Reading, PA
Reading, PA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Reading, PA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Reading ranks 146th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 131st for income. A household earns $78,074 a year while median rent runs $1,195/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 3% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (45th of 300), while job market is the soft spot (276th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 131st and home prices 125th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Reading, your take-home is worth about $60,798 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 131st of 300↑15.3%$78,074
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 182nd of 30097 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $80,439
- Per-capita income
- $37,873
- Full-time pay
- $44,003
Housing
- Median rent
- 131st of 300↑27.7%$1,195/mo
- Home value
- 125th of 300↑49.4%$281,100
- Property tax
- $4,030/yr · 1.4%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 276th of 3006.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 216th of 30028.5%
- Avg commute
- 220th of 30026.4 min
People
- Population
- 439,117
- Population change
- +4.3%
- Median age
- 39.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 12.2%
- Broadband
- 93.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 106th of 30043
- Natural-hazard loss
- 49th of 300$9/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Hazard safety
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Commute
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — reading rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Reading
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $148,550
- Pharmacists
- $143,210
- Financial managers
- $133,900
- Lawyers
- $125,830
- Software developers
- $120,920
- General & operations managers
- $99,920
- Civil engineers
- $98,890
- Registered nurses
- $98,470
- Police officers
- $87,060
- Secondary school teachers
- $80,250
- Elementary school teachers
- $79,860
- Accountants & auditors
- $75,550
- Electricians
- $75,070
- Plumbers
- $62,370
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,480
- Carpenters
- $54,930
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $52,250
- Construction laborers
- $48,800
- Customer service reps
- $44,500
- Janitors
- $37,270
- Retail salespersons
- $33,010
- Waiters & waitresses
- $30,760
- Cashiers
- $29,260
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Reading metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Pennsylvania are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New York2,303
- New Jersey690
- Florida580
- California441
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Reading
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Reading metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Reading metro?
- Median gross rent across the Reading, PA Metro Area is $1,195 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Reading.
- What is the median household income in the Reading metro?
- A typical household in the Reading, PA Metro Area earns $78,074 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Reading expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Reading, PA Metro Area runs about 3% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Reading metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $80,439 (versus its face value of $78,074). CityLedger rates the Reading, PA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Reading metro?
- The median home value across the Reading, PA Metro Area is $281,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Reading metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Reading, PA Metro Area is 6.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).