Reading is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 81,201 people and 37 constituent neighborhoods, Reading is the fifth largest community in Pennsylvania. Reading has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

When you are in Reading, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 38.2% of Reading's employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 24.7% that do. Overall, Reading is a city of sales and office workers, production and manufacturing workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Reading who work in office and administrative support jobs (16.21%), sales jobs (9.54%), and food service (5.95%).

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Reading use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Reading's citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Reading Information and Demographics

In Reading, just 8.63% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 14.96%.

The per capita income in Reading in 2000 was $13,086, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $52,344 for a family of four.

Reading is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Reading home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Reading is White, followed by African-American. Reading also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 37.17% of the city's residents. Important ancestries of people in Reading include German, Italian, Polish, Irish, and Pennsylvania German.

The most common language spoken in Reading is English. Some people also speak Spanish.