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Did you know that our region ranks 1st nationally in major league sports appreciation? Read about it.

We now publish 3 interactive charts with hourly readings from the 4 major rivers. Read about it.

Have you seen our Economy indicators on Hotel Occupancy? Read about it.

The local economy is less dependent on Tourism than other benchmark regions. Read about it.

Farewell to a friend: remembering John G. Craig Jr. Read about it.

The Regional Indicator welcomes Doug Heuck as our new Program Director. Read about it.

Check out real-time water quality readings thanks to our friends at 3Rain.org. Read about it.

For the first time in decades, domestic in-migration in the region exceeded out-migration! Read about it.

Despite recession, the regional labor force shows continued growth, contributing to a high unemployment rate. Read about it.

Want to become involved with PittsburghTODAY?? Read about it.

Pittsburgh ranks third in the number of LEED-certified buildings. Read about it.

A reasonably effective way to evaluate overall health status is to simply ask. Read about it.

A Little Good News, At Last. Read about it.

Did you know that 45,000 jobs in SW PA are dependent upon the waterway transportation system? Read about it.

Our neighbors in Ohio and West Virginia lead the region in classical music attendance. Read about it.

Pittsburgh trails Baltimore, St. Louis and Denver in number of cultural institutions. Read about it.

Educational and Health Services is Pittsburgh’s largest job sector. Read about it.

Pittsburgh’s unemployment rate lower than all benchmark regions for a fourth month in a row. Read about it.

Registered nurses pay is low in Pittsburgh by national standards. Read about it.

Pittsburgh last among benchmark regions in startup firms. Read about it.

No benchmark region has as high a high school graduation rate as Pittsburgh. Read about it.

A bad air day in Pittsburgh is still bad. Read about it.

Local spending on schools is low by benchmark standards. Read about it.

Rush hour traffic in Pittsburgh is less congested than in most cities? Read about it.

Have you found all 100 plus charts? Read about it.

We've recently added a sitemap to quickly find content. Read about it.

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Getting Started

On Thanksgiving eve 2003, John G. Craig Jr. and Paul O'Neill met with Chancellor Mark Nordenberg of the University of Pittsburgh and President Jared Cohon of Carnegie Mellon University to propose that their universities jointly support an 18-month study on the feasibility of establishing a regional indicator system for Greater Pittsburgh.

Craig had been involved for six years as editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the newspaper's "Pittsburgh Benchmarks" project, which had lapsed with his retirement. O'Neill, while secretary of the treasury, was involved in initial meetings under the auspices of the GAO and the National Academies to establish a national indicator program.  Visit the State of the USA. 

On October 17, 2004, PittsburghTODAY held a daylong meeting of representatives of the many organizations with which it had been working, as well as representatives of the university, foundation and nonprofit community, to report on its investigations.

It was proposed that the local effort start small with the organization of four initial topic area committees: Economics, Health, Environment and Demographics. The fundamental decisions about how to choose an indicator were also made at that time.

The response to these proposals was generally positive and in December, 2004, PittsburghTODAY agreed to proceed. In doing so, it established procedures to get the committees up and running, to raise additional funding and to expand into other topic areas.

A number of partner organizations came on board at that time and have been involved in the project going forward.