Pittsburgh’s rivalry with Philadelphia is older than most can remember, and this year, Pittsburgh has something else to brag about.
According to a new ranking, Pittsburghers are better at saving money.
GOBankingRates.com released a ranking of America’s 100 most populated cities and found that Pittsburgh is ranked 54th. While Pittsburgh might not have even been in the top half, it was at least ranked higher than 92, which is where Philadelphia landed.
The evaluation looked at unemployment rates, sales tax, median household income, median home price and average savings account interest rate. Each of these factors are weighted equally and are added together to create a score for each city.
Pittsburgh had a relatively low unemployment rate at 5.7 percent and a low sales tax at 7 percent, but the average savings account interest rate at .052 percent APY was greatly below the average for the nation of .11 percent APY.
“Right now we are plagued with low interest rates across the board ... So banks are somewhat stuck with offering lower rates, until that federal funds rate is raised by the FED,” said Casey Bonds, managing editor for Go Banking Rates.
Pittsburghers do not have to settle for low interest rates though. Bonds said there are banks that want more deposits; residents just have to seek them out.
“There are options on the local level in terms of banks and credit unions that do offer high yield accounts, so I would suggest that residents always be on the lookout for those local institutions with better options and they’re not necessarily stuck with that low average available in the city,” Bonds said.
Bonds number one tip for saving money is to pay yourself before you pay others. Put a few dollars aside every week before paying your bills and before you know it, you will have saved a lot of money.
