Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Bedford gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $288K for a typical one, or 4.2 years of the Lynchburg metro’s $69K median household income. It grades C overall, 209th among Virginia's 249 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 91% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. 27% of working residents work locally in Bedford, where Virginia’s towns sit at 4.8% and U.S. towns at 8%. Its National Register listings include Three Otters and Fancy Farm.
Where Bedford beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Census counts: 722 in 1860, 6,657 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1891 and 4 maps from 1950 on.
12 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Virginia), ordered by how far Bedford is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 95% of comparable towns) to D for health (better than 9%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bedford. Close and well known come first.
7 mi ParkwayBlue Ridge Parkway16.5M visitors a year
in town LandmarkNational D-Day Memorial
21 mi LakeSmith Mountain Lake
38 mi National Historical ParkAppomattox Court House National Historical Park77K visitors a year
24 mi MuseumVirginia Museum of Transportation
40 mi LandmarkRed Hill Patrick Henry National MemorialBlue Ridge Parkway: Ken Thomas, Public domain · National D-Day Memorial: RebelAt at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Smith Mountain Lake: Jay White, Public domain · Appomattox Court House National Historical Park: Doug Coldwell, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Virginia Museum of Transportation: Warfieldian, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial: Jamestown Official Photo Corp., Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bedford, 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 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Bedford.
Bedford draws workers from Lynchburg and beyond, fares better on crime within Virginia than nationally and has property taxes about half the Virginia norm.
6,471 jobs are based in Bedford, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 20.3 minutes, against 27.3 across Virginia.
About one in 4 of Bedford’s working residents works in town. The average trip to work in Bedford is 20 minutes. The top destinations are Lynchburg (12%), Roanoke (11%) and Forest (3%).
| Bedford | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 7.7% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $70,000 | $102,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7.7% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Bedford County Public Schools. One of its 5 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades 2–5 | Grades 2–5 | 448 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within VA on state tests and graduation
35% of Bedford adults get no exercise outside work. Bedford beats the Virginia average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 20. 18% of Bedford adults smoke cigarettes.
| Bedford | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 11% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 12% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 23% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Bedford | VA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 80% | 76.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.6% | 6.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 92% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Bedford since 2018.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The median property tax bill is $1,188, against $2,790 across Virginia, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Bedford’s median rent is $828 a month. Typical home values rose 7.5% in the year to September 2026.
| Bedford | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $828 a month | $1,764 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 69% | 68% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Bedford has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 87°, January nights drop to 27° and about 12 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 25.1 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 55% of Virginia’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 158 to 126 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
| Bedford | Virginia towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.2% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Reynolds Memorial Park | 0.4 mi | 5 |
| 2. Greenwood Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Orange Street Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Bedford; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Bedford residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Virginia.
Where Bedford’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
12 places in Bedford on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Bedford.
Incorporated town in Virginia, United States
Bedford is an incorporated town and former independent city located within Bedford County in the U.S. state of Virginia. It serves as the county seat of Bedford County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,657. It is part of the Lynchburg metropolitan area. Bedford County surrounds the town and has the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north, Smith Mountain Lake to the south, Lynchburg to the east, and Roanoke to the west.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bedford grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #209 of 249 in Virginia. It grades D for health, C+ for safety and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
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 A−.
9 notable people were born here, including Edward James Gay and Carol M. Swain.
