Photo: Evking22 · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.6%, unemployment in Chester Township is lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 24 minutes each way, about the same as across Indiana. The two grades for Chester Township are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Chester Township is behind 63% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Chester Township in brief
Why Chester Township gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chester Township is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #266 of 593 in Indiana. Unemployment holds Chester Township’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($66,728, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester Township could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
29% of working residents work in North Manchester
Where Chester Township clocks in
29% of workers
9% 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.
How a workday changes Chester Township
On a workday 1,911 residents head out to work, 921 work right here, and 2,014 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 (1.04 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.
A place that makes things: 33% of Chester Township’s jobs are in goods
2,935 jobs are based in Chester Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester Township, 2013 → 2023: 3,254 → 2,935. 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 Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Chester Township: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester Township workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,173 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% 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 Chester Township’s workers travel
About 22% 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.
Chester Township is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester Township is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #59 of 593 in Indiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Indiana, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,374 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). 4.6% of Chester Township households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Chester Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,167 U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400, Chester Township comes 1,569th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Worth Township IN | 6,688 | $123K | 4.1% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Hidden Valley IN | 5,706 | $121K | 1.9% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | New Whiteland IN | 5,937 | $90K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,567 | Erwin NY | 7,824 | $88K | 9.3% | 4.0% | 20% | B |
| 1,568 | Mabank TX | 7,294 | $55K | 5.0% | 1.9% | 14% | B |
| 1,569 | Chester Township IN | 6,958 | $67K | 8.7% | 1.6% | 33% | B |
| 1,570 | Monson MA | 8,175 | $97K | 8.5% | 6.2% | 13% | B |
| 1,571 | Raisin Township MI | 8,165 | $96K | 8.2% | 3.8% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | 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 Township, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
Next door is work for 29% of Chester Township
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chester Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Township | – | B | A− | 24 min | $66,728 |
| Pleasant Township | under 2% | C+ | D− | 25 min | $73,011 |
| Jackson Township | under 2% | B+ | D− | 26 min | $74,583 |
| North Manchester | 29% | B− | A | 23 min | $61,296 |
| Warren Township | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Lagro Township | under 2% | C+ | D | 26 min | $82,394 |
Same-state neighbors only. Warren Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to North Manchester. Darker towns draw more of Chester Township’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 Township: questions
What is the median household income in Chester Township?
$66,728 (±$8,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester Township?
8.7%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester Township?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester Township work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Manchester (29%, 3 mi), Warsaw (9%, 20 mi), Wabash (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester Township walkable?
Chester Township is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chester Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chester Township
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.