It is estimated that the retail sales volume of Pittsburgh’s
department stores has increased approximately 35%, since
1920—a sure indicator that Pittsburgh’s economic strength
is in the ascendency.
Pittsburgh’s retail stores sell each year an average of
approximately $481 worth of goods for each resident of Allegheny
 County, which county represents the steel city’s trading
 area. In Philadelphia County, the corresponding per
capita sales amount to $419 or $12 less than in Pittsburgh.
On the same basis, sales in the trading areas centering at other
industrial communities of the state are as follows: Reading
$376, Altoona $344, Erie $292, Wilkes-Barre $247 and Scranton
 $229. The Harrisburg area equals Pittsburgh in sales
with a per capita of $431, but this is the only community in
the state which even approaches Pittsburgh.

Consumer buying power measures the well being financially
 of the great mass of residents of any community.
Pittsburgh’s leadership indicates that the average family of
this city is able to afford more comforts and luxuries than its
counterpart in other large cities.