Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetTX-BEDFORD-TX · Bedford, TX 49,191 pop · income 63rd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Bedford
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Bedford on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Huntsville · lowest
45,401
Huntsville · lowest
45,401 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #1
Ranier · near
81,389
Ranier · near
81,389 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #2
Bedford · this city
81,393
Bedford · this city
81,393 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #3
Manchester · near
81,393
Manchester · near
81,393 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #4
Millville · near
81,397
Millville · near
81,397 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #5
Kiefer · near
81,402
Kiefer · near
81,402 median HH income
62.2% of the leader · rank #6
Coral Gables · highest
130,803
Coral Gables · highest
130,803 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Bedford on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 49,191.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Bedford - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Bedford lands in the 63rd percentile for household income and the 40th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
63rd
percentile, household income
68th
percentile, home value
40th
percentile, median rent
40th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Bedford, TX
Bedford is a small city in Texas, home to 49,191 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Bedford report a median income of $81,393 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 6.5%. Home values in Bedford run a median of $322,300, and the median resident age is 37.9 years. Educational attainment runs 40.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 67.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 3 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 200% from five years earlier. Bedford reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1691.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Texas tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Texas at 97.1 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,149 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Texas run around $223, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 49.0 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Bedford's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change to reported crime to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Bedford, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Bedford?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Texas, the closest population matches are Rockwall (49,605 residents, $114,926 income); Cedar Hill (48,547 residents, $90,608 income); Grapevine (50,875 residents, $111,438 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Barnstable, MA (49,232 residents); Everett, MA (49,236 residents); Coral Gables, FL (49,243 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Bedford?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 4.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 6.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,855 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Bedford?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1691.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 26% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Bedford?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 40.9% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
6.5%
Bachelor's degree+
40.9%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Bedford?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
74.5%
Work from home
16.2%
Public transit
0.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 26,191 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 6.5% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.1 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Texas average
C+
City profile score · Bedford, TX
60/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share B+
40.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C+
$81,393
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime C+
144 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate C
6.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living C-
97.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bedford profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 76/100 (B+) · 40.9%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,393
Violent crime: 60/100 (C+) · 144 /100k
Poverty rate: 56/100 (C) · 6.5%
Cost of living: 53/100 (C-) · 97.1 index
Where Bedford sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Bedford's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Bedford highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Bedford, TX (this city): home $322,300, crime 1,691/100k
Barnstable, MA : home $559,200, crime 1,196/100k
Everett, MA : home $605,200, crime 1,662/100k
Lawrence, IN : home $220,400, crime 2,020/100k
Azusa, CA : home $607,400, crime 1,755/100k
Rockwall, TX : home $382,400, crime 1,519/100k
Cedar Hill, TX : home $273,200, crime 1,953/100k
Grapevine, TX : home $470,400, crime 2,244/100k
Burleson, TX : home $282,900, crime 1,260/100k
Little Elm, TX : home $390,300, crime 557/100k
Huntsville, TX : home $225,800, crime 2,045/100k
How does Bedford compare to other US cities?
Where Bedford sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value68% pricier than other cities
Median rent40% pricier than other cities
Safety40% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Texas and the picture shifts: Bedford ranks #386 of 624 Texas cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Bedford against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Texas only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Texas-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Bedford near the bottom of Texas's cities
Among the 1,663 Texas cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Bedford ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Bedford only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#423 of 1,520
72nd percentile in Texas
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,663
0th percentile in Texas
Median Home Value
#225 of 1,505
85th percentile in Texas
Poverty Rate
#985 of 1,663
40th percentile in Texas
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#213 of 1,663
87th percentile in Texas
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Texas only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
63rd percentile nationally for median household income · 40th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Bedford's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Bedford's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Bedford's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$322,30032nd percentilemore affordable than 32% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Bedford's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,595 of 15,516
More affordable than 32% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,949 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.0×, Bedford sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,595 of 15,516 and #1,949 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$81,393Bedford, TX median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Bedford, TX median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Bedford, TX.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)40.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)6.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
49,191
Median Income
$81,393
Median Home Value
$322,300
Median Age
37.9
Poverty Rate
6.5%
Labor force participation
67.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
40.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1691.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
144.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1547.0
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Bedford's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
49,813 residents
2021
49,287 residents
2022
48,902 residents
2023
48,640 residents
2024
48,625 residents
2025
47,958 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
3
housing units authorized
Single-Family
3
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
3
3
0
$0.5M
2021
2
2
0
$0.8M
2022
2
2
0
$0.4M
2023
42
40
2
$11.7M
2024
3
3
0
$0.9M
Permit volume increased 200% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.5%
Carpool
7.4%
Public Transit
0.4%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
16.2%
Other
1.3%
Based on 26,191 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Texas statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $223
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Texas at $223 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $48 ).
These are Texas statewide averages, not a meter reading for Bedford. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Texas's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.1 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Bedford is $1,149/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Texas statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 49.0 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Texas statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Bedford sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Bedford compares to similar-size Texas cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.