Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Where Pittsburgh is

Pittsburgh is at 40.44°N, 80.00°W in Allegheny County, of which it is the county seat. The city covers about 55 square miles of land at the Forks of the Ohio: the Allegheny River from the northeast and the Monongahela from the south join at the Point, at about 730 feet above sea level, to form the Ohio River. The terrain is the dissected Allegheny Plateau — steep hills and hollows rising to about 1,370 feet, with neighbourhoods on separate hilltops linked by bridges and, historically, inclined railways. Harrisburg, the state capital, is 200 miles east; Philadelphia 305 miles east across the Appalachians, Cleveland 135 miles northwest and West Virginia 35 miles south.

Population and rank

The 2020 Census counted 302,971 residents, 47th among the 50 cities mapped here and well outside the national top 50, though it was the eighth-largest city in the US in 1910 and peaked at 677,000 in 1950. The 2020 figure was down 2 percent on 2010, the smallest decline in decades. The Pittsburgh metropolitan area covers seven counties and has about 2.4 million people, the second-largest in Pennsylvania and the 27th in the country. Because the city is small and hemmed in by hills and rivers, only about 13 percent of the metro population lives inside it; Allegheny County has about 1.25 million.

Geography

• Three rivers — the Allegheny drains the plateau to the north, the Monongahela the coal country to the south, and the Ohio flows 981 miles from the Point to the Mississippi. See the Ohio River map.
• Mount Washington — the 400-foot bluff facing downtown across the Monongahela, climbed by the Duquesne and Monongahela inclines.
• Allegheny Plateau — the western, unfolded part of the Appalachian Mountains; the Allegheny Front and Laurel Highlands are 50 miles east.
• Coal and steel — the Pittsburgh coal seam underlies the region and made the city the world's steel capital; the mill sites along the Monongahela are now mostly redeveloped.

Nearest large cities

Pittsburgh is within three hours of Cleveland, Columbus and Washington, and about five of Philadelphia. Distances are approximate road miles from the Point.

Is Pittsburgh the state capital?

No. Pennsylvania's capital is Harrisburg, 200 miles east on the Susquehanna, chosen in 1812 as a compromise between Philadelphia and the growing west of the state. Pittsburgh has never been the capital. It is the seat of Allegheny County and the second-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, which is more than five times its size within city limits.

Related maps

• Pennsylvania map — the state with its 67 counties.
• Harrisburg — the state capital, 200 miles east.
• US cities map.
• Ohio River and Appalachian Mountains maps.
• Nearby: Cleveland, Columbus, West Virginia, Ohio.
• Middle Atlantic division · Eastern Time Zone.