Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,780.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Bern Township grades B+ overall, 401st of 1032 graded towns in Pennsylvania. The median household earns $118K. Its schools outperform 79% of the state's. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $340K, 4.3 years of the Reading metro’s $80K median household income. Bern Township’s trail density is 2.8 miles per square mile, against 0.4 in Pennsylvania’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 69 of Pennsylvania’s 1,751 towns do better. Bern Township has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Gruber Wagon Works and Rieser-Shoemaker Farm.
Where Bern Township beats most towns.
18.3% of the town is conserved land, across 4 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Bern Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Gruber Wagon Works is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 5,897 in 1980, 6,609 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper and 4 maps from 1956 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bern Township. Close and well known come first.
36 mi Theme parkHersheypark3.0M visitors a year
27 mi Theme parkDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom6 mi Stadium & arenaSovereign Center
10 mi Park & preserveRoadside America
28 mi Theme parkDutch Wonderland
18 mi MuseumEphrata CloisterHersheypark: Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom: Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Roadside America: Mark Fleisher, President and CEO of Aim Advertising in Lewisburg, PA,, Public domain · Dutch Wonderland: FlugKerl2, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ephrata Cloister: 1549bcp at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bern Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Bern Township.
Bern Township draws workers from Reading and beyond, owes part of its health edge to its incomes and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more.
56 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. Blue Marsh Lake Recreation Area, at 854 acres with 11.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Blue Marsh Lake Recreation Area | 11.3 mi | 854 |
| 2. Tulpehocken Creek Valley Parkway | 4.6 mi | 227 |
| 3. State Game Lands Number 280 | 1.9 mi | 336 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berks Career and Technology Center-West CampusLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 21 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
5,868 jobs are based in Bern Township, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
Most working residents leave Bern Township for work: only 8% work in town. 4.1% of residents live below the poverty line in Bern Township, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 7.6% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Since 2013, Bern Township has added 489 jobs, to 5,868 in 2023.
| Bern Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $118,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.1% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 83% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Bern Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Reported crimes fell from 67 to 38 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Pennsylvania has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns Bern Township sits closer to the middle. The property crime rate in Bern Township is 4.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Bern Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The median household earns $117,897, against $77,971 across Pennsylvania, one input to its A+ for jobs and income.
People 65 and older are 30% of residents (20% statewide); children under 18 are 13% of residents (21% statewide). Bern Township’s median age is 54.5 years. 30% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 35% across Pennsylvania.
| Bern Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 54.5 years | 43.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 13% | 20% | 22% |
48% women, 52% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.1 points. Across Pennsylvania, 50.7% of residents are women. Among residents 25 to 34, 71% are men (PA 51%).
| Bern Township | PA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.7% | 10.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.2% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.4% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.2% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.9% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.8% | 11.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 18.4% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 16.6% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 13.8% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.8% | 32.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 10.7% | 15.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.1% | 8.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.3% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.1% | 14.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Bern Township has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 22° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 6,035 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bern Township’s, it is less healthy than 69%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Bern Township beats the Pennsylvania average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 40% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Bern Township.
| Bern Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 24% | 23% |
| What stands out | Bern Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 11.2% | 14.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 9.3% | 5.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
5 within 15 miles of the center of Bern Township
About 3 of every 100 Bern Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
Where Bern Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Bern Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Township in Pennsylvania, US
Bern Township is a township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population is 6,609. The township is in Schuylkill Valley School District.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Bern Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bern Township | #401 | B+ | C− | B+ | A− | B+ |
| Lower Heidelberg Township | #274 | A− | D | A+ | B | A− |
| Muhlenberg Township | #844 | C | C | B− | C | B− |
| Ontelaunee Township | #531 | B | C | — | A− | B |
| Spring Township | #310 | A− | C− | B+ | B | A− |
| Greenfields | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Leesport | — | — | A− | — | A− | B− |
| Riverview Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Leesport has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Ontelaunee Township and Leesport report no FBI crime data of their own. Greenfields and Riverview Park aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bern Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Bern Township grades B+ overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #401 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades B+ for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes, by national standards. Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Bern Township sits nearer the middle.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
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