Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Chester has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The two grades for Chester are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Chester has 652 jobs, against 1,317 working residents. About one in seven stay in Chester for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (17%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Chester stands out on work
Chester and Springfield trade workers both ways
Springfield is the top workplace for Chester residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Chester come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Chester’s workforce skews older
36% of Chester’s working residents are 55 or older. 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.
Why Chester gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chester is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #41 of 71 in Vermont. Unemployment holds Chester’s grade up (2.8%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chester could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Out of Chester to work: where people go
Where Chester clocks in
17% 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.
Making and building: 33% of jobs based in Chester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 717 → 652. 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 1,127 residents head out to work, 190 work right here, and 462 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Chester on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
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, longer than most of Vermont
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chester workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,289 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Vermont: 82% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Chester
About 16% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Chester
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chester is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #36 of 71 in Vermont. Both inputs place Chester near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,498 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 52% 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). 4.3% of Chester households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chester’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,539th of 4,618: where Chester ranks among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 614 | Norwich VT | 3,577 | $140K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 809 | East Montpelier VT | 2,594 | $93K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,537 | Kitty Hawk NC | 3,670 | $94K | 4.7% | 8.9% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,538 | Hamiltonban Township PA | 2,347 | $91K | 14.4% | 3.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,539 | Chester VT | 2,955 | $62K | 7.0% | 2.8% | 14% | C+ |
| 2,540 | Meiners Oaks CA | 3,934 | $70K | 14.6% | 2.9% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,541 | Delshire OH | 3,907 | $91K | 17.4% | 7.7% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Vermont.
Chester and its neighbors: 27% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester | – | C+ | A− | 28 min | $62,125 |
| Springfield | 17% | D | A− | 27 min | $66,571 |
| Andover | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Ludlow | 10% | C | A− | 20 min | $54,885 |
| Windham | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Grafton | under 3% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Andover, Windham and Grafton: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Springfield. 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?
$62,125 (±$7,868) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chester?
7.0%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chester?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chester work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (17%, 8 mi), Ludlow (10%, 8 mi), Rockingham (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chester walkable?
Chester is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chester without a car?
0% 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.