West Reading, PA population, income and ZIP codes

West Reading borough is a small town in Pennsylvania, with 4,537 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #305 of 2,002 ranked by population — larger than 84% of them. The median age here is 34.9 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in West Reading borough earn a median of $61,974 a year, 21.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 13% below the $71,118 median for the 982 Pennsylvania cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 17.9% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in West Reading borough is valued at $159,700, 47.4% below the national figure and 17% below the $193,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,159 a month, 17.6% below the national figure, or roughly $13,908 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 22.4% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.6×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 54.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.