What does this measure?

The share of residents 65 or older in a geographic area who are living alone.

Why is this important?

Population measures provide insight on the changing size and face of communities, and the distribution of population among ages affects the character of and challenges faced by a community. Older people may need more supports, particularly those living alone.

How is our county performing?

In 2015-19, 37% of residents in Berks County ages 65 and older lived alone. That's about 18,000 people in Berks, and similar to the state and national rates.

Within the county, the largest percentage of residents ages 65 and older living alone was highest by far in the Central region, at 43%, up 3 percentage point since 2010-14. The South region had a 4 percentage point drop in the same time period. Other regions had a slight drop or stayed the same from 2010-14 and 2015-19. In the City of Reading, 45% were residents ages 65 and older living alone, up 2 points from 2010-14.

Compared to Berks County, most of the surrounding counties had about the same percentage of residents 65 and older living alone. All counties saw a decrease during the same time periods.

Notes about the data

For additional detail as to how the Berks County regions are defined and which boroughs and townships are included in each, see the About Us page.

There may be additional research available on this topic. Click on Reports and Resources to learn more.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.