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Reading is a vibrant business location and smart-living choice just 40 miles west of London.

A defacto city and heartbeat of the prosperous Thames Valley region, Reading is one of the UK and Europe’s strongest performing economies. Its proximity to the UK’s global hub airport, Heathrow, and excellent connectivity to London and all points north, south, east and west, as well as the new Elizabeth Line, has attracted many UK and global companies to base themselves here.

Home to over 350,000 people, the Reading area is a strong and mature economy, which has bounced back quickly from the pandemic. With acknowledged strengths in the knowledge and creative economies, more than 50% of Reading’s working population is educated to degree level or above with the world-leading research at the University of Reading helping to attract and retain talent locally.

Reading’s economy has been one of the UK’s outstanding performers for several decades and has attracted global names such as Microsoft, Bayer, Thales, PepsiCo, VISA, Nokia and Sage to site their HQs here. While Reading has perhaps been best known as an IT hub in the last 30 years, the economy is incredibly well balanced with buoyant finance and professional services, energy, creatives, and in recent years, growing pharma and film and TV production sectors.   

Don’t just take our word for it:-

• Reading ranks in the UK’s top five cities for good economic growth, according to the latest Demos-PwC Good Growth for Cities Index report.
• The Lambert Smith Hampton Vitality Index 2022 ranks Reading 4th for business, based on wage growth, workforce, jobs growth in specific sectors, new enterprises, business density, productivity and growth and commercial property investment.
• Reading was ranked fifth in the FDI Small European Cities of the Future 2020/21 rankings.
• Reading made the fastest economic recovery from the pandemic in the UK, according to EY's latest Regional Economic Forecast.  Looking ahead, Reading's productivity is forecast to grow by 3.1% in the years up to 2025.

The good quality of life in Reading has long been a crucial factor in attracting talent and business. The Sunday Times included Reading in its Top 10 places to live in the South East in 2022 , saying "nowhere else in the South East can match Reading’s booming business, impeccable connections and relatively affordable house prices. Its schools are good and the parks and riverside walks add a breath of fresh air."