Bedford is a very small town located in the state of New York. With a population of 1,691 people and just one neighborhood, Bedford is the 642nd largest community in New York.
Bedford home prices are not only among the most expensive in New York, but Bedford real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Bedford is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 97.84% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Bedford is a town of professionals, managers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Bedford who work in teaching (15.31%), management occupations (14.49%), and healthcare (13.26%).
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.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 31.43% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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.
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 32.90 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit.
Despite being a small town, Bedford has a lot of people using the train to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the train are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Bedford. 81.62% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.
The per capita income in Bedford in 2022 was $107,283, which is wealthy relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $429,132 for a family of four.
The people who call Bedford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Bedford residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Bedford include Irish, Italian, English, European, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Bedford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and French.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
People
If you come to know the people here, you will recognize that you're in the company of one of the wealthiest communities in the nation. In fact, a mere 0.5% of America's neighborhoods are wealthier than the neighborhood. Real estate here is exceedingly well-maintained, and similarly, tends to maintain its value over time. The cars driven are mostly luxury brands like Mercedes, Audi, BMW, and Lexus. If the public schools aren't up to snuff, the residents of this neighborhood preferentially send their children to private preparatory schools. Vacation to Disney? Yes, but equally popular are summers in Europe.
In addition, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, is among the best neighborhoods for families in New York. In fact, this neighborhood is more family-friendly than 98.8% of neighborhoods in the entire state of New York. Its combination of top public schools, low crime rates, and owner-occupied single family homes gives this area the look and feel of a "Leave It to Beaver" episode. Many other families also live here, making it easy to socialize and develop a strong sense of community. In addition, the high number of college-educated parents influences the academic success of the local schools. Overall, you will find all of the amenities a family needs to thrive in the neighborhood. In addition to being an excellent choice for families with school-aged children, this neighborhood is also a very good choice for urban sophisticates, highly educated executives and active retirees.
Also, the rate of college educated adults in the neighborhood is a unique characteristic of the neighborhood. 83.9% of adults here have received at least a 4-year bachelor's degree, compared to the average neighborhood in America, which has 34.3% of the adults with a bachelor's degree. The rate here is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Length of Commute
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 15.7% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 98.8% of all neighborhoods in America.
Real Estate
One way that the neighborhood really stands out, is that it has more large 4, 5, or additional bedroom homes and real estate than 98.3% of the neighborhoods in America. When you walk or drive around this neighborhood, you'll instantly notice the size of the homes here which definitely makes a strong visual statement.
In addition, owner-occupied real estate dominates the neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 95.5% of neighborhoods in America.
Furthermore, the neighborhood has earned the amazing distinction of having one of the highest rates of detached, single-family homes of any neighborhood in the U.S. With 97.5% of the residential real estate here made up of free-standing single-family homes, there is a greater proportion of single-family homes here than in 95.5% of all neighborhoods in America.
Modes of Transportation
In the neighborhood, 16.3% of people ride the train to work each day. This is a very high percentage compared to most places. In fact, NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this is a higher level of train ridership than in 96.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
Occupations
The neighborhood has a higher proportion of its residents employed as executives, managers and professionals than 96.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In fact, 72.3% of the employed people here make a living as an executive, a manager, or other professional. With such a high concentration, this truly shapes the character of this neighborhood, and to a large degree defines what this neighborhood is about.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Russian and Dominican ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 6.0% of this neighborhood's residents have Russian ancestry and 7.4% have Dominican ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Bedford are wealthy, making it among the 15% highest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 99.5% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 2.1% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 74.6% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 72.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 20.8% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (3.5%), and 3.4% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 86.5% of households. Some people also speak Spanish (8.6%).
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Bedford, NY, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (17.7%). There are also a number of people of Italian ancestry (13.9%), and residents who report English roots (12.5%), and some of the residents are also of German ancestry (10.5%), along with some Dominican ancestry residents (7.4%), among others. In addition, 11.3% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (24.7% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans. However, there is also a significant group of residents (15.7%) who commute over an hour in each direction.
Here most residents (48.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also take the train to get to work (16.3%) and 5.5% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
