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Deprivation & opportunity in Bedford

IMD 2019 · 103 LSOAs · MHCLG · OGL v3.0

What is the area opportunity and deprivation level in Bedford?

Bedford has a Gera Area Opportunity Index (GAOI) of 58.2/100 (rank 166 of 313 English local authorities), 0.3 points above the national average of 57.9/100. This places Bedford in the "Moderate Opportunity" tier. Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019 (MHCLG), OGL v3.0.

Proprietary metric:Gera Area Opportunity Index (GAOI/100)·As of September 2019 · updated when MHCLG publishes new IMD (last: )

58.2

GAOI / 100

#166

of 313 English LAs

Moderate Opportunity

Opportunity tier

+0.3

vs England avg (57.9)

Domain breakdown — Bedford

All scores 0–100 (higher = less deprived / more opportunity). Derived from IMD 2019 by inverting and normalising each domain across all 313 English LAs.

GAOI domain sub-scores for Bedford
DomainIMD weightGAOI sub-scoreBar
Income22.5%61.8/100
Employment22.5%62.1/100
Education13.5%59.7/100
Health13.5%41.3/100
Crime Safety9.3%46.2/100
Housing Access9.3%58.4/100
Environment9.3%74.7/100

Raw mean IMD composite: 18.93 (population-weighted across 103 LSOAs). Population (mid-2015): 166,221.

Explore your opportunity profile

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Explore Bedford's opportunity profile across all 7 deprivation domains. Toggle custom weighting to see a GAOI tailored to what matters most to you (e.g. prioritise employment and housing when choosing a place to rent).

58.2/100Moderate Opportunity
vs England avg
+0.3 pts

Official ONS-weighted GAOI · Bedford · IMD 2019 source data

Domain breakdown (0 = most deprived, 100 = least deprived)

💷 Income(22.5%)61.8/100
👔 Employment(22.5%)62.1/100
🎓 Education(13.5%)59.7/100
🏥 Health(13.5%)41.3/100
🔒 Crime Safety(9.3%)46.2/100
🏠 Housing Access(9.3%)58.4/100
🌿 Environment(9.3%)74.7/100

GAOI sub-scores derived from English Indices of Deprivation 2019 (MHCLG, OGL v3.0). Each sub-score = inverted and min-max normalised domain score across all 313 English LAs. Custom weighting is illustrative — not an official statistic.

Questions about Bedford

What is the deprivation level in Bedford?
Bedford has a Gera Area Opportunity Index of 58.2/100 (rank 166 of 313 English LAs), placing it in the "Moderate Opportunity" tier. Its population-weighted mean IMD score is 18.932 (lower IMD = less deprived). The national average IMD is 19.535. Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019, MHCLG, OGL v3.0.
What are the strongest and weakest opportunity domains in Bedford?
In Bedford, the strongest opportunity domains are environment (74.7/100) and employment (62.1/100). The domains with most room for improvement are crime safety (46.2/100) and health (41.3/100). All scores are 0–100 (higher = less deprived / more opportunity), derived from English Indices of Deprivation 2019 (MHCLG).
How does Bedford compare with the England average for deprivation?
Bedford's GAOI of 58.2/100 is 0.3 points above the England average of 57.9/100, based on the English Indices of Deprivation 2019 (MHCLG). It ranks 166 out of 313 English local authorities (rank 1 = least deprived / highest opportunity).

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Also see: Gera Liveability Index, crime rates by area, and air quality by area.

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019 — File 7 (All LSOA Scores, Ranks, Deciles). Published by Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), September 2019. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. GAOI methodology: https://gerarent.com/methodology/gera-area-opportunity-index. Data as of ; page updated .