Monessen is a city in southwestern Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Monongahela River. The population was 6,876 at the 2020 census. Steel-making was a prominent industry in Monessen, and it became a third-class city in 1921. With restructuring of the steel industry in the later 20th century and loss of jobs, it is considered a Rust Belt borough in the "Mon Valley" of southwestern Pennsylvania. Monessen is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, as well as the Laurel Highlands. It sits across the Monongahela from the city of North Charleroi.