Grafenried is a former municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

[2] The oldest trace of a settlement is a Hallstatt era grave mound at Eichberg.

The remains of what may have been a Roman era farm as well as a late medieval abandoned village were discovered at Wille/Wittenberg.

During the Middle Ages the village, court and church were owned by the Counts of Thierstein.

The aisleless church was built above a post-Roman tomb outside the village on the road to Fraubrunnen.

During the 19th century many of the local farmers switched from growing grain to raising dairy cattle.

In 1916 a station on the Bern-Solothurn-Zollikofen Railway (now Regional Bern-Solothurn) was built in the village.

A few industrial businesses (auto recycling, steel engineering and a wood products factory) moved into the village in the 1970s.

The new neighborhoods Bachtelen and Sinfonia were built in 1976 to provide housing for the growing population.

Of the rest of the land, 0.48 km2 (0.19 sq mi) or 10.2% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.

It includes the village of Grafenried as well as the two hamlets that were founded in the 16th century, Buchhof and Binel.

[1] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent on a Base Vert a Hind statant Gules.

[3] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (862 or 95.9%) as their first language, French is the second most common (15 or 1.7%) and Italian is the third (3 or 0.3%).

In the tertiary sector; 29 or 39.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 11 or 14.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 14 or 18.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 3 or 4.1% were in the information industry, 3 or 4.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 6 or 8.1% were in education.

[3] From the 2000 census[update], 86 or 9.6% were Roman Catholic, while 703 or 78.2% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.