Villa Bella Vista · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ. M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Chester have higher incomes than those in 83% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.8 in Stamford. 11.8% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 10.0% for Connecticut as a whole. For jobs and income Chester is better than 63% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chester: the figures worth knowing
Chester trades workers with the towns around it
Chester has about as many jobs (1,840) as working residents (1,719), but they are mostly different people: 1,524 residents leave for work each day while 1,645 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Chester are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Chester makes and builds things
47% of the jobs based in Chester are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Chester residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Chester’s workforce skews older
36% of Chester’s working residents are 55 or older. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Chester’s grade explained
Household income holds Chester’s grade up ($109,191, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Who works in Chester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,524 residents head out to work, 195 work right here, and 1,645 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.07 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.
Factories, building and farms: 47% of the jobs in Chester
1,840 jobs are based in Chester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 1,908 → 1,840. 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.
7% of working residents work in Essex
Where Chester clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
About 28 minutes each way, about the CT average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,545 commuters (the 18% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where in the region Chester works
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.
Chester is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across Connecticut.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,890 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 68% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 68% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 7.2% of Chester households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000, Chester ranks 1,544th of 4,318 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Andover CT | 3,173 | $135K | 1.8% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | Bolton CT | 4,875 | $126K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 578 | Salem CT | 4,324 | $123K | 6.2% | 3.2% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,542 | Adamsville AL | 4,178 | $63K | 11.4% | 2.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,543 | Greencastle PA | 4,222 | $77K | 6.9% | 3.0% | 11% | B |
| 1,544 | Chester CT | 3,726 | $109K | 11.8% | 4.8% | 11% | B |
| 1,545 | Wright Township MI | 3,185 | $87K | 11.4% | 4.3% | 7% | B |
| 1,546 | Sisters OR | 2,934 | $95K | 7.7% | 2.6% | 27% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Connecticut.
Work in the towns next to Chester
The biggest share goes to Deep River (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester | – | B | A− | 28 min | $109,191 |
| Deep River | 4% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $90,253 |
| Deep River Center | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Lyme | under 2% | A | B | 31 min | $135,000 |
| Haddam | under 2% | A− | B− | 31 min | $114,426 |
| East Haddam | under 2% | A− | C− | 30 min | $107,861 |
Same-state neighbors only. Deep River Center: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chester’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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?
$109,191 (±$18,195) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
11.8%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Essex (7%, 6 mi), Hartford (5%, 26 mi), Middletown (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 68% 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.