because people claim cities for other reasons unrelated to geographic demarcations. Pittsburgh is the only big city in that area and is viewed as the place to be for Central Pennsylvanians and westward. There is a logical tendency for people to call any town/neighborhood within 30 miles, "Pittsburgh."

As someone who has moved around the country, I never really understood the compulsion of people to tell others where they are from. Even back home in NYC, I thought it was corny when people would complain about B&T or try to identify who was not from the city. Some of my friends didn't even consider non-Manhattanites as New Yorkers. Usually these were broke friends who wanted to rationalize their meager existence in Manhattan. Think they needed to be OK with having roomies over the age of 30.

As cliche as it is, being from a particular place is a state of mind. If you live in Hoboken, you work in the city, hang out there, and it is the center of your activities, then you have as much claim to the place as someone out in Queens Village that hangs around their 5 block radius.