Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0At 1.2%, unemployment in Chester is lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Chester are A for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Chester is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. Only 5% stay in Chester for work; outside it, New York City is the main destination (21%, 51 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Chester
Stores, warehouses and trucking
71% of the jobs in Chester are in trade, transport and utilities, against 23% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Chester’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chester is New York City, 51 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (396) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Chester workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 33 across New York. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Chester gains people on a workday
About 4,800 people are in Chester on a workday afternoon, 21% more than the 4,000 who live here: 2,600 come in to work and 1,800 head out. Day and night ↓
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.
The figures behind Chester’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chester is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #90 of 758 in New York. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester could be anywhere from B to A+.
The 2,701 jobs based in Chester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 3,300 → 2,701. 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.
How far it is to work from Chester
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.
Getting to work from Chester takes about 40 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,261 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Chester on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,763 residents head out to work, 93 work right here, and 2,608 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,800 people are in Chester on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 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.
Where people from Chester work
Where Chester clocks in
21% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Chester
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 9.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,508 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 62% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.3% of Chester households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 15% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chester next to U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400: 484th of 4,177 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 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Pound Ridge NY | 5,057 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 482 | Colona IL | 4,938 | $80K | 3.8% | 0.6% | 5% | A |
| 483 | Wolverine Lake MI | 4,455 | $92K | 5.8% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| 484 | Chester NY | 3,991 | $101K | 6.8% | 1.2% | 5% | A |
| 485 | Chester NH | 5,322 | $142K | 4.0% | 2.9% | 5% | A |
| 486 | Madera Ranchos CA | 3,037 | $127K | 10.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | 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 New York.
Work in the towns next to Chester
The biggest share goes to Goshen (8%).
Jobs & commute next door
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?
$100,514 (±$28,198) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
6.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
40 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (21%, 51 mi), Chester (9%, 2 mi), Goshen (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
15% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% 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.