Photo: James Shelton32 · CC BY-SA 4.0Chester has lower unemployment (2.5%) than 77% of U.S. towns
Only 4% work in Chester; the top destination outside it is Richmond (18%, 13 miles). Jobs and income earn Chester A−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Measured by household income, Chester is ahead of 73% 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 in brief
Chester draws workers from far and wide
The 6,138 jobs in Chester are filled from a wide area. Chester’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Chester
61% of Chester residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 34% of the jobs based in Chester pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Chester pay little
27% of the jobs based in Chester pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 36% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 84% of U.S. towns, #96 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (8.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Where people from Chester work
Where Chester clocks in
18% of workers
2% 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.
What work there is in Chester: 6,138 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 5,776 → 6,138. 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.
Who works in Chester, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 9,674 residents head out to work, 433 work right here, and 5,705 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Chester on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
About 28 minutes each way, about the VA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,037 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% 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 goes to work
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Chester gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #189 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,145 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 12% 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 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 4.1% of Chester households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
455th of 1,642: where Chester ranks among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Rose Hill VA | 21,066 | $175K | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Franconia VA | 18,335 | $152K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 453 | West Milford Township NJ | 25,216 | $132K | 3.0% | 6.1% | 9% | A− |
| 454 | Anthem AZ | 22,584 | $121K | 4.1% | 4.4% | 6% | A− |
| 455 | Chester VA | 24,474 | $95K | 8.1% | 2.5% | 4% | A− |
| 456 | Saco ME | 21,159 | $92K | 6.4% | 2.1% | 14% | A− |
| 457 | Santaquin UT | 18,989 | $100K | 3.9% | 2.1% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Virginia.
Chester and the towns next door
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?
$95,104 (±$9,839) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
8.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (18%, 13 mi), Colonial Heights (2%, 7 mi), Hopewell (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% 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.