Households in Chester have lower incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
For <1% of workers, the job is at home, against 17% across California. The poverty rate is 11.3%, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Jobs and income earn Chester D; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Chester stands out on work
A big share show a job far from home
49% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Few Chester workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Chester has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Chester went from 622 in 2013 to 878 in 2023, +41%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 591 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Chester
On income, poverty and job access, Chester is better than 8% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Chester’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Chester’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Chester could be anywhere from D− to C.
How far Chester goes to work
About 49% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Time on the road from Chester: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 638 commuters (the <1% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
66% of the jobs in Chester pay over $3,333 a month
878 jobs are based in Chester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 622 → 878. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Chester
On a workday 401 residents head out to work, 190 work right here, and 688 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Chester on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Susanville
Where Chester clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
For most of Chester, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 639 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.4% of Chester households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Chester ranks 5,251st of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,249 | Pine River Township MN | 1,240 | $58K | 15.5% | 7.3% | 2% | D |
| 5,250 | East Fallowfield Township PA | 1,517 | $59K | 24.6% | 2.2% | 3% | D |
| 5,251 | Chester CA | 1,759 | $47K | 11.3% | 3.8% | 32% | D |
| 5,252 | Homosassa FL | 1,942 | $52K | 16.6% | 3.7% | 9% | D |
| 5,253 | Bunker Hill OR | 1,626 | $60K | 24.4% | 1.1% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Chester, the top three, the last and three more from California.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Chester: questions
What is the median household income in Chester?
$47,129 (±$7,306) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
11.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Susanville (5%, 33 mi), Reno (4%, 90 mi), San Francisco (3%, 186 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 12.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chester
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.