Reading is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 25,428 people and four associated neighborhoods, Reading is the 77th largest community in Massachusetts. Housing costs in Reading are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.Reading is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 92.59% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Reading is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Reading who work in management occupations (16.41%), business and financial occupations (13.12%), and teaching (9.25%). Also of interest is that Reading has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Reading telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 27.70% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. In addition, Reading is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates", which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre. Because of many things, Reading is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Reading really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Reading perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live. One downside of living in Reading is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Reading, the average commute to work is 31.18 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative. 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 train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Reading, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Reading is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 65.08% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%. The per capita income in Reading in 2022 was $71,474, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $285,896 for a family of four. Reading is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Reading home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Reading residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Reading include Irish, Italian, English, German, and French Canadian. The most common language spoken in Reading is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Langs. of India.
