A Ranking of the Toughest Places to Live in the U.S.

Suburban sprawl meets post-industrial fatigue in Penn Hills, once a middle-class haven outside Pittsburgh. Aging infrastructure—especially water and sewer lines—has become a burden for its roughly 40,000 residents.

Home values have stagnated, schools are under pressure, and crime, while not rampant, has ticked up. It’s a place teetering between nostalgia and neglect. The town’s charm hasn’t disappeared entirely: tree-lined streets and modest homes remain, but deferred maintenance and population loss now define much of the landscape.