Best PlacesReading, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Reading metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by BigCheddah, CC BY-SA 4.0, via commons
Reading ranks 128th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on big-city access and walkability. The weaker spots are the weather, property taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in the Reading metro
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Reading
The towns and districts of the Reading metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Wyomissing, Womelsdorf & Robesonia
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Mohnton, Shillington & Wernersville
Streets are more car-dependent and fewer households have young kids.
Douglassville & Birdsboro
Tree cover is thicker and more residents vote.
Temple
Crime runs lower, though biking is worse.
Hamburg, Bernville & Leesport
Prices have run up less, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Boyertown, Oley & Bechtelsville
It is quieter and health care is easier to reach.
Fleetwood, Kutztown & Blandon
Schools score higher.
Kenhorst & Mount Penn
More homes sit empty.
Downtown Reading
Homes cost less.
Reading shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Reading's strengths and weaknesses
Reading lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access, walkability, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, property taxes, and noise hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Reading ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 83% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 75% of metro areas
Where Reading ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Reading
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Reading home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,066, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Reading's effective rate of 1.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Reading
Reading's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Reading.
Who works in Reading, and how
Work in Reading centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Reading
Reading has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Reading and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Reading growing, and who is moving in?
Reading has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Philadelphia, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Reading go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Reading, month by month
Reading sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Reading
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Reading
Schools across Reading average a B, better than 74% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Green Valley El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Oley Valley El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Cornwall Terrace El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wilson West MsA · 60% proficient
- Oley Valley MsA− · 55% proficient
- Reiffton SchB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Oley Valley ShsA+ · 95% proficient
- Wyomissing Area JshsA+ · 90% proficient
- Schuylkill Valley HsA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Reading school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Reading measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Reading against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Reading suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Reading
Is Reading a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Reading ranks 128th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Reading expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,764. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $85,066 median income, cost of living beats 59% of metro areas.
Is Reading safe?
Yes, Reading is safer than 69% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Reading?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Reading?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wyomissing, Womelsdorf & Robesonia, Mohnton, Shillington & Wernersville, and Douglassville & Birdsboro. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Reading good for families?
Schools beat 74% of metro areas, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Is Reading good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 59% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 73% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Reading with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Reading. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Reading represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Reading detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Reading: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Reading: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Reading: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Reading: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Reading detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.