About Bedford

Bedford is a somewhat small town located in the state of New York. With a population of 5,616 people and just one neighborhood, Bedford is the 346th largest community in New York.

Bedford is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 94.18% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Bedford is a town of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bedford who work in management occupations (22.06%), sales jobs (17.56%), and business and financial occupations (8.89%).

Of important note, Bedford is also a town of artists. Bedford has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Bedford's character.

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

A relatively large number of people in Bedford telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.95% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In addition, Bedford is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Bedford is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Bedford a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Bedford has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Bedford's overall crime rate ranks among the lowest in the country, making it one of the safest places to raise a family.

In Bedford, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 39.48 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average.

As is often the case in a small town, Bedford doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Bedford Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Bedford is a pretty powerful place. 70.32% of the adults in Bedford have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 14.96% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Bedford in 2000 was $75,723, which is wealthy relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $302,892 for a family of four. However, Bedford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

The most common language spoken in Bedford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.