Photo: M J Richardson · CC BY-SA 2.0How Bedfordshire stacks up
Bedfordshire leads every area on growth: the population has grown 21.5% since 2011. Bedfordshire ranks 31st overall, with a B− and a score of 53. It offers little flood risk, but at the cost of primary results 4th lowest among the English counties and homes that cost 5.8 times household income.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
23rd of 65B+66/100 A little safer than average. Violent crime runs at 32.1 offences per 1,000 residents a year, the 25th lowest rate of 65 areas with police.uk figures. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Bromham its best at #19 of 2,138.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 71 per 1,000 residents a year, 31st lowest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Hardly any high-crime towns
Oakley leads its towns at #51 of 2,138, with Barton-le-Clay and Silsoe close behind. By population, 33% of its town residents are in top-quarter towns and almost none in bottom-quarter ones.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| Bedfordshire | 33% | 0% |
What the two figures count
Each crime on police.uk is pinned to a nearby street or public place, not an address; both figures count crimes where those points fall. The county-wide rate takes in town centres, stations and shopping streets, where many offences are recorded but few people live. Our town grades leave shop theft and other town-centre crime out and count violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
83rd of 90D8/100 Schools are a real weak spot. Bedfordshire’s eleven-year-olds rank 4th lowest in the national tests: 58% reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths. Even its best town, Luton, ranks #908 of 2,331. Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire all do better on schools.
Attainment 8 at GCSE: 44.9 (14th lowest), weighed equally with the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 31 Bedfordshire towns.
Cost of living
78th of 98C−21/100 Harder to afford than most areas. Land Registry sales put the typical home at £347,500, or 5.8 years of average household income, against 5.2 across England and Wales. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Sandy ranks highest, at #629.
Typical sale price: £347,500 (6,880 sales, 11th highest).
Private rent £1,221 a month (20th highest); Band D council tax £2,480 (21st highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Health
32nd of 98B+68/100 Slightly better health than average. Of a life expectancy of 81.0 years, 65.9 are expected in good health (28th longest among the areas). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Bromham its best at #77 of 2,515.
Total life expectancy is 81.0 years (27th shortest).
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Jobs & income
36th of 98B64/100 A little better off than average. Households take in £59,900 a year on average before tax, against £55,600 across England and Wales (10th highest of 98 areas). Its claimant rate, 4.4%, ranks 7th highest, while household income ranks 10th highest. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Ampthill ranks highest, at #94.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 4.4% of working-age adults (7th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Getting about
55th of 98C+44/100 A little more car-bound than average. 20% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work, against 26% across England and Wales (45th highest of 98 areas). None of its towns makes the top quarter; Bedford comes closest, at #270 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 30% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Flood risk
26th of 87B+71/100 Lower flood risk than most. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 1,579 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 0.6% of them. Wootton leads its towns at #276 of 2,452; 18% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 33 Bedfordshire towns.
Growth
1st of 98A+100/100 Consistently growing. Wixams is the best towns in the UK for growth. No area grew faster since 2011 than Bedfordshire: the population has grown 21.5% since 2011. No area puts more of its town residents in the fastest-growing quarter of towns (92%).
Since the 2021 Census: +6.2%, 2nd fastest.
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 25 Bedfordshire towns. Covers 95% of residents of Bedfordshire’s graded towns.
How Bedfordshire compares to its neighbours
Against Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire leads on growth but trails on schools.
| Bedfordshire | Hertfordshire | Buckinghamshire | Cambridgeshire | Northamptonshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 5331st of 65 | A 945th of 65 | A− 8411th of 65 | A 8610th of 65 | B− 4536th of 65 |
| Safety | B+ 6625th official · 33% in top towns | A− 7722nd official · 51% in top towns | B+ 7223rd official · 39% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 37% in top towns | B− 4530th official · 23% in top towns |
| Schools | D 844th official · 0% in top towns | A 906th official · 43% in top towns | A− 843rd official · 19% in top towns | B+ 7134th official · 30% in top towns | C+ 3823rd official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C− 2183rd official · 14% in top towns | D− 196th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1690th official · 13% in top towns | C+ 4362nd official · 57% in top towns | C− 2261st official · 0% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 6828th official · 28% in top towns | A 944th official · 62% in top towns | A 894th official · 39% in top towns | A− 8416th official · 54% in top towns | B 5625th official · 16% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B 6410th official · 30% in top towns | A 944th official · 54% in top towns | A− 775th official · 34% in top towns | A 889th official · 44% in top towns | B 5627th official · 13% in top towns |
| Getting about | C+ 4445th official · 0% in top towns | A− 7818th official · 5% in top towns | C 3159th official · 0% in top towns | A 8617th official · 23% in top towns | C− 2471st official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B+ 719th official · 18% in top towns | A− 8312th official · 54% in top towns | B+ 7310th official · 24% in top towns | D 753rd official · 12% in top towns | A 902nd official · 47% in top towns |
| Growth | A+ 1001st official · 92% in top towns | A− 7627th official · 27% in top towns | A+ 974th official · 73% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 65% in top towns | A+ 983rd official · 82% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.