Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Bedford are higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
Bedford grades A+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Below the poverty line: 2.7% of residents, against 7.2% across New Hampshire. Working from home is the commute for 27% of workers, next to 17% for New Hampshire as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bedford and work: the main findings
Bedford is where the jobs are
Bedford has 19,242 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Bedford and Manchester trade workers both ways
Manchester is the top workplace for Bedford residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Bedford come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Bedford
27% of Bedford workers work from home, against 17% across New Hampshire. Time on the road ↓
Bedford has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Bedford went from 14,161 in 2013 to 19,242 in 2023, +36%. The jobs ↓
Three in four Bedford workers earn over $40,000 a year
76% of Bedford’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Bedford’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bedford is better than 98% of U.S. towns, #1 of 126 in New Hampshire. Household income is its strongest input ($167,418, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bedford could be anywhere from A to A+.
A workday in Bedford: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 9,564 residents head out to work, 1,671 work right here, and 17,571 people come in from elsewhere.
About 32,000 people are in Bedford on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Bedford
Where Bedford clocks in
21% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 25 minutes each way for Bedford’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bedford workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,884 commuters (the 27% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
67% of the jobs in Bedford pay over $3,333 a month
19,242 jobs are based in Bedford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bedford, 2013 → 2023: 14,161 → 19,242. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bedford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Bedford
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Bedford walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bedford is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #20 of 126 in New Hampshire. Both inputs place Bedford near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,175 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.2% of Bedford households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bedford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bedford next to U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000: 26th of 1,577 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | South Fayette Township PA | 18,648 | $124K | 3.6% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 25 | New Lenox IL | 28,893 | $141K | 1.5% | 2.9% | 9% | A+ |
| 26 | Bedford NH | 23,973 | $167K | 2.7% | 1.7% | 15% | A+ |
| 27 | St. John IN | 24,841 | $131K | 2.1% | 2.3% | 8% | A+ |
| 28 | Franklin Farm VA | 18,736 | $216K | 1.5% | 3.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Merrimack NH | 29,699 | $127K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Goffstown NH | 18,607 | $114K | 6.4% | 0.8% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Salem NH | 31,868 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.8% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bedford, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Work next door: 29% of Bedford’s workers
The biggest share goes to Manchester (21%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bedford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | – | A+ | B+ | 25 min | $167,418 |
| Manchester | 21% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $81,007 |
| Goffstown | 2% | A | B | 28 min | $113,958 |
| Amherst | under 2% | A | C+ | 33 min | $153,196 |
| Merrimack | 6% | A+ | C | 27 min | $127,219 |
| New Boston | under 2% | A− | D | 36 min | $154,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bedford’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bedford: questions
What is the median household income in Bedford?
$167,418 (±$11,519) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bedford?
2.7%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bedford?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bedford work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Manchester (21%, 6 mi), Nashua (8%, 13 mi), Merrimack (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bedford walkable?
Bedford is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bedford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bedford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bedford
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.