Reading, Pennsylvania
City in Pennsylvania, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Reading (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing; Pennsylvania Dutch: Reddin) is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown.[7][8][9][10] Reading is located in the southeastern part of the state and is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area, which had 420,152 residents in 2020.
Reading, Pennsylvania | |
|---|---|
City | |
     Top to bottom, left to right: (1) Reading skyline (2) Lindbergh Viaduct (3) FirstEnergy Stadium (4) the Pagoda (5) Reading Public Museum | |
| Nickname(s): Pretzel Capital of the World, Pretzel City[1] | |
 Location of Reading in Berks County, Pennsylvania | |
  Reading Location of Reading in Pennsylvania  Reading Reading (the United States) | |
| Coordinates: 40°20′30″N 75°55′35″W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Pennsylvania |
| County | Berks |
| Founded | 1748 |
| Incorporated (borough) | September 15, 1783[2] |
| Incorporated (city) | March 16, 1847[2] |
| Named for | Reading, Berkshire |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Eddie Moran (D) |
| Area | |
| • City | 10.08 sq mi (26.11 km2) |
| • Land | 9.84 sq mi (25.49 km2) |
| • Water | 0.24 sq mi (0.62 km2) |
| Elevation | 305 ft (93 m) |
| Population | |
| • City | 95,112 |
| • Density | 9,662.91/sq mi (3,730.88/km2) |
| • Urban | 276,278 (US: 149th)[5] |
| • Urban density | 2,874.3/sq mi (1,109.8/km2) |
| • Metro | 428,849 (US: 126th) |
| Demonym(s) | Readingite, Redingensian |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 19601–19612, 19632, 19640 |
| Area code(s) | 610, 484 |
| FIPS code | 42-63624 |
| Website | www |
| Designated | 1948[6] |
Reading is part of the Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area, a region that also includes Philadelphia, Upper Darby, Camden, Atlantic City, Wilmington, and other Philadelphia-area cities and counties. With a 2020 core metropolitan statistical area population of 6.288 million and a combined statistical area population of 7.366 million, the Delaware Valley is the nation's seventh-largest metropolitan region.
Reading gives its name to the now-defunct Reading Company, widely known as the Reading Railroad and since acquired by Conrail, that played a vital role in transporting anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania's Coal Region to major East Coast metropolitan markets through the Port of Philadelphia for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Reading Railroad is one of the four railroad properties in the classic U.S. version of the Monopoly board game. Reading was one of the first localities where outlet shopping became a tourist industry. It has been known as "The Pretzel City" because numerous local pretzel bakeries are based in the city and its suburbs; currently, Bachman, Dieffenbach, Tom Sturgis, and Unique Pretzel bakeries call the Reading area home. In recent years, the Reading area has become a destination for cyclists with more than 125 miles of trails in five major preserves; the region is an International Mountain Bicycling Association ride center.[11]
According to 2010 U.S. census data, Reading had the highest share of citizens living in poverty in the nation among cities with populations exceeding 65,000.[12] Reading's poverty rate fell over the next decade.[13] Reading's poverty rate in the five-year American Community Survey, published in 2018, showed that 35.4% of the city's residents were below the poverty line, or less "than the infamous 41.3% from 2011, when Reading was declared the poorest small city in the nation."[14]
Reading is located 38.8 miles (62.4 km) southwest of Allentown and 62.9 miles (101.2 km) northwest of Philadelphia.