City safety & data profile
ReadingPA
Reading, PA is a 88K-resident city in Berks County with a median household income of $44,091.
Berks County, Pennsylvania. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Reading, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Reading has a population larger than 91% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $121,300, and 3 hospitals serving the surrounding area.
Data updated 2026-09-04
- 88K
- Population (place)
- Top 9%
- By size
- $44,091
- Median income (place)
- $121,300
- Median home (place)
- 28.7%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on Reading
Reading posts a median household income higher than 4% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 recent safety alert is on record and 3 hospitals serve the Reading area.
- Bottom 5%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- safety alert on record
- 3
- hospitals in & near Reading
Where Reading income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$44,091 Bottom 4% higher than 4% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year
Largest cities in PA
Population among 88 PA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.
- Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
1,573,916 residents
- Pittsburgh 304,391
Pittsburgh, PA
304,391 residents
- Allentown 120,207
Allentown, PA
120,207 residents
- Erie 99,475
Erie, PA
99,475 residents
- Reading 87,879
Reading, PA
87,879 residents
- Scranton 77,118
Scranton, PA
77,118 residents
- Bethlehem 74,892
Bethlehem, PA
74,892 residents
- Lancaster 59,339
Lancaster, PA
59,339 residents
- Levittown 52,983
Levittown, PA
52,983 residents
- Harrisburg 50,183
Harrisburg, PA
50,183 residents
What this shows Philadelphia is the largest PA city on this list; Franklin Park leads median income.
Highest median incomes in PA
Median household income among the same 88-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Franklin Park
Franklin Park, PA
$176,875 median
- Wayne
Wayne, PA
$150,539 median
- Montgomeryvi…
Montgomeryville, PA
$131,345 median
- Murrysville
Murrysville, PA
$121,823 median
- Fox Chase
Fox Chase, PA
$121,417 median
- Ardmore
Ardmore, PA
$119,111 median
- King of Prus…
King of Prussia, PA
$117,912 median
- Jefferson Hi…
Jefferson Hills, PA
$116,064 median
- Allison Park
Allison Park, PA
$113,822 median
- Mountain Top
Mountain Top, PA
$109,535 median
What this shows Franklin Park posts the highest place-level median income in PA; Philadelphia is largest by headcount.
The quick read
Reading Reading, PA beyond the headline numbers
Reading sits inside Berks County, Pennsylvania, at roughly 40.34°N, -75.93°W. Population 87,879, $44,091 median household income. Median home value $121,300, median rent $1,067. Poverty rate 28.7%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
3 hospitals in/around Reading, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.
28.7% of Reading, PA residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.
Housing is inexpensive against local pay -- the median home in Reading runs about 2.8 years of median household income, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities.
Only 6.4% of Reading workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 46.5% in Reading, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.
3.4% of Reading workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Reading's median age is 31.9 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Reading from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.
10-Year Trends 2013–2024
County-level trend (Berks County): Reading's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.
Economics
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 28.7% +131% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 13.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 11.4% |
| Work From Home | 6.4% |
| Public Transit | 3.4% |
Population
Health Profile 2 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Hospitals 3 total
What alerts and safety updates affect Reading? 1
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet PA-READING-PA · Reading
Reading: 3 tagged alerts; lead category Environment Agency flood warning.
- VOL-TRACE 3 on record
- MIX-LED 100% uk-floods
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
- PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Los Angeles
- RANK-MID #67 tagged volume
Tagged alert mix: Reading
Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag
- Flood Warnings
Flood Warnings
3
What this shows 3 tagged notices on record for Reading.
Nearest tagged-volume peer: Los Angeles, CA (3 tagged · Δ0)
Counts reflect published articles tagged to Reading; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse Pennsylvania state hubs · Methodology
Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4
Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (3 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.
Read with this city profile
Frequently Asked Questions 6
What is the population of Reading, PA? ▼
What is the median household income in Reading? ▼
What is the median home value in Reading? ▼
What are the top health concerns in Reading? ▼
How many hospitals are in Reading? ▼
What is the median age in Reading? ▼
Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for Reading, both outside Pennsylvania so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside PA (28.7% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside PA ($44,091 here).
Compare Reading with another city
Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.
Nearby Cities 8
Using Reading's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Reading area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare Reading against Pennsylvania peers on any ranking lens. Explore Pennsylvania
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Berks County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.