Chester’s household incomes are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 0% of workers (Georgia 16%). Below the poverty line: 38.3% of residents; Georgia has 13.4%. Jobs and income earn Chester D−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Chester’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Chester is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Chester’s grade up ($56,048, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (3.4%) 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 D.
Who works in Chester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 103 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 167 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.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Chester live
Where Chester clocks in
8% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Chester
167 jobs are based in Chester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 255 → 167. 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.
Time on the road from Chester: about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 283 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far it is to work from Chester
About 38% 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.
The commute in Chester is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Chester near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 283 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.5% of Chester households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000, and where Chester sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Fairplay GA | 1,881 | $120K | 1.6% | 1.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 200 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 407 | Cataula GA | 1,522 | $124K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,831 | Buchanan Dam TX | 1,513 | $56K | 23.1% | 0.0% | 3% | D− |
| 5,832 | McCrory AR | 1,440 | $44K | 19.4% | 3.4% | 21% | D− |
| 5,833 | Chester GA | 1,476 | $56K | 38.3% | 3.4% | 0% | D− |
| 5,834 | Beaverton MI | 1,217 | $30K | 18.2% | 1.5% | 8% | D− |
| 5,835 | Edmore MI | 1,274 | $54K | 32.2% | 2.7% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Georgia.
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?
$56,048 (±$9,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
38.3%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
37 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eastman (8%, 14 mi), Macon-Bibb County (8%, 42 mi), Dublin (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 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 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
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.