Bethel is a somewhat small town located in the state of Connecticut. With a population of 18,067 people and four constituent neighborhoods, Bethel is the 61st largest community in Connecticut.

Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Bethel is neither predominently one or the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Bethel is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bethel who work in office and administrative support jobs (15.37%), management occupations (12.12%), and sales jobs (11.53%).

Also of interest is that Bethel has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

In addition, Bethel is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

Because of many things, Bethel is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Bethel really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Bethel perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

Bethel is a very car-oriented town. This is because most people - 96.5% - drive by car to work every day, and few people choose alternative modes of transportation, such as public transit, cycling, or walking. In general, car-oriented communities have a layout that emphasizes streets, highways, and ease of parking, and sometimes this can be to the detriment of human-scale priorities such as walkability alongside roads, and public spaces. For example, strip malls are something you will find in Bethel.

Bethel is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.

Bethel Information and Demographics

The citizens of Bethel are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 36.75% of adults in Bethel have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Bethel in 2000 was $28,927, which is middle income relative to Connecticut, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $115,708 for a family of four. However, Bethel contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Bethel home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Bethel is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bethel include Italian, Irish, German, English, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Bethel is English. Some people also speak Spanish.