Pittsburgh's Northside At a Glance
Northside Demographics
Northside at a glance:
· About 48,000 residents total live in the 18 Northside neighborhoods.
· About 61% of Northside residents are white, 36% are black, 3% are multi-racial, and 1.2% are Hispanic. However, many communities are heavily segregated by race and often income: Troy Hill, Summer Hill, Spring Garden, Brighton Heights, and North Shore are primarily white while Northview Heights and Manchester are predominantly black.
· Northview Heights and Allegheny Center (which includes Allegheny Commons) suffer significantly higher rates of poverty and lower median household income than all other Northside communities.
· Over 27% of Northside residents are under the age of 20. California-Kirkbride, Allegheny Center (which includes Allegheny Commons) and Fineview have the highest percentage of young people.
Education:
· Most (76%) Northside resident have a high school degree, but only 15% have a bachelors degree or higher, which is 11% less than the Pittsburgh average.
· More specifically: 6% of adult Northsiders have less than a 9th grade education, 18% have less than a high school education, 37% have a high school degree or equivalency, 16% have some college, 7% have an associates degree, 10% have a bachelors, and 5% have an advanced degree such as a medical or doctorate degree. Importantly, the Northside neighborhoods with higher education levels. In Allegheny West, for example, where the median family income is nearly $80,000/year, over 55% of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Income:
· The average household income of each Northside neighborhood ranges between $7,440 and $39,018. (These figures exclude the “North Shore” neighborhood where residents earn over $70,000.
· Over 10,000 Northsiders, 23%, live below the Federal poverty limit. This means that over 10,000 people are living on an income 8,000 a year or less. 21,892 Northsiders, almost 46%, live below 200% of the federal poverty limit—around $ 28,000 for a family of 4.
Employment:
· The official unemployment rate for the Northside is 5.1%. At the same time, only 50% of Northsiders over the age of 16 are actually employed. California-Kirkbride and Northview Heights residents experience the highest rates of unemployment among Northside communities.
· Among youth aged 16 to 19, 78% are enrolled in school and 28% are employed. However, over 25% are looking for work and almost 14% are not in school or employed. California-Kirkbride, Fineview and Northview Heights youth experience higher rates of unemployment than other Northside communities.
Housing:
Of the total 23,000 housing units on the Northside, 85% are occupied and 15% are vacant. Summer Hill, Chateau, Brighton Heights and Spring Hill-City View have higher occupancy rates while Allegheny Center and North Shore have higher vacancy rates than average.
Of the nearly 20,000 Northside households, 54% own their homes while 46% rent. While Brighton Heights and Marshall-Shadeland have higher owner-occupancy rates, Northview Heights, Allegheny Center/Allegheny Commons, and Chateau have higher renter-occupancy rates.
Data Source: 2000 U.S. Census Bureau, Summary Files 1 and 3.