Bedford population, 2001–2025
Bedford has an estimated population of 196,398 (mid-2025), up 32.6% since 2001. Official ONS mid-year estimates for the Bedford local authority area. The newest year is provisional: when ONS published mid-2025 it revised the mid-2024 figure for 348 of the 361 UK authorities, so read the last point on any of these charts as the current best estimate rather than a settled number.
Year by year
| Year | Population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 196,398 | +0.8% |
| 2024 | 194,881 | +1.8% |
| 2023 | 191,452 | +1.9% |
| 2022 | 187,805 | +1.1% |
| 2021 | 185,796 | +1.9% |
| 2020 | 182,346 | +0.9% |
| 2019 | 180,651 | +1.3% |
| 2018 | 178,288 | +1.6% |
| 2017 | 175,537 | +1.1% |
| 2016 | 173,703 | +2.1% |
| 2015 | 170,149 | +2.0% |
| 2014 | 166,856 | +1.9% |
| 2013 | 163,672 | +2.1% |
| 2012 | 160,344 | +1.6% |
| 2011 | 157,840 | +0.8% |
| 2010 | 156,535 | +1.1% |
| 2009 | 154,808 | +0.4% |
| 2008 | 154,164 | +0.7% |
| 2007 | 153,107 | +0.5% |
| 2006 | 152,346 | +0.4% |
| 2005 | 151,747 | +0.3% |
| 2004 | 151,308 | +0.4% |
| 2003 | 150,684 | +0.7% |
| 2002 | 149,589 | +1.0% |
| 2001 | 148,113 | — |
Food businesses
Bedford has 137 takeaways, 313 restaurants and cafés and 129 pubs and bars on the FSA's statutory register (as of July 2026) — 0.44 takeaways per restaurant against an English average of 0.49, and 7.0 takeaways per 10,000 residents. How that compares across England.
High street businesses
Bedford has 130 hairdressers and beauty salons, 60 pubs and bars, 70 licensed restaurants, 120 takeaways on the ONS business register (2025). Compare across the UK.
Rounded to the nearest 5, which is how ONS protects individual businesses from being identified.