Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Public schools that outperform most of Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, this town has 3,301 residents.
Bethel Acres’s strongest subject is schools: its public schools beat 86% of Oklahoma towns on state tests and graduation. This Oklahoma town grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns, and ranks 17th of 131 in Oklahoma. Add cost of living to its strengths (B+): a typical home costs about $256K, 4.2 years of the Shawnee area’s $61K median household income. The trade-off is health (C−) — CDC estimates put its residents' health behind just over four fifths of the country. It also trails on hazard risk (C−) — FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 67% of U.S. communities, with tornadoes at the top. On civic life, just 16 of Oklahoma’s 205 towns do worse. Only 2 of the 131 Oklahoma towns we compare have a lower share of working residents who work in town than Bethel Acres.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES · FEMA National Risk Index · Census LEHD, 2023.
Where Bethel Acres beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Bethel Es | PK–5 | 556 |
| Bethel MS | 6–8 | 255 |
| Bethel HS | 9–12 | 349 |
Where Bethel Acres’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Oklahoma), ordered by how far Bethel Acres is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 388 in 1910, 3,029 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 3 maps from 1930 on.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Bethel Acres, 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Bethel Acres.
Bethel Acres pairs an A for schools with modest home prices, trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and looks healthier within Oklahoma than nationally.
That grade comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $256K.
The Bethel school district runs its public schools. The largest public high school is Bethel HS, with 349 students. Two of the 3 schools are below, and why each made the list.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel EsLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 556 | A |
| Bethel HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 349 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within OK on state tests and graduation
Within Oklahoma it is healthier than 57% of the 131 graded towns: much of Oklahoma scores lower on these measures.
In Bethel Acres, 13% of adults binge drink, below both the Oklahoma town median (14%) and the median of U.S. towns (16%). CDC measures, 32 in all: Bethel Acres beats Oklahoma on 1 and trails on 6. Also worth knowing: for adults in the town, the share who have high blood pressure is 43%. Among 131 Oklahoma towns, just 5 have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Bethel Acres.
| Bethel Acres | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 40% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 25% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 41% | 35% |
| What stands out | Bethel Acres | OK |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 9.3% | 11.3% |
| More adults with arthritis | 33.3% | 27.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Bethel Acres has 328 jobs for its 1,148 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 448 in 2013 to 328.
Bethel Acres’ middle household income is $76,000, against $55,000 in Oklahoma’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. Jobs here fell by 120 from 2013 to 2023, to 328. In Bethel Acres, the average commute is 30 minutes. The top destinations are Oklahoma City (30%), Shawnee (22%) and Norman (5%).
| Bethel Acres | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 1.7% | 22% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 18% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $76,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In July, afternoons reach 93°; in January, nights fall to 28°, and about 6 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected losses in Bethel Acres break down as 31% from tornadoes and 26% from inland flooding. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $256K for the typical one, B+ for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles.
The typical home value in Bethel Acres is about $256,000, up 3.4% in a year, 16% above the Oklahoma typical home. Bethel Acres’ typical rent comes in at $1,010 a month.
| Bethel Acres | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 62% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,010 a month | $870 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Adults 18 to 34 are 18% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 41% of residents (37% statewide). Population is up 8.7% in Bethel Acres since 2020, to 3,301 by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Bethel Acres’ age of the median resident stands at 45.1 years. Just over a fifth of adults 25 and older hold at least a bachelor’s degree, against 28% across Oklahoma.
| Bethel Acres | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.1 years | 36.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 25% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 22% | 20% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 18% | 16% | 18% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.4 points. Across Oklahoma, 50.2% of residents are women.
| Bethel Acres | OK | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 12.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.9% | 11.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.3% | 13.5% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.5% | 13.2% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.2% | 11.4% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 18.5% | 11.9% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.4% | 9.7% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.1% | 6.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.4% | 10.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.7% | 30.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.6% | 22.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.5% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 11.6% | 18.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.1% | 9.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,300, single groups can be off by several points
2.7 miles of trail. The trail density for Bethel Acres comes to 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Bethel Acres | Oklahoma towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.4% | 7% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Bethel Acres
About 5 of every 100 Bethel Acres residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Oklahoma.
Town in Oklahoma, United States
Bethel Acres is a town in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethel Acres had a population of 3,029. It is primarily a bedroom community for people who work in the three nearby larger cities of Shawnee, Tecumseh and Oklahoma City.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Bethel Acres.
| Town | OK rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel Acres | #17 | B | B+ | — | A | C− |
| Shawnee | #117 | D | B | D | C | C− |
| Pink | — | — | A | — | C | D |
Pink has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Bethel Acres and Pink report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Bethel Acres with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Bethel Acres grades B overall, better than 61% of U.S. towns and #17 of 131 in Oklahoma. It grades C− for health and A for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a C−.
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+.