Best PlacesBedford, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bedford, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bedford ranks 37,853rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on walkability.
The best neighborhoods in Bedford
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Bedford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bedford ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 70% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 68% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 65% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 64% of towns
Where Bedford ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 55 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bedford
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bedford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,757, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Bedford's effective rate of 0.60%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bedford
Bedford runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bedford.
Who works in Bedford, and how
Work in Bedford centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Bedford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bedford.
What the weather is like in Bedford, month by month
Bedford sees roughly 55 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 71° | 58° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bedford
The nearest airport, Louisville Muhammad Ali International, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bedford
Schools across Bedford average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Washington Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Campbellsburg Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Bedford Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Washington County Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Henry County Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Carroll County Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- New Washington Middle/high SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Henry County High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Washington County High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bedford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bedford measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Bedford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bedford
Is Bedford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bedford ranks 37,853rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, few empty homes, and low taxes, and lowest on the weather and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bedford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $192,135. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $67,757 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Bedford safe?
Bedford is safer than 53% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Bedford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bedford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bedford represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Bedford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bedford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bedford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bedford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bedford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bedford detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.