Is New Chester a good place to live?
The best of New Chester’s subject grades is an A for civic life; the weakest is a D− for walkability. New Chester has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
New Chester has shrunk 11% since 2010
2,254 counted in 2010 and 1,960 in 2020; an estimated 2,002 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
How New Chester grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Wisconsin), ordered by how far New Chester is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to New Chester: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in New Chester, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in New Chester.
A larger share of adults have diabetes in New Chester than in most of Wisconsin or the rest of the country
New Chester: 33% of adults get no exercise outside work, where Wisconsin’s towns sit at 26% and U.S. towns at 25%. In New Chester, 40% of adults have high blood pressure. Only 7 of the 358 Wisconsin towns we compare have a higher share of adults who report frequent physical distress than New Chester.
| New Chester | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 11% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 26% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | New Chester | WI |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 19.3% | 13.6% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 14% | 9.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.1% | 6.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
New Chester stands out in Wisconsin and nationally: the average trip to work there is longer
The median household income for New Chester comes to $49,000, below both Wisconsin’s towns ($87,000) and U.S. towns ($80,000). Jobs based here fell to 111 in 2023, 265 fewer than in 2013. Just over a quarter of residents live below the poverty line locally. The top destinations are Wisconsin Dells (7%), Lake Delton (6%) and Portage (5%).
| New Chester | Wisconsin towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 37 minutes | 22 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 26% | 6.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $49,000 | $87,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.6% | 8.3% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
New Chester: snowy winters and pleasant summers
July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 8° and about 42 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
New Chester faces a high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
Of the losses FEMA expects in New Chester, 40% come from inland flooding and 33% from cold waves. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 64% of U.S. communities. Households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2008.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Dells of the Wisconsin River and 8 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Chester. Close and well known come first.
16 mi Canyon & gorgeDells of the Wisconsin River
29 mi Park & preserveIce Age Trail19 mi Theme parkNoah's Ark Water Park
31 mi State parkDevil's Lake State Park
18 mi Theme parkMt. Olympus Water & Theme Park30 mi MuseumMid-Continent Railway MuseumPhoto credits
Dells of the Wisconsin River: atramos, CC BY 2.0 · Ice Age Trail: MDuchek, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Devil's Lake State Park: CrispAir at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 · Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park: User Royalbroil on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5
Everything we know about New Chester
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of New Chester; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 New Chester residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Wisconsin.
97% of working residents leave New Chester for work
Where New Chester’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
New Chester’s neighbors
5 towns share a border with New Chester.
| Town | WI rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Chester | — | — | A− | — | C− | C− |
| Westfield | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Easton | — | — | B− | — | C− | D |
| Jackson | — | — | C | — | C+ | C |
| Lincoln | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grand Marsh | — | — | — | — | — | — |
New Chester, Easton and Jackson have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. New Chester, Easton and Jackson report no FBI crime data of their own. Westfield, Lincoln and Grand Marsh aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare New Chester with a neighbor →
Questions about New Chester
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is New Chester, WI expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.