Bedford TownshipCalhoun County, MI
Is Bedford Township a good place to live?
Bedford Township gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $142K, 2.3 years of the Battle Creek metro’s $63K median household income. It grades C− overall, 624th of 697 graded towns in Michigan. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 82% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. Only 67 of Michigan’s 1,265 towns score lower on civic life. Bedford Township’s average trip to work is 19 minutes, below both the Michigan town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
What makes Bedford Township stand out
Where Bedford Township beats most towns.
96% of working residents leave Bedford Township for work
Where Bedford Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2021
How Bedford Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Michigan), ordered by how far Bedford Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Bedford Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bedford Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Bedford Township.
Bedford Township earns a C− for health
43% of adults have obesity in Bedford Township. Bedford Township beats the Michigan average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 41% of adults have high blood pressure in Bedford Township.
| Bedford Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 37% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 36% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 12% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 16% |
| What stands out | Bedford Township | MI |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14% | 10.2% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.7% | 8.7% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 18.7% | 15.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Bedford Township’s schools rank behind 61% of Michigan districts
Its public schools are run by the Gull Lake Community Schools. One of its 3 schools is below, with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Gull Lake Virtual Partnership, with 392 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan Youth Challenge AcademyLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 119 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MI on state tests and graduation
With 0.6 jobs for every working resident, most of Bedford Township’s workers commute out
Most working residents leave Bedford Township for work: only 4% work in town. 13% of Bedford Township residents live below the poverty line. The top destinations are Battle Creek (35%), Emmett Township (5%) and Kalamazoo (3%).
| Bedford Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 8.9% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $77,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.5% | 5.9% | 8% |
| Work from home | 9.5% | 10% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2021 · ACS
Low risk in Bedford Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 68% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Bedford Township, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
Bedford Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 65 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Conserved land covers 1.1% of Bedford Township
4.1 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Bedford Township | Michigan towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.1% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Skeet Gehrman Park | — | 5 |
| 2. Wabascon Lake Boating Access Site | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Air Zoo and 11 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bedford Township. Close and well known come first.
19 mi Theme parkAir Zoo
39 mi Park & preserveNorth Country Trail
10 mi MuseumGilmore Car Museum87K visitors a year10 mi Zoo & aquariumBinder Park Zoo
16 mi MuseumAmerican Museum of Magic
19 mi MuseumKalamazoo Institute of ArtsPhoto credits
Air Zoo: User:my name, CC BY-SA 3.0 · North Country Trail: Huron-Manistee National Forests, Public domain · Gilmore Car Museum: Kevin S. Forsyth, CC BY-SA 3.0 · American Museum of Magic: rossograph, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: 72elyod, CC BY-SA 3.0
Everything we know about Bedford Township
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Bedford Township
About 4 of every 100 Bedford Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Michigan.
About Bedford Township
Charter township in Michigan, United States
Bedford Charter Township is a charter township located in the northwest corner of Calhoun County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the township population was 9,198. Most of the township lies north of the Kalamazoo River and the city of Battle Creek. Three small noncontiguous areas of the township lie south of the Kalamazoo River.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 30 sq mi
- Elevation
- 866 ft
Bedford Township’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Bedford Township.
| Town | MI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford Township | #624 | C− | B+ | — | C+ | C− |
| Battle Creek | #684 | D− | B− | D− | C | D |
| Level Park-Oak Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pennfield Township | #600 | C− | B− | — | B− | C− |
| Ross Township | #78 | A | B | — | A− | A− |
| Springfield | #668 | D | B+ | — | D | D |
| Johnstown Township | #355 | B− | B+ | — | B | C |
Bedford Township, Pennfield Township, Ross Township, Springfield and Johnstown Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Level Park-Oak Park isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bedford Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Bedford Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Bedford Township, MI a good place to live?
Bedford Township grades C− overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #624 of 697 in Michigan. It grades C− for health and C+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Bedford Township, MI expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.