The Greater Reading Area (Reading

Reading, Pennsylvania

Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and its outlying suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

s) generally refers to the whole of Berks County

Berks County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 373,638 people, 141,570 households, and 98,532 families residing in the county. The population density was 435 people per square mile . There were 150,222 housing units at an average density of 175 per square mile...

 (with an estimated population of 391,640 in 2004) and southern Schuylkill County

Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

-Notable people:*Boxing heavyweight great Muhammad Ali had his training camp in Deer Lake.*Charles Justin Bailey, commanding general of the 81st Division in World War I, was born in Tamaqua on June 21, 1859....

.

While the land area of Reading itself is 10 square miles (25.9 km²), the land area of Berks County is 435 square miles (1,126.6 km²). Some of the more immediate suburbs of Reading are the boroughs of West Reading, Wyomissing, Shillington, Sinking Spring, Mt. Penn, St. Lawrence, Laureldale, Wernersville and Mohnton and the townships of Spring

Spring Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania

Spring Township is a township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 27,119 at the 2010 census, making it the most populous municipality in Berks County outside the city of Reading.-Geography:...

, Cumru, Muhlenberg, Bern, Exeter and Lower Alsace. Reading Regional Airport

Reading Regional Airport

Reading Regional Airport , also known as Carl A. Spaatz Field, is a public airport located three miles northwest of the central business district of Reading, a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States...

 (Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Field) is located in Bern Township and is home to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum

Mid-Atlantic Air Museum

The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum is membership supported museum and aircraft restoration facility located at the Carl A. Spaatz Field, the regional airport serving Reading, Pennsylvania. The museum, founded by Russ Strine, the current President, collects and actively restores historic war planes and...

.

Sitting just to the north of Reading is the former site of the Reading Works

Reading Works

The Reading Works in Berks County, Pennsylvania was a manufacturer of integrated circuit and optoelectronic equipment for communication and computing. The work force grew to nearly 5,000 by 1985 making the Reading, Pennsylvania, facility one of Berks County's largest industrial employers...

. This plant opened in 1962 by Western Electric

Western Electric

Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...

 and had a peak employment of 4,900 in 1984. After being taken over by Lucent Technologies

Lucent Technologies

Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...

 in 1996 and Agere Systems

Agere Systems

Agere Systems Inc. was an integrated circuit components company based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Spun out of Lucent Technologies in 2002, Agere was merged into LSI Corporation in 2007....

 in 2000, the Reading Works

Reading Works

The Reading Works in Berks County, Pennsylvania was a manufacturer of integrated circuit and optoelectronic equipment for communication and computing. The work force grew to nearly 5,000 by 1985 making the Reading, Pennsylvania, facility one of Berks County's largest industrial employers...

became the Greater Reading Expo Center in 2006.