Bedford, in northeast Tarrant County (North Central Texas Council of Governments), is home to 47,958 residents on 10.03 square miles, with a 2020 density of 4,977.9 people per square mile (U.S. Census Bureau). Renters occupy roughly half of the city’s 20,658 households, based on an owner-occupancy rate of 50.6% (U.S. Census Bureau).
A large renter base and a location on State Highway 183, between Dallas and Fort Worth, put Bedford on the list of Dallas real estate investment opportunities outside the urban core. The corridor through town is in line for added capacity, the city has put idle land back on the tax rolls, and the regional job market added more than 54,000 positions over the past year.
Bedford, TX Rental Demand Inside the DFW Metro
Bedford’s median gross rent was $1,502 over the 2020 to 2024 survey period, against a median household income of $83,971 (U.S. Census Bureau). Value-add underwriting in Bedford starts with the gap between those income levels and current rents on older units.
Bedford’s population has declined. Census estimates show the city down 4.0% between its April 2020 base and July 2025 (U.S. Census Bureau). Demand depends more on household turnover and regional employment than on local population gains. About 17% of residents age 1 and older lived somewhere else a year earlier. The rent and income figures above are five-year survey estimates and trail today’s market.
DFW Job Growth Behind Dallas Multifamily Investment Opportunities
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro added 54,600 nonfarm jobs from June 2025 to June 2026, a 1.3% increase (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine metropolitan division, which includes Tarrant County (Bureau of Labor Statistics), reached 1,222,100 nonfarm jobs in August 2026, up 1.5% from a year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Both job counts are preliminary estimates. Professional and business services grew 5.0% in the division over that period, and leisure and hospitality grew 4.4%.
North Central Texas added an estimated 203,786 residents in 2025, for a 16-county total of 8,952,590 people as of January 1, 2026 (North Central Texas Council of Governments). Bedford residents can commute to job centers in both Fort Worth and Dallas.
Healthcare and Aviation Employers Near Bedford
Health care and social assistance receipts in Bedford reached $1.05 billion in 2022, the largest of the four sectors QuickFacts reports for the city, compared with $654 million in retail sales (U.S. Census Bureau). Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford, a Level III trauma center (Texas Department of State Health Services), operates at 1600 Hospital Parkway in Bedford (Texas Health Resources).
American Airlines reported more than 37,000 team members in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as of May 2024 (American Airlines). A 2026 Texas Christian University study, based on fiscal 2024 data, places the airline’s DFW hub at $68.8 billion to $71.1 billion in annual economic output (Texas Christian University). Construction of Terminal F at DFW Airport is projected to support nearly 55,000 job-years in North Central Texas at completion (The Perryman Group).
Bedford’s Outlook: SH 183 Upgrades and City Reinvestment
SH 121/183, the Airport Freeway, is an east-west corridor through North Richland Hills, Hurst, Bedford, Euless and Fort Worth (Texas Department of Transportation). The NTE Capacity Improvement Project will expand the TEXpress managed lanes on SH 121/183 between Hurst and Euless. A Ferrovial Construction and Webber joint venture leads design and construction, and the work is funded through toll revenue under the existing NTE concession (TEXpress Lanes).
Farther east, TxDOT plans to add one tolled express lane in each direction on SH 183 from SH 121 to the President George Bush Turnpike (Texas Department of Transportation). The agency’s May 2024 federal grant application estimated the project at $954 million, with construction starting in early 2026 and completion in December 2030 (Texas Department of Transportation). The project page lists no updated schedule, and construction will add congestion before the new capacity opens.
Bedford’s proposed fiscal 2025-2026 budget reports that the city maintained an AA+ bond rating in fiscal 2024-2025 and finalized the sale of its 18.5-acre Campus West tract at SH 183 and FM 157, which put land that had been tax-exempt for more than 30 years back on the tax rolls (City of Bedford). Plans for the site include townhomes and more than 60,000 square feet of grocery, retail and restaurant space. Bedford Commons, a site between Bedford Road and L. Don Dodson Drive that the city is developing with Midway Development Group, is planned for residential, restaurant and retail uses.
What Bedford Means for DFW Multifamily Investors
Bedford has about 10,200 renter households and access to two regional job markets that grew over the past year. Healthcare and aviation employers are a short drive away, and the highway work and planned Campus West development add access and amenities around existing housing. Bedford’s population decline and lagging survey data put more weight on household turnover and regional hiring to carry demand.
In Bedford, the figures to watch are income levels, rent gaps on older properties and the pace of SH 183 work. The location pages cover Bedford multifamily investments and other Texas multifamily markets in more detail.
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