Berks County (Pennsylvania German: Barricks Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading, the fourth-most populous city in the state. The county is part of the South Central region of the commonwealth.
The county borders Lehigh County to its north, Schuylkill County to its north, Lebanon and Lancaster counties to its west, Chester County to its south, and Montgomery County to its east. The county is approximately southwest of Allentown, the state's third-largest city, and northwest of Philadelphia, the state's largest city.
The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, flows through Berks County. The county is part of the Reading, PA metropolitan statistical area (MSA), which in turn is part of the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area known as the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD combined statistical area (CSA).
History
Reading developed during the 1740s when inhabitants of northern Lancaster County sent several petitions requesting that a separate county be established. With the help of German immigrant Conrad Weiser, the county was formed on March 11, 1752, from parts of Chester County, Lancaster County, and Philadelphia County.
It was named after Berkshire the English county in which William Penn's family home lay, of which the original town of Reading is the county town and which is traditionally abbreviated "Berks". Berks County began much larger than it is today. The northwestern parts of the county went to the founding of Northumberland County in 1772 and Schuylkill County in 1811, when it reached its current size.
In 2005, Berks County was added to the Delaware Valley Planning Area due to a fast-growing population and close proximity to the other communities.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.1%) of which is water.
Most of the county is drained by the Schuylkill River, but an area in the northeast is drained by the Lehigh River via the Little Lehigh Creek and areas are drained by the Susquehanna River via the Swatara Creek in the northwest and the Conestoga River, which starts in Berks County between Morgantown and Elverson in the county's extreme south. It has a humid continental climate (Dfa except for some Dfb on Blue Mountain at the northern boundary.) The hardiness zone is mostly 7a with 6b in some higher northern and eastern areas. [https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/]
Adjacent counties
- Schuylkill County (north)
- Lehigh County (northeast)
- Montgomery County (east)
- Chester County (southeast)
- Lancaster County (southwest)
- Lebanon County (west)
National protected area
- Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson
State protected area
- French Creek State Park
- Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center
Major roads and highways
thumb|[[Interstate 78 in Pennsylvania|I-78/US Route 22 eastbound in Berks County]]