Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Pitcairn gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $92K, 1.2 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 835th of 1032 graded towns in Pennsylvania. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 88% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $36K, and 15% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 95% of U.S. towns. 39% of households own their home in Pitcairn, below both Pennsylvania’s towns (78%) and U.S. towns (73%). Among 1,035 Pennsylvania towns, just 4 have a lower median household income than Pitcairn.
Where Pitcairn beats most towns.
Where Pitcairn’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Pitcairn is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,601 in 1900, a peak of 6,317 in 1930, 3,101 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pitcairn. Close and well known come first.
Big draw38 mi MuseumFallingwater
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
5 mi Theme parkKennywood
13 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
12 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
11 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints ArenaFallingwater: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Acrisure Stadium: Fo2grfr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kennywood: Ski2007 of English Wikipedia, Public domain · Fort Duquesne: Sébastien Paquin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · PNC Park: alpineinc, CC BY 2.0 · PPG Paints Arena: Jleedev, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pitcairn, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Pitcairn.
Pitcairn is healthier than towns with similar incomes and is safe by national standards but not by Pennsylvania’s; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Pennsylvania (mostly inland flooding).
At 1.2 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home (about $92K) costs less against local pay than in 98% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to its A for cost of living. Values fell 4.3% in the past year while the Pennsylvania typical home rose 2.2%.
The median rent in Pitcairn is $772 a month. The typical Pitcairn home is worth about $92,000, 68% below the Pennsylvania typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Propel CS-PitcairnLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 182 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Against the 1,507 U.S. towns with household incomes like Pitcairn’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its D isn’t only a matter of income.
18% of Pitcairn adults report frequent physical distress. Pitcairn beats the Pennsylvania average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 22% of Pitcairn adults smoke cigarettes.
| Pitcairn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 19% | 19% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Pitcairn | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 81.9% | 79.2% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 24.5% | 14.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 372 in 2013 to 741.
Most working residents leave Pitcairn for work: only 2% work in town. Jobs based in Pitcairn grew to 741 in 2023, 369 more than in 2013. Pitcairn’s average trip to work is 28 minutes.
| Pitcairn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.3% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 27.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 85% of Pennsylvania’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 71 to 28 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
Pitcairn has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 22° and about 25 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 89% of Pennsylvania towns, with expected losses of about $351 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1979, 62 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Pitcairn.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
14 within 15 miles of the center of Pitcairn
About 3 of every 100 Pitcairn residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
7 notable people were born in Pitcairn.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Pitcairn is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located 12 miles (19 km) east of Pittsburgh's central business district, named for Robert Pitcairn, an official of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Early in the 20th century, Pitcairn was the site of large railroad yards and shops that employed nearly ten thousand men. The population increased from 2,601 in 1900 to 6,310 in 1940, but has since declined. The population was 3,101 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Pitcairn grades C+ overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #835 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades D for health, C for safety and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A.
7 notable people were born here, including Ted Weems and Carl Thompson.
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