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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-CHESTER-CA · Chester, CA 2,022 pop · income 62nd pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Chester
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Chester on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jamestown · lowest
25,602
Jamestown · lowest
25,602 median HH income
11.7% of the leader · rank #1
Kensington Pa… · near
80,139
Kensington Pa… · near
80,139 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #2
Ettrick · near
80,139
Ettrick · near
80,139 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #3
Chester · this city
80,142
Chester · this city
80,142 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #4
Blanchard · near
80,142
Blanchard · near
80,142 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #5
Damascus · near
80,144
Damascus · near
80,144 median HH income
36.8% of the leader · rank #6
Harmony Grove · highest
217,917
Harmony Grove · highest
217,917 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Chester on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 2,022.
Chester ranks in the 62nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
62nd
percentile, household income
54th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Chester, CA
Chester is a small town in California, home to 2,022 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Chester households earn a median of $80,142 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Home values in Chester run a median of $241,400, and the median resident age is 46.5 years. About 21.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Chester's yearly average temperature at 47.7°F with 34.3 inches of precipitation per year and 109.6 inches of snowfall.
California carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 110.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 88.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Chester's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from schools and households to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chester, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Chester?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 21.5% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.7°F, with 34.3 inches of precipitation and 109.6 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for California is 88.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Chester?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within California, the closest population matches are Knightsen (2,018 residents, $173,564 income); San Pasqual (2,014 residents, $138,542 income); Cabazon (2,010 residents, $69,704 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bay City, OR (2,022 residents); Bartonville, TX (2,022 residents); Pinedale, WY (2,022 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Chester?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 84.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Chester?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
3.0×
Home value
$241,400
Household income
$80,142
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C-
City profile score · Chester, CA
53/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$80,142
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
110.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chester profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 60/100 (C+) · $80,142
Bachelor's+ share: 39/100 (F) · 21.5%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Chester compare to other US cities?
Here's how Chester stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income62% higher than other cities
Home value54% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Chester against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to California only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
California-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Chester near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chester ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chester only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#773 of 1,338
42nd percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,179 of 1,343
12th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#1,194 of 1,450
0th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#848 of 1,458
42nd percentile in California
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within California only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
62nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Chester's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$241,40046th percentilemore affordable than 46% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Chester's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#6,755 of 15,516
More affordable than 56% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#5,705 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.0×, Chester sits in the moderate band:
national rank #6,755 of 15,516 and #5,705 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$80,142Chester, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Chester, CA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Chester, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,022
Median Income
$80,142
Median Home Value
$241,400
Median Age
46.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
58.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.5%
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.7°F
Annual Precipitation
34.3"
Annual Snowfall
109.6"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
84.1%
Carpool
8.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.1%
Work from Home
6.9%
Based on 971 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
California statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $275
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across California at $275 (electricity about $150 , water and sewer about $70 ).
These are California statewide averages, not a meter reading for Chester. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
California's BEA cost-of-living index is 110.7 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Chester is $2,053/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to California statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a California statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Chester sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chester compares to similar-size California cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.