Reading is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 94,858 people and 48 associated neighborhoods, Reading is the fourth largest community in Pennsylvania. Reading has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.When you are in Reading, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 41.24% of Reading’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, Reading is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and production and manufacturing workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Reading who work in office and administrative support (11.07%), food service (7.13%), and healthcare suport services (6.70%). A lot of people in Reading take taxis for their daily commute. For the size of the city, the number of people who use public transportation is quite high. For many people in Reading, this fills their need for low-cost transportation.The rate of college-level education in Reading is quite a bit lower than the national average among all cities of 21.84%: just 11.74% of people here over 25 have a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree. The per capita income in Reading in 2022 was $20,782, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $83,128 for a family of four. However, Reading contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Reading is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Reading home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Reading, accounting for 67.17% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Reading residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Reading include German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and English. In addition, Reading has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (19.38%). The most common language spoken in Reading is Spanish. Other important languages spoken here include English and French Creole.
