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About Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh ( PITS-burg) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the second-most populous city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia and the 68th-most populous city in the U.S., with a population of 302,971 as of the 2020 census. The city anchors the Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. Its population of 2.457 million is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, the 7th-largest in the Mid-Atlantic region and the 26th-largest in the U.S. Pittsburgh is the principal city of the greater Pittsburgh–Weirton–Steubenville combined statistical area which includes parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Pittsburgh is located in southwest Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River, which combine to form the Ohio River. It developed as a vital link of the Atlantic coast and Midwest, as the mineral-rich Allegheny Mountains led to the region being contested by the French and British Empires, Virginians, Whiskey Rebels, and Civil War raiders. Pittsburgh is known both as "the Steel City" for its dominant role in the history of the U.S. steel industry, and as the "City of Bridges" for its 446 bridges. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York City and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment; it had the most U.S. stockholders per capita. Starting in the post-war era, Pittsburgh leaders began to strategically divest in manufacturing and invest instead in education, science, technology, health care, and art. This led to deindustrialization in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in massive layoffs among blue-collar workers as steel and other heavy industries declined, and thousands of downtown white-collar workers also losing jobs when several Pittsburgh-based companies moved out.After 1990, Pittsburgh has focused its energies on the healthcare, education, and technology industries.