Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Because it does well by almost any measure. Chester Township earns an A, 62nd among New Jersey's 466 graded towns. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 97% of U.S. towns, and its schools outperform 89% of the state's. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $791K for a typical one and 8 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Chester Township’s median rent is $2,787 a month, where New Jersey’s towns sit at $1,778 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. On walkability, just 41 of New Jersey’s 530 towns do worse. Chester Township's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 93% of U.S. towns.
Where Chester Township beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Chester Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.2% | 14.3% |
44% of the town is conserved land, across 12 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Chester Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 705 in 1880, 1,681 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1812 and 7 maps from 1888 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Chester Township takes its name from Chester in Cheshire, England, 3,340 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionChester Township takes its name from Chester, a large town in Cheshire, England.
3 more U.S. towns are named after Chester:Chester, PA33,996Chester, IL6,847Chester, NY3,991
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Chester Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw38 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw37 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw38 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw36 mi MuseumNational September 11 Memorial & MuseumMadison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · National September 11 Memorial & Museum: Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Chester Township, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Chester Township.
Chester Township reports less crime than Tewksbury Township or any other graded neighbor and keeps more of its land conserved than most of New Jersey, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New Jersey.
Its widest gap with New Jersey is food insecurity: 6.2% of its 6,541 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.3% statewide. Against the 490 U.S. towns with household incomes like Chester Township’s, it is healthier than 68%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Chester Township beats the New Jersey average on 20 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 22% of Chester Township adults have obesity.
| Chester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.5% | 11% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 36% | 36% |
| What stands out | Chester Township | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.2% | 14.3% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 5.9% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.8% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its A for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $791K.
Its public schools are run by the Chester Township School District. Three of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dickerson Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 356 | – |
| Gill St. Bernard S School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 578 | – |
| Black River Middle SchoolTop results in townGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 352 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests and graduation
Its 8,184 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 96% of New Jersey towns.
41 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. The trail density in Chester Township is 1.4 miles per square mile. Elizabeth D. Kay Environmental Center, at 1,188 acres with 8.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Elizabeth D. Kay Environmental Center | 8.5 mi | 1,188 |
| 2. Tiger Brook Park | 3.9 mi | 285 |
| 3. Evans Family Preserve | 2.8 mi | 106 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A+ tops all 4 graded towns on its borders; Tewksbury Township (A+) comes closest. Violent crime is rare: 0 reported in 2025, 0 per 1,000 residents.
Chester Township’s property crime rate is 3.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Chester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.2 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
27.5% of workers work from home, against 16.8% across New Jersey.
2% of residents live below the poverty line in Chester Township. Only 8 of the 468 New Jersey towns we compare have a higher median household income than Chester Township. Jobs based in Chester Township grew to 1,932 in 2023, 185 more than in 2013.
| Chester Township | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $242,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2% | 6.1% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.5% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Chester Township has chilly winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 20° and about 30 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 60% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Chester Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 8 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 80% of New Jersey towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
8 within 15 miles of the center of Chester Township
About 6 of every 100 Chester Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Jersey.
Where Chester Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Chester Township on the National Register of Historic Places.
Borough in Morris County, New Jersey, US
Chester Borough is a borough in southwestern Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 1,681, an increase of 32 (+1.9%) from the 2010 census count of 1,649, which in turn reflected an increase of 14 (+0.9%) from the 1,635 counted in the 2000 census. Chester's name is derived from the township, which was named for Chestershire in England. Chester Borough is located within the Raritan Valley region and is periodically recognized as part of the Somerset Hills. The borough is completely surrounded by Chester Township, making it part of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds anot…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Chester Township.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Township | #62 | A | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Randolph Township | #101 | A | C− | — | A− | A+ |
| Washington Township | #75 | A | D | A | A− | A+ |
| Mendham Township | #84 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Succasunna | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mount Olive Township | #87 | A | C− | A | B+ | A |
| Bedminster Township | #76 | A | D | A | A− | A+ |
| Tewksbury Township | #47 | A | D | A+ | A− | A+ |
Randolph Township and Mendham Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Succasunna isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Chester Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Chester Township grades A overall, better than 93% of U.S. towns and #62 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A+ for health, A+ for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $791,000, 38% above the New Jersey typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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