Chester is a medium-sized town located in the state of Virginia. With a population of 23,414 people and ten associated neighborhoods, Chester is the 43rd largest community in Virginia.Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Chester is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Chester is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Chester who work in office and administrative support (11.11%), management occupations (10.58%), and sales jobs (8.88%). Also of interest is that Chester has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.42% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. The overall education level of Chester citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 31.66% of adults in Chester have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%. The per capita income in Chester in 2022 was $43,510, which is upper middle income relative to Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $174,040 for a family of four. However, Chester contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Chester is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Chester home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Chester residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Chester also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.37% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Chester include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Chester is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and German/Yiddish.
