Is Reading a good place to live?

Reading has an overall liveability score of 63 out of 100 (good) on TrackPostcode.UK, based on 80% of categories currently loaded. It scores best on broadband and housing. The score combines cost, affordability, safety, weather and more from open government data.

Recorded crime for Reading is shown in the crime and safety section, from police.uk for England and Wales or Scottish Government statistics for Scotland.

Reading averages 1,526 sunshine hours and about 645 mm of rain a year, giving an outdoor score of 72 out of 100. Summer highs average 24.2°C and winter lows 3.6°C. Based on the Met Office Heathrow station, 36 km away.

Average private rent in the Reading area is about £1,573 a month (Jun-26, ONS), giving Reading a cost-of-living score of 37 out of 100. Use the affordability calculator to estimate what you could comfortably afford here.

The average property price in Reading is about £361,243 (2026-06, HM Land Registry). Prices changed +0.9% over the year. See the affordability section for how that compares to local earnings.

The average property in Reading costs about £361,243, which is 9.3 times earnings against assumed full-time earnings of £39,039 a year (ONS ASHE), giving an affordability score of 41 out of 100. Mainstream lenders usually cap borrowing at around four to four and a half times income, so a ratio above that generally means a larger deposit, a second income or a cheaper property than the local average. With a ten per cent deposit, repaying the rest costs about £2,095 a month at 6% over 25 years, £522 more than the £1,573 average local rent. The affordability calculator on this page estimates it from your own salary and savings.

About 99.7% of premises in Reading can get superfast broadband of 30 Mbit/s or more, and 95.9% can get a gigabit-capable connection, giving a broadband score of 97 out of 100 (Ofcom Connected Nations). These are council-area availability figures - the share of premises able to order each service, not the speed any single line achieves - so check the exact address with the Ofcom broadband checker before committing to it.

81.2% of 16 to 64 year olds in Reading are in work (NOMIS latest, retrieved Sep 2026, ONS Annual Population Survey via NOMIS), giving an employment score of 71 out of 100. UK local authorities typically range from about 62% to 82%. This is a whole-authority figure, so it describes the local labour market rather than any one town within it.

Reading records 51.1 on Attainment 8 average score (202425), giving an education score of 59 out of 100. Each nation publishes its own attainment measure and they are not interchangeable, so education scores compare within England, Scotland or Wales and not across them. Attainment is published for the whole council or county rather than for a school catchment, so check individual schools with the inspectorate before deciding.

For the 1 km grid square containing Reading, fine particulates (PM2.5) average 7.45 µg/m³ against a World Health Organization guideline of 5 and nitrogen dioxide averages 14.9 µg/m³ against a guideline of 10 (2024, Defra Pollution Climate Mapping, Crown copyright). That gives an environment score of 79 out of 100; an area meeting both guideline levels scores 100. These are modelled background concentrations for the square, not a reading taken at the roadside.

The nearest railway station is Reading Rail Station, about 0.5 km away, and there are 94 bus, tram or metro stops within an 800 metre walk, giving a transport score of 93 out of 100. Stops come from the DfT NaPTAN dataset and are counted for this exact point, so the figure measures access rather than how frequently anything runs.

Reading is in the Reading local authority, South East, England. It falls within the Abbey ward and the Reading Central parliamentary constituency. Cost of living, housing, affordability, employment, broadband and education figures in this report are published at local-authority level, so every postcode and town inside Reading shares them. Weather, crime, amenities, healthcare, transport and air quality are measured for this point instead.

Reading scores 65 out of 100 on our remote workers profile, which is weighted towards broadband, cost of living, environment and weather. That is close to its general score of 63, so the weighting neither flatters nor penalises this area. Every area we score is ranked on this basis at /best-places-for-remote-workers/.

Reading sits in the bottom 25% of the 539 UK areas we have scored. The median area in the index scores 67 out of 100. It is furthest above the benchmark for its nation on education, transport and employment. It is furthest below on cost of living, affordability and environment. Categories are compared against the area's own nation where the samples allow it, because crime and school attainment are measured differently either side of the border.

Of the areas we have scored within about 50 miles of Reading, the highest are Farnborough (64 out of 100, about 15 miles away), Bracknell (58 out of 100, about 10 miles away) and Camberley (58 out of 100, about 13 miles away). Reading itself scores 63. Distances are straight-line from this point, and each of those names links to its own full report.

Across the twelve category scores, the closest matches elsewhere in Britain are Sidcup (Bexley, London, England), Cheshunt (Broxbourne, East of England, England) and Bexleyheath (Bexley, London, England). Similarity is the average gap across every category both areas have data for, with immediate neighbours excluded, so these are places that score alike rather than places that look alike or sit nearby.

Weather, crime, local amenities, healthcare access, transport access and air quality are measured for this exact point. Cost of living, affordability, housing, employment and broadband come from official statistics for the Reading council area, so nearby postcodes and towns in the same council share those figures. Education comes from the local authority, or from the county where attainment is only published at county level. The "How detailed is this report" section explains each level.