Pittsburgh’s post-steel economy is a success – and a warning for other cities

Pittsburgh’s struggle to move beyond steel demonstrates that industry dominance is temporary. Other regions can learn from Pittsburgh’s slow economic recovery.

By: Christopher Briem, University of Pittsburgh, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: March 25, 2026

Words: 1,252

Last Updated: 4 months, 1 week ago

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By Christopher Briem, University of Pittsburgh

Few regions pose as much of an economic conundrum as Pittsburgh.

Is the city and region – once the center of American steelmaking – a paragon of postindustrial transformation, or a left-behind region still struggling to move beyond its industrial past?

I’m an economist at the University of Pittsburgh and author of the new book “Beyond Steel: Pittsburgh and the Economics of Transformation.” In it, I …

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