Our Market

Below provides a profile of the Pittsburgh market and interesting facts and information about issues important to both Pittsburgh, U.S. and expatriate executives working in Pittsburgh.

You'll also find helpful links to other areas of interest.

Pittsburgh boasts a metropolitan population of approximately 2.5 million and includes a skyline that features 151 high-rise buildings, 446 bridges, two inclined railways and a pre-revolutionary fortification.  The city is on the Allegheny Plateau, where the confluence of the Allegheny River from the northeast and Monongahela River from the southeast form the Ohio River. The Downtown area between the rivers is known as the Golden Triangle, and the site at the actual convergence, which is occupied by Point State Park, is referred to simply as "the Point." In addition to the downtown Golden Triangle, the city extends northeast to include the Oakland and Shadyside sections, which are home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Museum and Library, and many other educational, medical, and cultural institutions.

Downtown Pittsburgh is tight and compact, featuring many skyscrapers, 9 of which top 500 ft (152 m). The U.S. Steel Tower, now displaying the UPMC logo, is the tallest at 841 ft (256 m).  The Cultural District comprises a 14 block area of downtown along the Allegheny River. It is packed with theaters and arts venues, and is seeing a growing residential segment. Most significantly, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is embarking on Riverparc, a 4-block mixed-use "green" community, featuring 700 residential units and multiple towers between 20–30 stories. The Firstside portion of downtown borders the Monongahela River and the historic Mon Wharf. This area is home to the distinctive PPG Place Gothic glass skyscraper complex. This area too, is seeing a growing residential sector, as new condo towers are constructed and historic office towers are converted to residential use. Downtown is serviced by the Port Authority’s light rail and multiple bridges leading north and south.  It is also home to Point Park University, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Culinary Institute, a Robert Morris University branch campus and Duquesne University, which is located on the border of Downtown and Uptown.

Major Employers
See also: List of major corporations in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh has grown its industry base in recent years to include technology, retail, finance and medicine. The largest employers in the city are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) (26,000 employees) and the University of Pittsburgh (10,700 employees).  As of April 2009, Pittsburgh was faring well as a Fortune 500 city with 8 companies in the Fortune 500: 

Pittsburgh is also home to Bayer USA and the operations center of Alcoa. Other major employers include Bank of New York Mellon, GlaxoSmithKline and Lanxess. Pittsburgh is the Northeast U.S. regional headquarters for Nova Chemicals, FedEx Ground, Ariba, and Rand. Guru.com, Giant Eagle, Highmark and GENCO are major non-public companies with headquarters in the region. Other major companies headquartered or with a significant presence in Pittsburgh include General Nutrition Center (GNC), CNX Gas (CXG), a subsidiary of Consol Energy, Thermo Fisher and Wabtec.

Culture
In the 19th and 20th centuries, wealthy businessmen and nonprofit organizations donated millions of dollars to create educational and cultural institutions. As a result, Pittsburgh is rich in art and culture.

Among the professional music venues, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs in Heinz Hall, and the Pittsburgh Opera performs in the Benedum Center. Both The Benedum Center and Heinz Hall provide venues for other groups, such as the River City Brass Band and the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. Pittsburgh has a long tradition of jazz, blues and bluegrass music. Pittsburgh also has a large indie and punk rock scene. Additionally the National Negro Opera Company was founded in Pittsburgh, and was the first all African-American opera company in the United States. This led to the prominence of African-American singers like Leontyne Price  in the world of opera.

Pittsburgh Dance Council and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater host a variety of dance events. Polka, folk, square and round dancing have a long history in the city and are celebrated by the internationally famous Duquesne University Tamburitzans, a multicultural academy dedicated to the preservation and presentation of folk songs and dance.

Pittsburgh museums include the Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Frick Art & Historical Center and the Mattress Factory. Installation art is featured outdoors at ArtGardens of Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has extensive dinosaur collections and an Ancient Egypt wing. The Carnegie Science Center is technology oriented. The Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum are located in the Strip District. The unusual and eclectic Bayernhof Music Museum is six miles (9 km) from downtown. There is a quarterly Gallery Crawl in the downtown area's cultural district that is free and open to the public to enjoy the local art scene as well as the Three Rivers Arts Festival, which takes place in the same downtown area annually during the summer.

In theater, the Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University has four resident companies of professional actors. Other companies include Attack Theatre, Bricolage Theater, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Quantum Theater. The city's longest-running theatre show, Friday Nite Improvs, is an improv jam that has been performed in the Cathedral of Learning and other locations for 17 years.

Sports
Pittsburgh's dedication to sports has a long history. Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams—the Steelers of the NFL, the Penguins of the NHL, and the Pirates of MLB—all share the same team colors, black and gold. The black-and-gold color scheme has since become closely associated with the city: its official flag is a tricolor of black and gold, and its police department and fire department also make use of this color combination. 

Pittsburgh is home to the Pittsburgh Marathon and hosts the Great Race 5 & 10K run and walk.  Additionally, Pittsburgh has multiple mountain biking areas close to the city in area parks and in the surrounding suburbs. Frick Park has biking trails and Hartwood Acres Park has many miles of single track trails. A recent project, "Rails to Trails", has converted miles of former railroads to recreational trails.  The Pittsburgh Rugby Club and the Harlequins bring men’s, women’s and youth rugby to the area.