The collective gasp was audible from Atlanta to Yuba City, Calif., on Feb. 27, 1985.

		The Pittsburgh Migration Related coverage: Graphic: We're No. 1 (once) Houston offers lure of a regular paycheck Ex-Pittsburghers find North Carolina easy to get used to Previous stories Part One: Many of the thousands of Pittsburghers who left yearn to return Part Two: Family draws 'boomerangers' back, but not all natives return

That's the day Rand-McNally's "Places Rated Almanac" named Pittsburgh as America's Most Livable City.

Despite an economic collapse unprecedented in modern times for a metropolitan region, and working-age people fleeing in record numbers after local unemployment peaked at 17 percent, an objective measurement determined that Pittsburgh was a better all-around place to live than 328 other cities. It had moved up from ranking fourth to Atlanta in the almanac's previous, first edition in 1981, and it was the polar opposite of last-place Yuba City.

"The best kept secret is no longer a secret, hopefully," Mayor Richard Caliguiri said with Pittsburgh pride.

Um, not exactly.

"I'd rather be a toilet seat in Denver than the mayor of Pittsburgh," wrote one astonished columnist in Colorado.

The Boston Globe, instead of trumpeting the fact that Boston ranked a healthy second, editorialized that the listings should not be taken "too seriously" considering who came out No. 1.

Today, after 20 years of continuing to rank strongly in such publications, Pittsburgh is still fighting the battle to have its comfortable, solid lifestyle become what it is best known for, rather than its economic doldrums and smoky image. It continues to have more people exit than enter. It is one of the few urban areas where more people die than are born.

In short, it remains a place that many people still find more leavable than livable.

Why?

Many experts explain the paradox very simply: It's all about the jobs, stupid, and Pittsburgh hasn't added them as energetically as other places, even if its economy is light years better than it was in the 1980s.

"It's hard to enjoy the amenities of any region if you don't have any money," said Don Smith, vice president of economic development for the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

Pittsburgh often rates much more poorly in business-only rankings than for those appraising quality of life.

Inc. magazine this year placed Pittsburgh 50th out of 67 large cities for overall business conditions, and 226th out of 276 total cities for "fastest, most sustained growth," although it did rank it fifth for "most balanced economy and growth."

The region's job growth in the past year is about half the national rate, reflecting a general trend that even when the local economy improves, it trails that of other cities.

In any given year, about one-fifth of Americans who move relocate to a different state, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report, and demographers say only a small percentage of those people pick a location based on quality of life instead of economics. Most people either line up a specific job or seek an attractive area with a "thick job market," one that has many opportunities to fall back on if a first employer doesn't work out satisfactorily.

In recent years, former Carnegie Mellon University professor Richard Florida and other analysts also have discussed the value of trying to attract a "creative class" of mobile, young, college-educated knowledgeable workers, the kind of people who can market their skills anywhere, or work from home

But Pittsburgh has never been the kind of place considered appealing to such migrants because of its more traditional, family-centered characteristics.

And recently, Florida himself relocated from Pittsburgh to the Washington, D.C., area, which is much better known as a "creative class" region.

Reason for the rankings

Still, there is no denying Pittsburgh's strong showing in overall ratings guides.

After placing No. 4 and No. 1 in the first two editions of "Places Rated Almanac," Pittsburgh went on to finish third in 1989, fifth in 1993, 14th in 1997 and 12th in 2000.

While that gives the impression of a moderate decline, primary author David Savageau noted Pittsburgh is the only place to finish in the top 20 of every edition.

Some of the methodology and calculations have changed over the years, yet Pittsburgh has remained strong on such measurements as its low crime and housing costs, and its high arts, education and health care quality. Even if Pittsburgh never fared well in other categories, such as climate and the economy, the statistics showed that many other cities were as bad or worse in those categories, Savageau said.

Pittsburgh was succeeded as "Places Rated" champion in subsequent editions by some other choices that may have been unexpected, including Cincinnati in 1993 and Orange County, Calif., in 1997.

The 2004 book that probably comes closest to the all-around evaluations of "Places Rated Almanac" is the "Cities Ranked and Rated" book, which covers more than 400 metropolitan areas.

The first-time book, published in March, listed Charlottesville, Va., as No. 1 and Pittsburgh as No. 28. Smaller cities known as prosperous college towns or sunny retirement meccas dominated the top 10, including Santa Fe, N.M.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Asheville, N.C.

Pittsburgh scored well for places its size, outranked by only Atlanta, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C. It received praise as "a livable city with historic and revitalized neighborhoods and plenty to do," as well as being "an excellent place to raise a family."

The book's co-author, Bert Sperling, said smaller cities with college concentrations ranked well because they frequently have stable economies and good per capita ratings for education, culture, health care and sports.

But "for a city of its size, it's very good," Sperling said of Pittsburgh. "It's a very livable place still, but going through some challenging times. The question is how quickly it can rebound from it."

Marketing our strengths

Former Pittsburghers who responded to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette request for comments frequently cited the strengths of the region's neighborhoods, natural beauty, affordability and friendly, helpful people. If they haven't returned, or won't, many say it's because they can't find suitable satisfaction in their careers.

For the past two decades, that has been the rub for Pittsburgh -- .the disconnect between people's favorable perceptions of the city's quality of life and their poor impression of its economic prospects.

Because of that, a better approach for marketing the region, some say, would be to take advantage of the dissatisfaction in some high-growth areas with the stratospheric cost of housing and the absence of community warmth and stability.

Perhaps plenty of mobile people in their 30s would prefer a place like Pittsburgh as they start to raise a family. Perhaps there are companies whose location decisions revolve around a safe place for their workers to send children to high-quality schools, with plenty of cultural and sports offerings nearby.

Bruce Katz, director of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, said Pittsburgh has adjusted to industrial decline better than many parts of the Rust Belt in the way it has maintained its urban fabric, even while it has suffered from a lackluster economy and too much suburban sprawl.

"There's a strong commitment to place that remains, and incredible assets to build on," Katz said.

He suggested Pittsburgh should be touted as "the livable alternative" to places lacking its character or affordability.

Ted Levine, chairman of Development Counsellors International Ltd., a New York firm that specializes in marketing cities and regions, said Pittsburgh could benefit from championing its consistently high performances in "Places Rated Almanac" and "Cities Ranked and Rated."

Cities like Madison, Wis., and Raleigh, N.C., have taken advantage of such recognition on everything from government stationery to public billboards, while using it to entice new businesses.

"It's a shorthand, symbolic way of showing high credentials," Levine said. "I believe that cities can kind of catch fire. Like the rise and fall of the Roman empire, they go up and down. One of the reasons they go up is there's a sense of pride.

"If I were in Pittsburgh, I would take that 'Places Rated Almanac' and say 'We've got collectively, cumulatively, the highest rating of any place in the United States.' If it's true, it shows right there you're not some flash in the pan. ... Someone then might look at the city of Pittsburgh and see what opportunities there may be in a new direction."

After suffering through a near-bankruptcy of the city, the cutbacks of US Airways, mass transit financial woes, tensions between city and suburban politicians, lingering resentment among the populace over public financing of new stadiums and other bad news, few people would mind hearing a more positive message about Pittsburgh.

They could get it from Daniel Besseck, whose appreciation of his hometown has only increased the longer he's been away from it.

Besseck, 42, originally from Robinson, still hopes to return to the Pittsburgh area after living since 1987 in Sykesville, Md., and working as a police officer in Frederick County, between Baltimore and Washington. His wife, who is from Findlay, and their three children are contented there, but he yearns for home.

He remembers being proud and supportive of Pittsburgh's "Most Livable City" designation, even if the timing surprised him. He was forced to look elsewhere to find police work.

"I still think of Pittsburgh as a great city to live and work in, [whereas] people are passing through this area as they move up in their jobs," said Besseck, whose own relatives have moved away from Pittsburgh. He enjoys returning to visit his in-laws, and may want to be near them full time after reaching minimum retirement age in five years.

"Pittsburgh's still home to me, still somewhere where I feel comfortable. I know how to get around and do things," he said. "In some ways, it's like I never left. It's like I'm on a long vacation -- a very long vacation."