Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Bedford reports less crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns
On crimes reported to the FBI by Bedford’s police in 2023–2025, it grades A for safety: #55 of 276 graded towns in Massachusetts.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. “Rest of MA” is every other Massachusetts city and town in the FBI’s tables; the U.S. figure is the FBI’s national estimate as published, averaged over the three years. The FBI publishes no national homicide or robbery rate in our data, so those compare with all U.S. cities and towns in its tables.
What stands out about safety in Bedford
3 of the 6 graded towns next door report less crime
Of the 6 Massachusetts towns on Bedford’s borders, 6 have a Safety Grade: Lincoln (A+), Carlisle (A), Lexington (A), Billerica (A−), Concord (A−), Burlington (C+). Neighbors ↓
A college town
Bedford is home to Middlesex Community College, with 6,225 students taking classes on campus (federal college data), and 6% of residents are enrolled in college (Census). Students who live in town count as residents, so they are part of the per-resident rate. How to read it ↓
A job center
Bedford has 19,538 jobs based in town for 14,836 residents (Census LEHD), so some reports involve people who work or shop there rather than residents. How to read it ↓
Written from the FBI data on this page. Figures are crimes reported to police, not convictions.
What’s behind Bedford’s grade
Property crimes plus four times violent crimes reported to the FBI per resident, 2023–2025, on a national curve. Both violent and property crime are lower than in most U.S. towns; violent crime is the stronger of the two.
Violent crime, by year and by type
Bedford’s police reported 22 violent crimes to the FBI over 2023–2025, about 0.5 per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
Show as a table
| Year | Bedford | Rest of Massachusetts | U.S. (FBI national estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 0.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 |
| 2023 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 3.9 |
| 2024 | 0.1 | 3.0 | 3.6 |
| 2025 | 0.8 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
Violent crimes per 1,000 residents
By type 2023–2025, counts
For every 1,000 residents, about 4 property crimes reported
And about 1 violent crime, in 2025. Below are 1,000 dots, one per resident; each colored dot is one reported crime.
Violent crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Property crime per 1,000 residents, 2025
Crimes reported to police in 2025 per resident; one person can be the victim of more than one, and some reports involve visitors.
Reported crime is steady
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings. Per 1,000 residents, 2022–2025, against the rest of Massachusetts.
Show as a table
| Year | Bedford property | Rest of Massachusetts property | Bedford violent | Rest of Massachusetts violent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 5.1 | 10.5 | 0.1 | 3.2 |
| 2023 | 4.8 | 10.9 | 0.6 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 4.4 | 10.3 | 0.1 | 3.0 |
| 2025 | 3.6 | 9.8 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
Crimes per 1,000 residents
66 crimes reported in 2025
12 violent and 54 property, as reported to the FBI by Bedford’s police.
2025 offenses reported
Offenses reported to police, not convictions. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting. The last row is counted outside the property total.
Four people died in crashes on Bedford’s roads in 2019–2023
Bedford had 4 fatal crashes in five years, in which four people died; 1 was a pedestrian.
That is about what is typical for Massachusetts towns of 5,000–25,000 people: at their median rate (5.2 deaths per 100,000 residents a year), a town of Bedford’s size would see about 4 in five years. With numbers this small, a death or two either way changes the picture, so Bedford’s own rate (5.4) is context, not a ranking.
Deaths are counted where the crash happened, not where the people lived: a highway through town adds through-traffic deaths, and residents’ own risk on roads elsewhere isn’t here. Town rates sit below state and U.S. rates because a third of fatal crashes happen outside any town. Road safety is described here and is not part of the Safety Grade. Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023.
Bedford and its neighbors
How reported crime compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its safety page.
Crimes reported to the FBI per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- It’s reported crime. Only incidents reported to and recorded by police appear here. Many crimes are never reported to police.
- One number for all of Bedford. A town-wide rate doesn’t show where incidents happen, and that can differ a lot from one part of town to another.
- Visitors count too. Incidents involving people who work, shop or visit are counted against Bedford’s residents, which raises the per-resident rate.
- Whose population. Rates use the FBI’s population for the department (14,988 in 2025); our figure for Bedford is 14,836 (2025 Census estimate).
- Gaps are real gaps. A missing year means the department didn’t report a full year, not that nothing happened.
How the grade is calculated, for every town: How TownRatings grades safety →
Questions about safety in Bedford
Is Bedford, MA safe?
On crimes reported to the FBI in 2023–2025, Bedford reports less crime per resident than 87% of U.S. towns, an A Safety Grade and #55 of 276 in Massachusetts. Its police reported 0.5 violent crimes per 1,000 residents a year, against 3.0 in the rest of Massachusetts and the FBI’s national estimate of 3.6.
What is the crime rate in Bedford?
0.5 violent and 4.3 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025, as reported to the FBI. The rest of Massachusetts reports 3.0 and 10.3; the FBI’s national estimate is 3.6 and 17.6.
Is crime going up or down in Bedford?
Reported crime per resident was steady from 2023 to 2025: the change is within ordinary year-to-year swings.
Is Bedford safer than Concord?
Concord reports more crime per resident than Bedford: Concord grades A− for safety and Bedford A. Concord’s police reported 0.8 violent and 5.5 property crimes per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Who polices Bedford?
Bedford’s own police department, which reports to the FBI as “Bedford”. Its figures are the ones on this page.
Heads-up board
Neighbors looking out for each other in Bedford.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Please don’t name or describe individuals. In an emergency, call 911.
Crime: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Crime Data Explorer: offenses known to law enforcement by city, 2025, and state and national rates. Counts are crimes reported to police, not convictions. The Safety Grade is our own summary of that data, not an official rating. Road deaths: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2019–2023. This isn’t an official statement of public safety. In an emergency, call 911.