Bexley, OH
What Bexley is actually like
Bexley became a village in 1908 when the residents of Bullitt Park agreed to merge with the neighboring Lutheran settlement of Pleasant Ridge; an early resident, Col. Lincoln Kilbourne, suggested the name Bexley in honor of his family's ancestral home of Bexley, in London, England, and the village became a city on January 1, 1932, per Wikipedia's Bexley entry.
Capital University, a Lutheran college founded in 1850, relocated to the Pleasant Ridge section of what became Bexley in 1876 and has anchored the city's East Main Street corridor ever since, alongside Trinity Lutheran Seminary (founded 1830), per Wikipedia. The city's shape has stayed just as fixed as its institutions: Bexley occupies a set 2.5-square-mile footprint bounded by Alum Creek to the west, Gould Road to the east, Delmar Drive to the north and Livingston Avenue to the south, with essentially no undeveloped land left to annex, per the City of Bexley.
Bexley had 13,928 residents at the 2020 U.S. Census; the city's own current figures put that at just over 14,000 residents across roughly 4,000 households, per the City of Bexley.
Home values in Bexley
Redfin put Bexley's median home sale price at $649,570 for the three months ending August 2026, down 1.0% from the same period a year earlier, per Redfin.
Getting around
Bexley's compact 2.5-square-mile grid, laid out before the automobile, keeps most errands along Main Street within an 84-Walk-Score's worth of walking distance, and COTA's Route 2 bus runs the length of the city; a planned bus-rapid-transit line along East Main Street, funded by a levy 68% of Bexley voters approved in November 2024, is meant to add faster COTA service without changing the residential streets around it, per the City of Bexley.
Bexley FAQ
Is Bexley a good place to live?
Its 84 Walk Score, A+-rated independent school district and fixed 2.5-square-mile footprint appeal to buyers who want an established, close-in suburb, but that land scarcity shows up in price — Redfin's median sale price was $649,570 for the three months ending August 2026.
What's the Bexley school district like?
Bexley City Schools is a small, independent district — about 2,496 students across three elementary schools plus a middle and high school — that Niche rates A+ and ranks #4 among Columbus-area districts, with a 95% graduation rate.
Does Bexley have its own electric utility?
No — unlike Westerville, Bexley's electric delivery comes from AEP Ohio. The city runs an aggregation program that lets it negotiate the electricity supply rate on residents' behalf, but AEP still owns the wires and bills the account.
Is Bexley walkable, and is there a subway or light rail?
Yes for daily errands — Walk Score rates it 84 (Very Walkable) — but central Ohio has no rail transit; Bexley is served today by COTA's Route 2 bus, with a bus-rapid-transit line along East Main Street planned for around 2029.
Nearby alternatives*We're not ranking these — every place has real trade-offs, and which ones matter is up to you.
German Village
German Village sits about two miles west along Main Street, across downtown, on the other side of the Scioto River.
Downtown & Arena District
Downtown Columbus and the Statehouse sit roughly 4 miles west via East Main Street.
Reynoldsburg
Reynoldsburg, a major Columbus suburb, picks up east of Bexley past I-270, near Mount Carmel East hospital.
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