Berks Vital Signs

How is our region doing?

Local governments in Berks County spent $1,132 per resident in 2018, up 14% from 2000, but down from $1,597 in 2008.

Local government spending across Pennsylvania was higher than Berks, at $1,652 per resident in 2018, an increase of 17% from 2000. Among neighboring counties, Lehigh ($1,300), Montgomery ($1,426) and Lancaster ($1,307) counties had more spending per capita than Berks in 2018. Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Schuylkill counties all had lower spending per resident than Berks. The City of Reading, at $1,898 per resident, had significantly higher 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	2017	2018
Pennsylvania	$1,408	$1,387	$1,502	$1,500	$1,504	$1,524	$2,148	$1,547	$2,651	$1,660	$1,882	$1,736	$1,726	$1,694	$1,682	$1,616	$1,620	$1,612	$1,652
Berks County	$989	$983	$1,087	$1,119	$1,126	$1,193	$1,421	$1,321	$1,597	$1,376	$1,213	$1,198	$1,262	$1,150	$1,235	$1,320	$1,159	$1,159	$1,132
Berks County Regions
Central	$1,272	$1,342	$1,439	$1,503	$1,502	$1,679	$2,180	$1,582	$2,343	$1,962	$1,757	$1,906	$1,926	$1,746	$2,136	$2,316	$1,689	$1,700	$1,625
Northeast	$726	$748	$804	$936	$757	$836	$967	$928	$980	$891	$713	$749	$706	$756	$726	$729	$754	$733	$731
South	$1,109	$1,010	$1,368	$1,296	$1,191	$1,355	$1,331	$1,956	$1,575	$1,585	$1,445	$1,155	$1,437	$1,187	$1,101	$1,232	$1,320	$1,202	$1,230
Southeast	$897	$968	$784	$891	$1,365	$930	$969	$877	$1,124	$1,089	$823	$894	$715	$844	$830	$810	$800	$932	$806
West	$596	$518	$546	$524	$539	$643	$770	$670	$757	$723	$607	$584	$745	$660	$645	$627	$608	$696	$727
Reading city	$1,455	$1,553	$1,680	$1,680	$1,703	$1,968	$2,628	$1,842	$2,750	$2,239	$2,043	$2,279	$2,177	$2,047	$2,548	$2,767	$1,983	$1,879	$1,898
Berks County Peers
Chester County	$914	$855	$1,037	$993	$1,140	$1,154	$1,109	$1,230	$1,285	$1,168	$928	$883	$1,055	$960	$989	$1,014	$1,071	$1,056	$1,035
Lancaster County	$807	$666	$856	$877	$787	$834	$1,630	$989	$472	$1,214	$1,812	$1,279	$1,684	$735	$1,797	$957	$1,234	$990	$1,307
Lebanon County	$626	$451	$468	$549	$539	$567	$885	$645	$721	$743	$498	$606	$945	$988	$590	$690	$698	$643	$698
Lehigh County	$1,292	$1,225	$1,140	$1,172	$1,194	$1,137	$1,346	$1,278	$1,641	$1,358	$414	$1,075	$1,530	$838	$1,437	$1,290	$1,208	$1,293	$1,300
Montgomery County	$1,237	$1,114	$1,173	$1,144	$1,215	$1,251	$1,246	$1,321	$1,436	$1,354	$1,244	$1,285	$1,242	$1,224	$1,256	$1,378	$1,354	$1,328	$1,426
Schuylkill County	$697	$683	$638	$661	$673	$685	$803	$742	$713	$748	$902	$773	$713	$753	$706	$836	$770	$740	$706

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development
Notes: Figures are in constant 2019 dollars.

Total Spending of Local Governments

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Pennsylvania	$16,300,523,901	$16,544,466,629	$17,962,208,915	$18,327,255,127	$18,221,387,549	$18,405,277,550	$13,485,789,434	$18,918,335,432	$15,014,189,219	$20,834,629,314	$16,101,103,323	$15,939,642,210	$17,004,727,772	$17,642,357,423	$18,259,917,740	$20,274,771,455	$20,318,038,364	$20,178,987,429	$20,470,831,743
Berks County	$332,395,554	$359,909,695	$403,428,826	$415,154,839	$417,925,469	$442,751,973	$474,866,101	$479,987,007	$463,728,925	$500,084,795	$490,241,919	$480,099,979	$519,088,491	$469,421,551	$508,289,190	$540,912,197	$476,770,787	$476,646,671	$465,764,793
Berks County Regions
Central	$131,911,180	$145,948,069	$156,533,915	$163,464,843	$163,354,632	$182,593,927	$237,157,909	$172,118,932	$246,020,518	$213,423,802	$209,380,077	$227,145,951	$229,642,617	$202,658,495	$254,605,782	$276,058,018	$201,275,243	$202,682,609	$193,668,373
Northeast	$37,406,576	$44,508,824	$47,875,173	$55,711,554	$45,041,371	$49,768,963	$45,013,007	$55,207,348	$46,008,739	$53,001,775	$46,126,195	$48,452,545	$45,675,936	$48,925,238	$46,956,912	$47,132,825	$48,786,455	$47,394,195	$47,292,182
South	$90,056,550	$94,132,174	$127,512,761	$120,751,909	$110,936,859	$126,281,269	$110,488,535	$170,441,968	$107,318,673	$138,168,979	$153,975,625	$126,619,874	$157,531,287	$130,047,385	$120,651,572	$134,975,739	$144,615,619	$131,744,802	$134,787,227
Southeast	$38,106,917	$42,659,789	$37,280,096	$42,336,025	$64,877,239	$44,197,227	$41,160,710	$41,693,273	$34,321,943	$51,783,966	$44,433,425	$43,776,452	$38,625,675	$45,604,144	$44,821,088	$43,777,268	$43,219,445	$50,325,885	$43,528,937
West	$31,634,314	$29,196,595	$33,015,859	$31,719,989	$32,585,359	$38,910,671	$41,045,941	$40,525,486	$30,059,052	$43,706,273	$36,326,599	$34,105,158	$47,612,977	$42,186,289	$41,253,835	$38,968,348	$38,874,026	$44,499,180	$46,488,073
Reading city	$114,011,663	$126,103,807	$136,421,808	$136,449,103	$138,332,401	$159,794,583	$213,434,529	$149,568,965	$223,359,607	$181,853,494	$179,945,244	$200,758,781	$191,764,330	$180,292,136	$224,394,310	$243,709,066	$174,710,204	$165,539,087	$167,170,983
Berks County Peers
Chester County	$343,149,154	$341,412,111	$449,646,621	$430,531,821	$485,715,863	$500,397,430	$274,831,753	$533,177,872	$110,044,742	$500,411,176	$437,303,630	$241,358,087	$511,674,182	$478,110,328	$493,419,086	$504,642,785	$533,085,917	$526,892,332	$497,475,038
Lancaster County	$341,404,512	$271,894,554	$393,849,742	$412,615,113	$370,424,531	$392,325,247	$199,939,333	$465,320,889	$13,245,951	$571,150,849	$60,070,458	$62,532,492	$160,587,996	$62,558,908	$276,741,894	$497,230,445	$639,475,847	$513,020,697	$677,223,332
Lebanon County	$71,202,115	$43,205,186	$44,856,273	$66,081,175	$64,836,854	$68,225,071	$2,804,939	$77,617,576	$3,257,176	$89,353,960	$6,686,600	$7,069,715	$39,348,156	$35,449,487	$34,318,398	$92,189,697	$93,182,170	$85,829,001	$93,190,071
Lehigh County	$329,969,512	$358,999,331	$334,027,025	$343,530,696	$349,790,311	$333,150,742	$45,565,700	$374,474,484	$194,600,566	$405,191,707	$900,372	$24,686,719	$227,499,007	$73,428,507	$248,346,285	$401,276,927	$375,574,999	$402,088,384	$404,152,895
Montgomery County	$786,304,249	$838,003,365	$861,380,064	$842,091,624	$892,818,082	$927,063,070	$237,269,030	$994,172,865	$499,367,335	$1,018,607,526	$823,678,196	$1,025,627,472	$994,848,247	$959,720,411	$1,007,617,393	$1,105,250,211	$1,085,662,909	$1,065,085,816	$1,144,128,279
Schuylkill County	$97,222,184	$98,316,055	$93,722,806	$98,776,622	$100,506,155	$101,249,905	$51,851,337	$111,481,590	$59,398,017	$112,268,000	$111,866,130	$107,698,577	$103,690,272	$110,964,350	$103,269,475	$113,885,123	$102,728,910	$100,495,620	$87,768,577

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development
Notes: Figures are in constant 2019 dollars.

INDICATORS	TREND \| BERKS COUNTY
Early Prenatal Care	Increasing
Early Prenatal Care by Mother's Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Children Living in Poverty	Increasing
Children Living in Poverty, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Single-Parent Families	Increasing
Single-Parent Families by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Disengaged Youth	Decreasing
Live Births to Teen Mothers	Decreasing
Population by Age	Not Applicable
Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels	Maintaining
Change in Population by Age and Gender	Not Applicable
Change in Total Population by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Households by type	Not Applicable
Foreign-Born Population	Increasing
Seniors Living Alone	Decreasing
Language Diversity	Increasing
Unemployment Rate	Decreasing
Change in Labor Force	Decreasing
Employment to Population ratio	Decreasing
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	Not Applicable
Public Assistance	Maintaining
Spending for Local Governments	Maintaining
Spending for Counties	Maintaining
Spending for School Districts	Maintaining
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
High School Cohort Graduation Rate	Increasing
Education Levels of Adults	Not Applicable
Education Levels of Adults, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Brain Drain/Gain	Maintaining
Plans of High School Graduates	Not Applicable
Enrollment in Local Colleges	Decreasing
Median Household Income	Maintaining
Median Household Income by Household Type	Not Applicable
Living Wage	Not Applicable
People Living in Poverty	Increasing
Working Poor	Maintaining
People Receiving Federal Food Assistance	Increasing
People Receiving Supplemental Security Income	Increasing
Health Status	Not Applicable
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	Not Applicable
Cancer Incidence	Decreasing
Students in K-6 Overweight or Obese	Not Applicable
Prevalence of Mental Illness	Maintaining
Vacant Housing Units	Increasing
Homeownership Rates	Decreasing
Cost of Homeownership	Maintaining
Cost of Homeownership, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Cost of Rent	Increasing
Cost of Rent, by Race/Ethnicity	Not Applicable
Single-Family Home Sales	Increasing
Median Single-Family Home Sale Price	Maintaining
Tourism Spending	Maintaining
Voter Registration Rate	Decreasing
Voter Participation Rate	Decreasing
Average Charitable Giving	Maintaining
Contributions as a Percentage of Income	Maintaining
Households With Internet Access	Not Applicable
Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Establishments	Maintaining
Toxic Chemical Releases	Decreasing
Violent Crimes	Maintaining
Property Crimes	Decreasing
Incarceration Rates	Maintaining
Drug Abuse Offenses	Increasing
Drug Abuse Arrests	Increasing
Protection from Domestic Abuse	Maintaining
Average Travel Time to Work	Increasing
Crashes Involving Alcohol	Decreasing
Households Without Vehicles	Decreasing

INDICATORS

TREND | BERKS COUNTY