Reading Pennsylvania Now Has Largest Percentage of Residents Living in Poverty

Of U.S. cities with a population of 65,000 or more.

What would Harry say?

Brewer, Pennsylvania, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom's hometown, is a fictional stand-in for Reading.

Reading, Pa., Knew It Was Poor. Now It Knows Just How Poor. (The New York Times, 9/27/2011)

Excerpt: These are common stories in Reading, a struggling city of 88,000 that has earned the unwelcome distinction of having the largest share of its residents living in poverty, barely edging out Flint, Mich., according to new Census Bureau data. The count includes only cities with populations of 65,000 or more, and has a margin of error that makes it difficult to declare a winner — or, perhaps more to the point, a loser.

Reading began the last decade at No. 32. But it broke into the top 10 in 2007, joining other places known for their high rates of poverty like Flint, Camden, N.J., and Brownsville, Tex., according to an analysis of the data for The New York Times by Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College.

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Reading population, 1900-2010

           1900    1910    1920    1930    1940    1950    1960    1970    1980    1990    2000    2010