THE PITTSBURGH LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Pittsburgh Low Plateau setting.
Pittsburgh city has 55.4 square miles of land in Allegheny County. Its Census reference point is in Pittsburgh Low Plateau, within Western Allegheny Plateau.
Rounded wooded hills and intervening valleys form an unglaciated plateau landscape. Valley floors contain much of the region's open land, contrasting with its more forested slopes.
Regional context: Western Allegheny Plateau ↗ · Classification at the Census reference point
Pittsburgh and Allegheny County
Pittsburgh is associated with Allegheny County in the Census boundary data. Start with the parcel’s tax bill to match the property to that jurisdiction, then confirm which government handles its land use.
Pittsburgh by land and water
The Census records 2.98 square miles of water within Pittsburgh, or 5.1% of its total area. It is 3.2 percentage points higher than the 1.9% recorded for Allegheny County. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Pittsburgh city has 163.3 times the land area of nearby Mount Oliver borough (0.34 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.

