Lower Earley is the southern portion of Earley civil parish and a large suburb of Reading, within the English county of Berkshire. It forms part of (along with neighbouring Earley, Winnersh, Woodley and Shinfield) a large suburban conurbation of over 85,000 inhabitants adjoining east and south-east Reading. Lower Earley and Earley have a combined population of around 32,000 and Lower Earley itself has developed since the late 1970s. By the mid 1980s it was considered to be the largest private housing development in the United Kingdom. Lower Earley forms a major part of Wokingham Borough. In 2014, the RG6 postcode area (which is nearly coterminous with the area of the civil parish) was rated one of the most desirable postcode areas to live in England.