Renting in Bedford

Average Rent in Bedford: £1,200/mo

Rent in Bedford before the rush.

Median asking rent across 2,683 live Bedford listings on 6 portals from £400/mo, broken down by property size below — plus how rents have moved, where they are highest and lowest, and what landed on the market this week.

Median asking rent

£1,200 /month

2,683 live listings · 6 portals

Median monthly rent in Bedford by property size
SizeMedian rentListings
Studio£750/mo92
1 bed£875/mo868
2 bed£1,200/mo773
3 bed£1,500/mo516
4+ bed£2,000/mo298
Room (house share)£550/mo136

Asking rents from live listings on Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders · Updated . Weekly prices normalised to monthly.

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Renting in Bedford

What it costs to rent in Bedford

Bedford currently has 2,683 rental properties listed across the portals we track, with a median rent of £1,200 a month. 89 new homes appeared in the past week alone. Among the houses and flats listed, roughly 43% are houses and the rest are flats.

Rents vary sharply by postcode. The most affordable outcode we track is MK40 at around £1,050/mo, while MK17 sits nearer £1,850/mo. For a wider view of where the UK’s cheapest rents are, see our guide to the cheapest cities to rent in the UK.

Dwellio watches Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders for Bedford around the clock — so a new listing reaches your inbox before most renters have refreshed the app. Here’s how our rental alerts work. Looking further afield? You can browse rentals in every UK city.

Rent by property size

Average rent in Bedford by bedrooms

Median monthly asking rent for each property size, from 2,683 live listings across 6 property sites (September 2026).

Average studio rent in Bedford

£750/mo

The median asking rent for a studio in Bedford is £750 a month, 37% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 92 studios currently on the market.

Average rent for a 1-bed flat in Bedford

£875/mo

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Bedford is £875 a month, 27% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 868 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Bedford

£1,200/mo

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Bedford is £1,200 a month, in line with the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 773 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 3-bed house in Bedford

£1,500/mo

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Bedford is £1,500 a month, 25% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 516 listings currently on the market.

Average rent for a 4-bed house in Bedford

£2,000/mo

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Bedford is £2,000 a month, 67% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 298 listings currently on the market.

Average room rent in Bedford

£550/mo

The median asking rent for a room in a Bedford house share is £550 a month, 54% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 136 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

Medians exclude prices that fail our junk-listing floor. Room rents are per room, not per property.

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Rent trend · ONS PIPR

How Bedford rents have moved

Office for National Statistics Price Index of Private Rents — official monthly average rent across all tenures in Bedford. Latest: £1,170/mo (Jul 26, +3.4% YoY).

Latest

£1,170

Jul 26

Annual

+3.4%

vs last year

5-yr ago

£881

Aug 21

Total change

+33%

since 2021

£875£1,025£1,175Aug 21Feb 24Jul 26

Source: Office for National Statistics · Price Index of Private Rents (PIPR). Updated monthly with a ~2-month lag. ONS uses Broad Rental Market Areas in Scotland — figures may aggregate beyond the city itself.

Affordability · ONS ASHE

What share of Bedford pay goes on rent?

Renters in Bedford spend an estimated 39% of the local median gross salary on rent — based on the ONS Price Index of Private Rents and ASHE Table 8 (2025).

Median rent

£1,170/mo

£14,040/yr

Median pay

£35,987/yr

gross, ASHE 2025

Rent burden

39%

Affordable for most renters.

0%30% threshold80%

Sources: Office for National Statistics — Price Index of Private Rents (latest month) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings Table 8.7a (median annual gross pay, place of residence). The 30% line is the conventional rent-burden threshold above which housing costs are considered to crowd out other essentials.

Property types

What’s on offer in Bedford

Flats & apartments

987

53% of listings

Houses

733

39% of listings

Rooms

136

7% of listings

Bungalows

22

1% of listings

Property mix · houses

Houses to rent in Bedford — what's on the market

Terraced houses make up 40% of the 755 houses currently advertised in Bedford.

  • Terraced
    40%302
  • Semi-detached
    26%197
  • Other house
    16%118
  • Detached
    15%116
  • Bungalow
    3%22

Rent by postcode

Where Bedford rent is highest and lowest

Median monthly rent grouped by outcode across 1,968 live listings in 19 outcodes. Outcodes with fewer than 3 listings are skipped to avoid skew from a single luxury rental.

Most expensive in Bedford

  1. 1MK17£1,850/mo15 rentals
  2. 2MK10£1,750/mo31 rentals
  3. 3MK9£1,585/mo96 rentals

Cheapest in Bedford

  1. 1MK40£1,050/mo788 rentals
  2. 2MK6£1,063/mo20 rentals
  3. 3MK46£1,123/mo4 rentals

Features · Bedford

Garden, parking, and floor area in Bedford

Live signal across 2,683 Bedford rentals scraped from six UK portals. Coverage varies by portal — figures below show the share of listings whose advertiser surfaces the feature.

Garden

77%

of 465 Bedford listings advertise a garden, patio, or terrace.

Parking

86%

of 634 Bedford listings include parking, a driveway, or a garage.

Live from the portals

New rentals in Bedford this week

89 homes came onto the Bedford rental market in the last 7 days across Rightmove, OnTheMarket, OpenRent, PrimeLocation, SpareRoom and Leaders. The freshest are below.

89 new this weekUpdated today
  1. 1 bed property for rent in Rutland Road, Bedford MK40
    £650/moPrimeLocation

    1 bed property

    Rutland Road, Bedford MK40

    1View listing
  2. property for rent in Flat 6, 41 Grafton Road, Bedford MK40
    £750/moPrimeLocation

    Studio property

    Flat 6, 41 Grafton Road, Bedford MK40

    View listing
  3. 1 bed property for rent in Alexander Road MK40
    £825/moPrimeLocation

    1 bed property

    Alexander Road MK40

    1View listing
  4. 1 bed property for rent in Chaucer Road, Bedford MK40
    £900/moPrimeLocation

    1 bed property

    Chaucer Road, Bedford MK40

    1View listing
  5. 1 bed property for rent in Castle Quay, Prebend Street MK40
    £950/moPrimeLocation

    1 bed property

    Castle Quay, Prebend Street MK40

    1View listing
  6. 2 bed property for rent in Columbine Close, Bedford MK41
    £1,150/moPrimeLocation

    2 bed property

    Columbine Close, Bedford MK41

    2View listing
  7. 3 bed property for rent in Sovereigns Quay, Bedford MK40
    £1,300/moPrimeLocation

    3 bed property

    Sovereigns Quay, Bedford MK40

    3View listing
  8. 3 bed property for rent in Coventry Road, Bedford MK40
    £1,350/moPrimeLocation

    3 bed property

    Coventry Road, Bedford MK40

    3View listing
  9. 3 bed property for rent in Coventry Road, Queens Park Area, Bedford MK40
    £1,400/moPrimeLocation

    3 bed property

    Coventry Road, Queens Park Area, Bedford MK40

    3View listing
  10. 2 bed property for rent in Wheelwright House, Bedford MK42
    £1,450/moPrimeLocation

    2 bed property

    Wheelwright House, Bedford MK42

    2View listing
  11. 3 bed property for rent in Kendall Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42
    £1,500/moPrimeLocation

    3 bed property

    Kendall Road, Kempston, Bedford MK42

    3View listing
  12. 3 bed property for rent in Hatfield Crescent, Bedford MK41
    £1,850/moPrimeLocation

    3 bed property

    Hatfield Crescent, Bedford MK41

    3View listing
  13. 1 bed flat/apartment for rent in 1 Bed Flat, Goldington Avenue, MK40
    £895/moOpenRent

    1 bed flat/apartment

    1 Bed Flat, Goldington Avenue, MK40

    11View listing
  14. 2 bed flat/apartment for rent in 2 Bed Flat, Wheelwright House, MK42
    £1,450/moOpenRent

    2 bed flat/apartment

    2 Bed Flat, Wheelwright House, MK42

    22View listing
  15. 4 bed room for rent in Room in a Shared House, Hilton Close, MK42
    £700/moOpenRent

    4 bed room

    Room in a Shared House, Hilton Close, MK42

    43View listing
  16. 1 bed flat/apartment for rent in 1 Bed Flat, St Michaels Road, MK40
    £1,600/moOpenRent

    1 bed flat/apartment

    1 Bed Flat, St Michaels Road, MK40

    11View listing
  17. 2 bed flat/apartment for rent in Eden House, Ashburnham Road, Bedford
    £975/moOnTheMarket

    2 bed flat/apartment

    Eden House, Ashburnham Road, Bedford

    21View listing
  18. 2 bed house for rent in Columbine Close, Bedford
    £1,150/moOnTheMarket

    2 bed house

    Columbine Close, Bedford

    21View listing
  19. 1 bed flat/apartment for rent in Flat 3 Ashburnham Road, Bedford MK40
    £850/moOnTheMarket

    1 bed flat/apartment

    Flat 3 Ashburnham Road, Bedford MK40

    11View listing
  20. 1 bed house for rent in Room 2 Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford
    £650/moOnTheMarket

    1 bed house

    Room 2 Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford

    11View listing
  21. 1 bed house for rent in Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford
    £550/moOnTheMarket

    1 bed house

    Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford

    11View listing
  22. 1 bed house for rent in Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford
    £550/moOnTheMarket

    1 bed house

    Saxon Way, Great Denham, Bedford

    11View listing
  23. 1 bed flat/apartment for rent in Ashburnham Road, Bedford
    £850/moOnTheMarket

    1 bed flat/apartment

    Ashburnham Road, Bedford

    11View listing
  24. 3 bed semi-detached house for rent in Kendall Road, Kempston, Bedford
    £1,500/moOnTheMarket

    3 bed semi-detached house

    Kendall Road, Kempston, Bedford

    32View listing

Listings refresh as our scraper picks up new properties for Bedford. Click through to the source portal to enquire.

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Council tax · VOA 2024

Council tax bands across Bedford

Most Bedford homes sit in Band C. The weighted average works out close to Band C–D across 79,820 properties on the council-tax list.

Modal band

C

most common band

Mean band

3.28

≈ Band C–D

Stock

80k

79,820 properties

  • A
    13%10,260
  • B
    24%18,940
  • C
    25%20,050
  • D
    15%12,370
  • E
    11%8,920
  • F
    7%5,760
  • G
    4%3,280
  • H
    0%250

Source: HM Valuation Office Agency — Council Tax Stock of Properties (CTSOP1.0), extract dated 31 March 2024. Covers England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland use separate band schemes and aren't included.

Broadband · Ofcom Connected Nations

Broadband coverage across Bedford

70% of Bedford premises can already get full-fibre and 86% can get gigabit speeds — Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage, July 2025.

Full fibre

70%

FTTP-ready premises

Gigabit

86%

≥1Gbit/s available

Superfast

99%

≥30Mbit/s available

Mean speed

454 Mbit/s

bucket-weighted estimate

  • Full fibre (FTTP)
    70%
  • Gigabit-capable
    86%
  • Superfast (≥30 Mbit/s)
    99%

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations residential coverage by Local Authority (Bedford), July 2025, covering 80,044 premises. Mean download speed is estimated from Ofcom speed-bucket midpoints.

Energy efficiency · DESNZ EPC

EPC ratings for Bedford homes

55% of Bedford homes hold a current EPC in bands A–C — the bands that meet the proposed 2030 minimum energy-efficiency standard for rented stock.

Bands A–C

55%

good energy-efficiency stock

Bands D–G

45%

below the proposed 2030 floor

Certificates

69k

69,363 EPCs

  • A
    1%463
  • B
    18%12,625
  • C
    36%25,311
  • D
    31%21,197
  • E
    11%7,711
  • F
    2%1,647
  • G
    1%409

Source: DESNZ Energy Performance of Buildings register (replacement for opendatacommunities.org), domestic certificates filed under Bedford. Covers England and Wales — Scottish EPCs are held in a separate Scottish register and aren't included.

Schools · GIAS · DfE

State-funded schools near Bedford

12 open state-funded schools sit within one mile of the Bedford centroid. The five closest:

  1. 1

    Priory Primary School

    Primary · Foundation school · MK40 1JD

    0.26 mi
  2. 2

    Bedford Free School

    Secondary · Free schools · MK42 9AD

    0.31 mi
  3. 3

    Livingstone Primary School

    Primary · Foundation school · MK41 7LG

    0.50 mi
  4. 4

    Castle Newnham School

    Primary · Academy converter · MK40 3EP

    0.72 mi
  5. 5

    Peter Pan Nursery School

    Nursery · Local authority nursery school · MK42 9DR

    0.74 mi

Source: DfE Get Information About Schools (state-funded extract). Distances are straight-line from each school's postcode to the Bedford centroid. Ofsted ratings were removed from GIAS in January 2025 and aren't available here.

Area breakdown

Safety by suburb in Bedford

Street-level crime counts from data.police.uk for July 2026, covering a ~1 mile radius around each suburb centre. Figures are normalised per 1,000 residents so you can compare neighbourhoods fairly.

Brickhill has the lowest crime count of the top 5 suburbs in Bedford.

  • Kempston

    Safer area

    Most common: Violent crime (85) · pop. ~20,000

    12
    per 1k

  • Queens Park

    Higher crime

    Most common: Violent crime (229) · pop. ~7,000

    86
    per 1k

  • Brickhill

    Safer area

    Most common: Violent crime (31) · pop. ~8,000

    12
    per 1k

  • Goldington

    Typical for city

    Most common: Violent crime (106) · pop. ~11,000

    31
    per 1k

  • Elstow

    Higher crime

    Most common: Violent crime (119) · pop. ~3,000

    109
    per 1k

Suburbs shown are representative populated areas; figures reflect street-level incidents within ~1 mile of each centre. Data from data.police.uk. Contains public-sector information licensed under OGL v3.0.

Where we search

Bedford listings by portal

We watch 6 property sites for rentals in Bedford.

Rightmove
1024
OnTheMarket
564
PrimeLocation
496
OpenRent
458
SpareRoom
136
Leaders
5

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Frequently asked

Renting in Bedford — your questions answered

How much is rent in Bedford?

The average (median) asking rent in Bedford is £1,200 a month — a 1-bed is £875 and a 2-bed £1,200, based on 2,683 live listings across 6 property portals in Sept 2026.

What is the average studio rent in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a studio in Bedford is £750 a month, 37% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 92 studios currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 1-bed flat in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a 1-bed home in Bedford is £875 a month, 27% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 868 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 2-bed flat or house in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a 2-bed home in Bedford is £1,200 a month, in line with the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 773 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 3-bed house in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a 3-bed home in Bedford is £1,500 a month, 25% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 516 listings currently on the market.

What is the average rent for a 4-bed house in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a four-bedroom-plus home in Bedford is £2,000 a month, 67% above the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 298 listings currently on the market.

What is the average room rent in Bedford?

The median asking rent for a room in a Bedford house share is £550 a month, 54% below the city-wide median of £1,200, based on 136 rooms currently listed, mostly on SpareRoom and OpenRent.

How many rental properties are available in Bedford?

There are currently 2,683 rental properties available in Bedford, with 89 new listings added in the last 7 days.

Across East of England

Average rent across East of England

How Bedford compares with the other 20 places we track in East of England — median asking rent from live listings, updated September 2026.

Every city, every region, one table: the UK rental index.

Compare across the UK

Average rent in major UK cities

See how Bedford compares with the UK’s largest rental markets — median rents, area data and live alerts for each.

Renting guides

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Guides on covering every portal and reaching new Bedford listings first.

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