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

Slow and steady growth in higher education and health care led to economic advantages for Pittsburgh. YT412/iStock via Getty Images Plus

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?