Berks Vital Signs

How is our region doing?

Local governments in Berks County spent $1,088 per resident in 2016, up 17% from 2000, but down from $1,500 in 2008.

Local government spending across Pennsylvania was higher than Berks, at $1,521 per resident in 2016, an increase of 15% from 2000. Among neighboring counties, Lancaster ($1,159), Lehigh ($1,134) and Montgomery ($1,271) counties had more spending per capita than Berks 2016. Chester, Lebanon, and Schuylkill counties all had lower spending per resident than Berks. The City of Reading, at $1,862 per resident, had nearly double the local government spending than the county-wide figure in Berks County.

Spending of Local Governments

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Pennsylvania	$1,350	$1,330	$1,440	$1,439	$1,442	$1,461	$2,059	$1,484	$2,541	$1,592	$1,804	$1,664	$1,655	$1,624	$1,612	$1,550	$1,553
Berks County	$948	$943	$1,042	$1,073	$1,080	$1,144	$1,363	$1,266	$1,532	$1,319	$1,163	$1,148	$1,210	$1,102	$1,185	$1,266	$1,111
Berks County Regions
Central	$1,219	$1,287	$1,380	$1,441	$1,440	$1,610	$2,091	$1,517	$2,246	$1,881	$1,684	$1,827	$1,847	$1,674	$2,048	$2,220	$1,619
Northeast	$696	$717	$771	$898	$726	$802	$928	$889	$940	$854	$684	$718	$677	$725	$696	$699	$723
South	$1,063	$969	$1,312	$1,243	$1,142	$1,299	$1,276	$1,875	$1,510	$1,520	$1,385	$1,108	$1,378	$1,138	$1,055	$1,181	$1,265
Southeast	$860	$928	$752	$854	$1,309	$891	$929	$841	$1,078	$1,045	$789	$858	$686	$809	$796	$777	$767
West	$571	$497	$523	$503	$517	$617	$738	$642	$726	$693	$582	$560	$714	$633	$619	$601	$583
Reading city	$1,395	$1,489	$1,611	$1,611	$1,633	$1,887	$2,520	$1,766	$2,637	$2,147	$1,959	$2,185	$2,087	$1,963	$2,443	$2,653	$1,902
Berks County Peers
Chester County	$877	$820	$994	$952	$1,093	$1,107	$1,063	$1,179	$1,232	$1,120	$890	$846	$1,011	$920	$948	$972	$1,027
Lancaster County	$774	$639	$820	$841	$755	$799	$1,563	$948	$453	$1,163	$1,738	$1,226	$1,615	$704	$1,723	$918	$1,183
Lebanon County	$600	$432	$449	$527	$517	$544	$848	$619	$691	$712	$477	$581	$906	$947	$566	$662	$669
Lehigh County	$1,239	$1,175	$1,093	$1,124	$1,144	$1,090	$1,290	$1,225	$1,574	$1,302	$397	$1,031	$1,467	$803	$1,378	$1,237	$1,158
Montgomery County	$1,186	$1,068	$1,124	$1,097	$1,165	$1,199	$1,195	$1,267	$1,377	$1,298	$1,192	$1,232	$1,191	$1,174	$1,204	$1,321	$1,298
Schuylkill County	$668	$654	$612	$634	$645	$656	$770	$712	$683	$717	$865	$741	$683	$722	$677	$801	$738

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development
Notes: Figures are in constant 2016 dollars.

Total Spending of Local Governments

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Pennsylvania	$15,628,691,640	$15,864,950,737	$17,224,952,887	$17,575,776,302	$17,473,407,338	$17,649,684,706	$12,929,967,520	$18,138,609,078	$14,395,373,729	$19,975,922,183	$15,437,490,256	$15,282,683,824	$16,303,871,482	$16,915,220,986	$17,507,328,320	$19,439,139,077	$19,480,622,724
Berks County	$318,695,746	$345,075,881	$386,801,355	$398,044,075	$400,700,512	$424,503,782	$455,294,315	$460,204,160	$444,616,162	$479,473,611	$470,036,413	$460,312,477	$497,694,062	$450,074,164	$487,339,859	$518,618,296	$457,120,499
Berks County Regions
Central	$126,474,411	$139,932,764	$150,082,311	$156,727,578	$156,621,909	$175,068,250	$227,383,356	$165,024,985	$235,880,690	$204,627,460	$200,750,398	$217,784,045	$220,177,810	$194,305,849	$244,112,108	$264,680,182	$192,979,608
Northeast	$35,864,850	$42,674,376	$45,901,979	$53,415,381	$43,184,974	$47,717,716	$43,157,779	$52,931,956	$44,112,472	$50,817,287	$44,225,086	$46,455,555	$43,793,385	$46,908,766	$45,021,565	$45,190,228	$46,775,702
South	$86,344,835	$90,252,481	$122,257,275	$115,775,073	$106,364,554	$121,076,538	$105,934,708	$163,417,138	$102,895,493	$132,474,292	$147,629,461	$121,401,188	$151,038,575	$124,687,432	$115,678,872	$129,412,662	$138,655,231
Southeast	$36,536,326	$40,901,549	$35,743,582	$40,591,130	$62,203,299	$42,375,621	$39,464,256	$39,974,869	$32,907,351	$49,649,670	$42,602,084	$41,972,189	$37,033,703	$43,724,552	$42,973,770	$41,972,971	$41,438,139
West	$30,330,494	$27,993,247	$31,655,098	$30,412,638	$31,242,341	$37,306,953	$39,354,217	$38,855,213	$28,820,157	$41,904,902	$34,829,384	$32,699,501	$45,650,590	$40,447,565	$39,553,543	$37,362,252	$37,271,818
Reading city	$109,312,629	$120,906,391	$130,799,132	$130,825,301	$132,630,979	$153,208,589	$204,637,744	$143,404,424	$214,153,756	$174,358,334	$172,528,733	$192,484,432	$183,860,691	$172,861,328	$215,145,813	$233,664,504	$167,509,456
Berks County Peers
Chester County	$329,006,132	$327,340,682	$431,114,266	$412,787,289	$465,696,900	$479,773,361	$263,504,458	$511,202,744	$105,509,207	$479,786,540	$419,279,996	$231,410,422	$490,585,337	$458,404,830	$473,082,631	$483,843,742	$511,114,579
Lancaster County	$327,333,396	$260,688,317	$377,617,076	$395,609,025	$355,157,343	$376,155,414	$191,698,758	$446,142,512	$12,700,014	$547,610,650	$57,594,631	$59,955,192	$153,969,301	$59,980,519	$265,335,872	$476,736,904	$613,119,608
Lebanon County	$68,267,493	$41,424,468	$43,007,504	$63,357,614	$62,164,578	$65,413,149	$2,689,332	$74,418,538	$3,122,930	$85,671,202	$6,411,009	$6,778,334	$37,726,407	$33,988,423	$32,903,952	$88,390,064	$89,341,631
Lehigh County	$316,369,694	$344,203,038	$320,259,975	$329,371,948	$335,373,571	$319,419,808	$43,687,693	$359,040,377	$186,580,030	$388,491,578	$863,263	$23,669,246	$218,122,550	$70,402,123	$238,110,599	$384,738,147	$360,095,533
Montgomery County	$753,896,421	$803,464,739	$825,877,959	$807,384,499	$856,020,247	$888,853,815	$227,489,897	$953,197,654	$478,785,721	$976,625,231	$789,729,987	$983,355,848	$953,845,200	$920,165,171	$966,088,061	$1,059,696,905	$1,040,916,902
Schuylkill County	$93,215,135	$94,263,922	$89,859,985	$94,705,506	$96,363,756	$97,076,852	$49,714,264	$106,886,834	$56,949,906	$107,640,832	$107,255,525	$103,259,739	$99,416,638	$106,390,912	$99,013,185	$109,191,304	$98,494,899

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development
Notes: Figures are in constant 2016 dollars.

INDICATORS	TREND \| BERKS COUNTY
Early Prenatal Care	Increasing
Early Prenatal Care by Mother's Race/Ethnicity	Increasing
Children Living in Poverty	Increasing
Children Living in Poverty, by Race/Ethnicity	Maintaining
Single-Parent Families	Increasing
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Decreasing
Disengaged Youth	Maintaining
Live Births to Teen Mothers	Decreasing
Change in Population by Age and Gender	Maintaining
Change in Total Population by Race/Ethnicity	Increasing
Population by Age and Race/Ethnicity	Decreasing
Foreign-Born Population	Increasing
Language Diversity	Increasing
Unemployment Rate	Decreasing
Change in Labor Force	Increasing
Employment to Population ratio	Increasing
Change in Jobs by Sector	Not Applicable
Sector Share of Total Jobs	Not Applicable
Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
Change in Average Salary by Sector	Not Applicable
People Entering/Leaving County/Region for Work	Increasing
Public Assistance	Maintaining
Spending for Local Governments	Maintaining
Spending for Counties	Maintaining
Spending for School Districts	Maintaining
Quality Early Childhood Centers	Not Applicable
Prekindergarten Participation	Increasing
Students Eligible for Free/Reduced Price Lunch	Increasing
English Language Learners	Increasing
Students Receiving Special Education Services	Increasing
Per Student Spending	Maintaining
Historically Underperforming Student Performance on Grade 3 English	Decreasing
Historically Underperforming Student Performance on Grade 3 Math	Increasing
Historically Underperforming Student Performance on Grade 8 English	Increasing
Historically Underperforming Student Performance on Grade 8 Math	Decreasing
Student Performance on High School English	Decreasing
Student Performance on High School Math	Increasing
High School Cohort Graduation Rate	Increasing
Education Levels of Adults, by Race/Ethnicity	Maintaining
Brain Drain/Gain	Increasing
Plans of High School Graduates	Increasing
Median Household Income	Maintaining
Median Household Income by Household Type	Maintaining
Living Wage	Maintaining
People Living in Poverty	Increasing
Working Poor	Maintaining
People Receiving Federal Food Assistance	Increasing
People Enrolled in Medicaid Managed Care	Increasing
People Without Health Insurance	Decreasing
Physically Inactive Adults	Not Applicable
Adults Who are Overweight or Obese	Not Applicable
Students in 7-12 Overweight or Obese	Increasing
Vacant Housing Units	Increasing
Homeownership Rates	Decreasing
Housing Affordability for Homeowners	Maintaining
Housing Affordability for Homeowners by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Housing Affordability for Renters	Increasing
Housing Affordability for Renters, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Age of Housing Stock	Decreasing
Single-Family Home Sales	Increasing
Median Single-Family Home Sale Price	Maintaining
Tourism Spending	Maintaining
Voter Registration Rate	Decreasing
Voter Participation Rate	Increasing
Average Charitable Giving	Maintaining
Contributions as a Percentage of Income	Maintaining
Households With Internet Access	Increasing
Dams	Not Applicable
Violent Crimes	Maintaining
Property Crimes	Decreasing
Incarceration Rates	Maintaining
Drug Abuse Offenses	Increasing
Drug Abuse Arrests	Increasing
Protection from Domestic Abuse	Maintaining
Means of Transportation to Work	Maintaining
Average Travel Time to Work	Increasing
Crashes Involving Alcohol	Decreasing
Households Without Vehicles	Decreasing

INDICATORS

TREND | BERKS COUNTY