Compiling demographic data specifically for Northwest Reading was difficult. We were unable to find census data that targeted only Northwest, so the information below refers to Reading as a whole. In 2000, the population in Reading, Pennsylvania as a whole was 81,291. According to the Census Bureau, the majority of Reading was non-Hispanic white at 48.27% of the population. The Hispanic population was 37.3%, and the Black/African American population was 12.2%. About 2.23% of the population identified themselves as a different racial group (CensusViewer, n.d.).
In 2010, the population in Reading increased to 88,082. The Hispanic percentage of the population increased to 58.2%, thereby becoming the majority population of the city. The non-Hispanic white population decreased significantly to 28.7%, while the black/African American population stayed relatively the same at 13.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). According to District Six City Council member John Slifko, the populace in the Northwest section of Reading is estimated to be around 5,000 residents (J. Slifko, personal communication, March 18, 2017). However, census data doesn’t collect population numbers within specific city regions.
The American Community Survey, which calculates estimated populations over a period of five years, reported a population in Reading of 88,057 in 2015. In 2015, the Hispanic population continued to increase with a total 61.2% within the city, while the non-Hispanic white population decreased to 25.9%. According to the American Community Survey, the black/African American population has also decreased over the past five years to 9.3%. About 2.4% of the population identify themselves as a combination of different races (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).
In 2015, a little over a third of the population (34.4%) were 19 years old or younger, about 35.4% were between the ages of 20 and 44, 20.6% were between 45 and 64, and 9.6% were 65 years old or older (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015).