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MSN Real Estate names Pittsburgh as one of the most livable bargain markets!

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3. Pittsburgh

Smaller. Smarter. Younger. Those are words you could use to describe Pittsburgh today. After 50 years of population loss, this former steel town is now growing again, as its economy has diversified into fields such as biotechnology, health care and software.

Several large research universities in the city are driving this growth — Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. High educational attainment along with a large number of bookstores, libraries and newspaper subscribers help rank Pittsburgh as one of the most literate cities in the U.S. in a study by Central Connecticut State University.

Endowments from Pittsburgh’s industrial barons support its libraries, theaters and major museums, including one for that local pioneer of pop culture, Andy Warhol.

The city is also sports rich, with professional teams including the MLB’s Pirates, NFL’s Steelers and NHL’s Penguins. And there’s no shortage of hiking and biking trails, says real-estate agent Liz Caplan of Re/Max Realty Brokers.

“Every neighborhood has wonderful resources for hiking and biking or (is) close to resources for hiking and biking, even the urban neighborhoods,” she says.

This architecture-rich city also is affordable. Housing in Pittsburgh didn’t experience a bust like many other areas. Home values appreciated at about the same rate as income. Indeed, the city’s peak for prices was posted in the third quarter of 2010.

Retirees love it because there’s no state tax on money withdrawn from pensions. And locals can get a 10-year break on its high property taxes if they move to new construction downtown.

“That’s a huge attraction,” Caplan says.

There’s also a high concentration of physicians, specialists and hospital beds. But the city is still working on cleaning its air. Trapped automobile exhaust in the steep Allegheny valleys has contributed to some of the highest levels of air-particle pollution in the country.