July 06, 2015
A new study from NerdWallet says that Philadelphia's state neighbor to the west is better than the city of brotherly love, but one local writer isn't buying it.
The June study compared Pittsburgh and Philadelphia based on five categories: education, employment, sports fandom, commuting and nightlife.
It concludes that while Philadelphia has an edge in sports fandom due to attendance at local teams' games and that the cities' nightlife scenes are basically even, Pittsburgh has the edge when it comes to education, employment opportunities, and commute times.
The report used high school graduation rates and SAT scores to determine its scores for education and used unemployment rates and median household income for employment.
Joel Mathis of PhillyMag pointed out that while Pittsburgh may have Philadelphia beat in those two categories, the study ignores the many who bike, walk or take public transit to work when it comes to commuting.
He also notes that it ignores Philadelphia's flourishing art scene and says that when it comes to location, the two cities aren't even close:
The nearest big city to Pittsburgh is … Cleveland. Philly, meanwhile, resides just a short train ride from New York and Washington, D.C. We're part of a broader urban ecosystem in a way Pittsburgh can't match.
Read the full NerdWallet report here and read Mathis' full rebuttal here.
