Mary's River Covered Bridge · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainEarning a living in Chester
Home is the office for 2% of workers; Illinois has 16%. Jobs and income earn Chester C; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in four work in Chester; the top destination outside it is Steeleville (9%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Chester, in brief
Chester trades workers with the towns around it
Chester has about as many jobs (2,457) as working residents (2,108), but they are mostly different people: 1,604 residents leave for work each day while 1,953 people come in. Only 21% of the jobs in Chester are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Chester are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Chester workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
The jobs in Chester pay better than its residents’ jobs
65% of the jobs based in Chester pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 49% of the jobs Chester residents hold. 79% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Chester. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
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.
How Chester earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chester is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #644 of 768 in Illinois. Household income holds Chester’s grade up ($80,625, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester could be anywhere from D to B.
Who leaves Chester for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,604 residents head out to work, 504 work right here, and 1,953 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 (1.17 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Chester
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,909 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Chester is a services town
2,457 jobs are based in Chester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 3,085 → 2,457. 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.
Where in the region Chester works
About 34% 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.
Commuting out of Chester: the destinations
Where Chester clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
Most of Chester commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #407 of 768 in Illinois. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,948 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). 9.0% of Chester households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chester places 2,432nd of 3,168 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | South Barrington IL | 5,071 | $222K | 1.0% | 2.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 13 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,430 | Olivarez TX | 6,326 | $65K | 19.2% | 6.8% | <1% | C |
| 2,431 | Eureka IL | 5,129 | $56K | 10.8% | 7.7% | 18% | C |
| 2,432 | Chester IL | 6,847 | $81K | 21.7% | 4.7% | 24% | C |
| 2,433 | Fort Edward NY | 5,943 | $70K | 13.8% | 6.3% | 10% | C |
| 2,434 | Athens Township PA | 5,156 | $72K | 12.6% | 6.9% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,168 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Illinois.
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?
$80,625 (±$15,642) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
21.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
20 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Steeleville (9%, 11 mi), Perryville (4%, 14 mi), Sparta (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% 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.