Photo: Photo by User:AudeVivere. · CC BY-SA 2.5Household incomes in Bedford trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
Bedford grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Below the poverty line: 12.5% of residents, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. 6% of workers work from home, against 16% across Pennsylvania.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bedford: the figures worth knowing
Commutes from Bedford are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker. Time on the road ↓
Bedford and Bedford Township trade workers both ways
Bedford Township is the top workplace for Bedford residents (26%) and also where the most people who work in Bedford come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
How Bedford earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bedford is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #842 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Unemployment holds Bedford’s grade up (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($41,375, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bedford could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How long Bedford spends getting to work: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bedford workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,406 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Pennsylvania: 81% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
26% of working residents work in Bedford Township
Where Bedford clocks in
26% of workers
2% 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.
Who leaves Bedford for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,092 residents head out to work, 194 work right here, and 1,369 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Bedford on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Jobs in Bedford: what the 1,563 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bedford, 2013 → 2023: 1,637 → 1,563. 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.
The commute from Bedford, by distance
About 24% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
In Bedford, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bedford is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #401 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.6% across Pennsylvania.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,493 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 15.9% of Bedford households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bedford’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bedford ranks: 3,079th of 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Wallace Township PA | 3,759 | $183K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,077 | Spirit Lake ID | 2,485 | $65K | 6.7% | 3.7% | 4% | C |
| 3,078 | New Hampton IA | 3,420 | $63K | 17.3% | 2.8% | 39% | C |
| 3,079 | Bedford PA | 2,817 | $41K | 12.5% | 2.6% | 15% | C |
| 3,080 | Manti UT | 3,794 | $63K | 14.8% | 1.6% | 14% | C |
| 3,081 | Hunter NY | 2,994 | $67K | 19.6% | 1.0% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Pennsylvania.
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?
$41,375 (±$11,307) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bedford?
12.5%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bedford?
15 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bedford work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bedford Township (26%, 3 mi), Snake Spring Township (5%, 5 mi), Altoona (2%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bedford walkable?
Bedford is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bedford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
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.