Reading Among Top Communities In National Best Small Cities Ranking

READING, MA — Reading is one of the “best small cities” in the United States, according to a new ranking from the personal finance website WalletHub.

WalletHub rated Reading 30th overall out of well over 1,000 communities across the country. Reading was among the top 2% of communities included in this year's ranking.

WalletHub separately noted Reading as having the second highest percentage of insured residents among ranked communities, behind only The Villages in Florida.

Rankings came out on Tuesday. An annual WalletHub product, these rankings accounted for factors ranging from housing costs to school-system quality to restaurants per capita, as noted on the WalletHub website.

Rankings spesifically evaluated communities based on criteria in four categories including affordability, economic health, education and health and safety. WalletHub rated Reading most highly in its education and health category, which looks at factors including the quality of public schools, access to healthy foods and rates of physical activity.

Reading has performed well in these rankings before. Just last year, the town was ranked fifth overall in the country before falling in this year's rankings.

Lancaster, Penn. ranked as the best overall small city in the United States in 2022. Within Massachusetts, other high-ranking communities included Lexington, Melrose, Needham, Milton, Arlington, Burlington, Newton, Randolph, Medford and Reading.

See full WalletHub rankings here.