Pittsburgh has so many suburbs... in Allegheny County alone, there are 130(!)... pretty ridiculous. Many(most) of them are not suburbs in the traditional sense; rather were steel/industrial towns which grew right along with Pittsburgh and have all grown together, but because of the region's insane topography, they maintain separate identities. Many of the further flung, towns on the rivers are ROUGH, having decayed for the past 40 years. But many of the more centrally-located ones basically function as City of Pittsburgh neighborhoods, with many being situated much closer to the inner core of the city than areas of city proper.
The usual suspects for most desirable suburb include:
-
Mount Lebanon in the South Hills (#73 on the below map). Early streetcar suburb, affluent, but still relatively affordable, top schools, beautiful brick and stone tudor homes of all sizes, leafy, hilly, but highly walkable, with nice business districts with good restaurants, shops, etc. An urban-lite Shangri-La, if you will. I get it, it's very nice, but it's just a little too "perfect" (and too white) and too separated from the city for my tastes, even though it borders two southern city neighborhoods, and has direct access to Downtown via light rail.
-
Sewickley/Edgeworth/Osborne in the Ohio Valley (#100/#35/#84). Generally, just referred to as Sewickley. Wealthy, exclusive, Main Line Philly-ish, old money, mansions, but also smaller homes, somewhat racially diverse due to nearby blue-collar river towns, and having the same as above Mt. Lebanon amenities, but no light rail. Much too far for me (~12-15 miles from downtown) and no good transit options.
-
Aspinwall/Fox Chapel in the Allegheny Valley (#2/#44). Fox Chapel is 2nd wealthiest municipality in Pennsylvania. Very suburban with country clubs and estates, old money. Its "downtown" is Aspinwall... small upper middle class enclave on the river, big, tightly-packed Victorian homes, brick streets, a few good restaurants, shops, very compact and walkable, basically an extension of the city's East End neighborhoods/good access, more racially and economically diverse, decent bus transit service, top schools, etc, etc.
My favorite, however, is
Sharpsburg (#104), aka The Sharps, aka Ketchup City (where Heinz was founded). Funky, gritty, old blue-collar river town. Racially diverse. Intact Main Street now home to two newer breweries (incl. Dancing Gnome, one of the best in the US), a new distillery, new art gallery, new coffee shop, now part of an EcoDistrict... it's coming. Best location on the river in the core, rivefront park expansion and bike trails connecting to downtown u/c. Just across river from city neighborhoods Highland Park and Upper Lawrenceville... connected via Highland Park and 62nd Street Bridges. Close access to city's East End neighborhoods (Pittsburgh is East End-centric) and easy drive or bus to Downtown. Functions as a city neighborhood, but has its own small town vibe.
