens (or sometimes hundreds) of homes that not long ago sat on farm acreage or orchards. Several farm markets offering fresh-picked produce and hand-selected goods are located in or near the township. And while it isn't uncommon to see deer prancing through backyards, residents have also seen the occasional coyote, fox, and bear on extremely rare occasions! Rural, indeed, and less than 20 minutes from a parking garage in the heart of Pittsburgh's Cultural District!

This township, located about a half-hour's drive south of Pittsburgh, feels like it's a continent away from the bustle of the city. Its spacious lawns and rolling, tree-covered hills will relax you down to your toes. Upper St. Clair is no ordinary suburban bedroom community. It's 10.5 square miles of scenic landscapes and many, many big homes nestled among well-kept roads, parks, golf courses, and shops. Even so, there are enough modest-sized and older homes within Upper St. Clair to keep the median home price at $295,600 (via Niche).

An acclaimed school district helped earn Upper St. Clair praise as one of the best places to raise a family, according to Elite Personal Finance. The eponymously-named district regularly boasts students who earn top honors and athletics that compete for the state's top trophies.

Upper St. Clair proudly upholds its low crime rate even though one intriguing claim to fame is that it was the site of the Whiskey Rebellion, a protest of federal taxes on whiskey in the 1790s during the American nation's infancy. George Washington himself came to Western Pennsylvania to quell the upset farmers. The tax was eventually repealed, and the area now known as Upper St. Clair became quite law-abiding (via The Township of Upper St. Clair).

Aptly described by a resident commenting on Niche as "Mayberry with mansions," the borough of Edgeworth is located down the Ohio River from the city of Pittsburgh. Edgeworth registers a pricey median home value of nearly $630,000. Even with a steep price to buy a house, rents are reasonable. At $1,240, they aren't much over the national average of $1,100.

Land and houses weren't always so expensive. Edgeworth is the locale of the David and Eliza Leet Shields House, now on the National Register of Historic Places, and sitting on property bought in 1785 with Revolutionary War pay. The current owner, a descendent, told Pittsburgh Magazine it was a Post Office and a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The borough boasts excellent public schools and a very low crime rate, and despite Niche's description of the place as having a rural feel, Edgeworth is very much attuned to the pulse of the city of Pittsburgh.

Real estate vlog Living in Pittsburgh notes that Edgeworth is predominantly housing. While its neighbor, the village of Sewickley, is a walkable village made for strolling past shops and other businesses, Edgeworth is walkable through neighborhoods, not on your way to brunch or the bar. The host of Living in Pittsburgh notes that the community is also home to a swanky country club that features all the usual amenities: Fabulous dining areas, a pool, bowling lanes, meeting and event spaces, plus the less common paddle tennis courts and U. S. regulation-size squash courts.