Bedford, IN, Indiana: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+51%. Republican peak: R+51 in 2016.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+51MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 45,1022024 5-year
- Median household income
- $66,4682024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 93.8%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.2%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 2.0%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+14 in 1912MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+51 in 2016MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for Bedford, IN, INOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 5,010 | 15,830 | 21,220 | ||
| R | 4,961 | 15,601 | 21,025 | ||
| R | 4,210 | 14,035 | 19,238 | ||
| R | 5,779 | 11,622 | 17,870 | ||
| R | 7,208 | 11,018 | 18,534 | ||
| R | 5,346 | 12,207 | 17,698 | ||
| R | 5,071 | 10,677 | 16,142 | ||
| R | 5,703 | 8,107 | 16,009 | ||
| R | 5,557 | 7,712 | 16,781 | ||
| R | 5,787 | 10,742 | 16,599 | ||
| R | 5,608 | 11,440 | 17,150 | ||
| R | 5,826 | 10,846 | 17,296 | ||
| R | 7,908 | 9,278 | 17,440 | ||
| R | 4,278 | 10,936 | 15,284 | ||
| R | 5,349 | 8,830 | 16,248 | ||
| D | 8,677 | 8,186 | 16,956 | ||
| R | 6,977 | 11,119 | 18,182 | ||
| R | 6,197 | 11,090 | 17,346 | ||
| R | 6,044 | 11,296 | 17,475 | ||
| R | 6,131 | 8,643 | 14,869 | ||
| R | 5,246 | 9,200 | 14,515 | ||
| R | 6,553 | 10,717 | 17,308 | ||
| R | 8,062 | 9,982 | 18,178 | ||
| R | 8,215 | 8,314 | 16,741 | ||
| R | 4,428 | 9,844 | 14,329 | ||
| R | 4,414 | 7,438 | 12,254 | ||
| R | 4,709 | 6,808 | 11,708 | ||
| R | 3,108 | 3,813 | 7,256 | ||
| O | 2,579 | 1,633 | 6,840 | ||
| R | 3,118 | 3,884 | 7,224 | ||
| R | 2,672 | 3,924 | 6,774 | ||
| R | 2,558 | 3,535 | 6,194 | ||
| R | 2,421 | 3,103 | 5,571 | ||
| R | 2,134 | 2,529 | 4,853 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
16.7%
German
15.8%
Irish
12.2%
American
9.7%
Scottish
1.8%
Italian
1.7%
French
1.2%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 43.3 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$66,468
Bedford, IN ranks near the middle of US counties.
Bedford, IN$66,468
Indiana$71,957
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.2%
Children face moderate poverty.
Children under 1816.1%
Working age (18–64)11.2%
Seniors (65+)10.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
98.2%
speak English only
Spanish0.9%
Other Indo-European0.6%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.2%
Other languages0.1%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 60.3% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Bedford anchors Lawrence County in southern Indiana's limestone belt, where working-class manufacturing heritage correlates with voting patterns that have shifted sharply toward Republican margins over the past two decades.
The Democratic margin in Bedford, IN peaked at fourteen points in 1912. By 1968 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty-one points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $66,468 sits well below state and national norms, and 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Bedford, IN, Indiana — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/13260/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did Bedford, IN, Indiana vote in 2024?
In 2024, Bedford, IN, Indiana voted Republican by 51.0 points (R+51), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 21,220 votes cast, 5,010 went Democratic and 15,830 went Republican.
What is Bedford, IN, Indiana's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Bedford, IN, Indiana as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 1 times, Republican 32 times, and other 1 times.
When did Bedford, IN, Indiana last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Bedford, IN, Indiana voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Bedford, IN, Indiana?
Bedford, IN, Indiana has a population of 45,102 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Bedford, IN, Indiana?
Median household income in Bedford, IN, Indiana is $66,468 — below the national median of $80,734. The Indiana state median is $71,957.
What is the political history of Bedford, IN, Indiana?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Bedford, IN, Indiana from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 1 went Democratic and 32 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.