City · Randolph County, Illinois

Chester, Illinois

Chester is a city in Randolph County, Illinois. It has 6,797 residents. Chester, Illinois has a quality-of-life score of 25 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,786 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Illinois it ranks #609 of 697 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), social associations (high) and public libraries (high). It ranks worst on new business applications (low), public EV charging ports (low) and flu vaccinations (low).

25Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,786 of 15,651 cities and towns
Illinois: #609 of 697 in IL
Population: 6,797 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 1,177.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 1713139

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety54#7,122/15,637
Economy24#11,838/15,631
Housing73#4,001/14,977
Health26#11,622/15,609
Healthcare23#12,037/15,650
Environment33#10,428/15,453
Education8#14,368/15,649
Infrastructure13#13,657/15,650
Community51#7,637/15,651
Leisure & amenities53#7,364/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Chester, Illinois ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Randolph County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Home price to income ratio · low1.4×
99/100Illinois 3.2×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Social associations · high21.5 /10k
99/100Illinois 9.8 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRandolph County value
Public libraries · high2.7 /10k
95/100Illinois 0.6 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesRandolph County value
Property crime rate · low366 /100k
94/100Illinois 1,508 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationRandolph County value
Violent crime rate · low83 /100k
90/100Illinois 251 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationRandolph County value
Rent-burdened households · low36.4%
88/100Illinois 47.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070

Weaknesses

New business applications · low6.6 /1k
1/100Illinois 14.9 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauRandolph County value
Public EV charging ports · low0.0 /10k
3/100Illinois 4.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyRandolph County value
Flu vaccinations · low28.0%
5/100Illinois 48.0%United States 44.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRandolph County value
Pharmacies · low0.7 /10k
6/100Illinois 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRandolph County value
Bachelor's degree or higher · low10.2%
7/100Illinois 37.8%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Preventable hospital stays · high4,116 /100k
7/100Illinois 3,343 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRandolph County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
8,343 (2015-2019) → 6,797 (2020-2024)
−19%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.7% (2015-2019) → 88.6% (2020-2024)
+19 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$47,885 (2015-2019) → $80,625 (2020-2024)
+68%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Home price to income ratioImproving
2.1× (2015-2019) → 1.4× (2020-2024)
−35%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
4.4% (2015-2019) → 11.0% (2020-2024)
+6.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Child poverty rateImproving
23.3% (2015-2019) → 16.9% (2020-2024)
−6.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Chester, Illinois improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 10 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Household income+68%$47,885 → $80,625
Price / income−0.7×2.1× → 1.4×
Broadband+19 points69.7% → 88.6%

Declined1

Uninsured+6.6 points4.4% → 11.0%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Chester, Illinois between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	15.3 min2015-2019	20.0 min2020-2024	+4.7 min	Within the margin of error	11%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.2%2015-2019	10.2%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	34%
Broadband subscriptions	69.7%2015-2019	88.6%2020-2024	+19 points	Improved	88%
Child poverty rate	23.3%2015-2019	16.9%2020-2024	−6.3 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Effective property tax rate	1.41%2015-2019	1.47%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	9%
High school diploma or higher	69.5%2015-2019	74.5%2020-2024	+4.9 points	Within the margin of error	81%
Home price to income ratio	2.1×2015-2019	1.4×2020-2024	−0.7×	Improved	96%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4242015-2019	0.4102020-2024	−0.014	Within the margin of error	63%
Median household income	$47,8852015-2019	$80,6252020-2024	+68%	Improved	94%
Poverty rate	16.2%2015-2019	21.7%2020-2024	+5.5 points	Within the margin of error	11%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	23.0%2015-2019	24.7%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Rent-burdened households	36.9%2015-2019	36.4%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.4%2015-2019	11.0%2020-2024	+6.6 points	Declined	7%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Chester, Illinois five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Chester, Illinois in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Chester, Illinois itself moved +4.1 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

6,797 residents (±30)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,827 households (±123)

Chester, Illinois
Illinois share

Under $25k16%†293
$25k–50k19%†354
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,827 households (±123)

Chester, Illinois
Illinois share

Own74%1,352
Rent26%†475

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,948 workers (±224)

Chester, Illinois
Illinois share

Drive alone85%1,657
Carpool4.9%†96
Public transit0.0%0

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Randolph County, the county holding most of Chester's residents.

Randolph County has 636 employer establishments, 213 for every 10,000 residents (0.86× the US rate of 248; 0.84× Illinois's), with 10,736 paid employees at an average annual pay of $48,985. The Census Bureau also counts 1,342 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 636; 1,342 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 213; US 248 · Illinois 255
Paid employees: 10,736
Average annual pay: $48,985; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Randolph County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	51	17.1	0.93×About typical	671	$18,343	6
Ambulatory health care services	44	14.8	0.71×Fewer than typical	396	$50,399	48
Specialty trade contractors	44	14.8	0.95×About typical	402	$65,841	105
Religious organizations	40	13.4	2.42×More than typical	197	$25,513	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	29	9.7	1.93×More than typical	121	$47,711	23
Limited-service restaurants	27	9.1	1.13×About typical	440	$18,386	—
Full-service restaurants	22	7.4	0.96×About typical	216	$17,931	4
Banks and credit unions	20	6.7	2.08×More than typical	188	$51,798	—
Construction of buildings	18	6	0.80×Fewer than typical	41	$106,683	35
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	16	5.4	4.43×More than typical	47	$13,511	—
Gasoline stations	15	5	1.55×More than typical	171	$25,386	—
Insurance agencies and brokerages	15	5	1.15×About typical	37	$41,216	23

Rank places for an industry Open Randolph County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 29,805 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $213 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Chester, Illinois: $0.03 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $213; +1,342% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.03; US $1,994
Sole-source: 100%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Consumer Product Safety Commission$213100%

Top recipients

MEMORIAL HOSPITAL$213100.0%

Spending by fiscal year

2.4KFY2017
3.3KFY2018
211.7FY2019
6.9KFY2020
182.3FY2021
201.5FY2022
6.9KFY2023
116.6KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Data processing, hosting, and related services · 5182$213100.0%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Chester, Illinois, so they do not add up across cities.

Chester, Illinois's figures are part of those of Randolph County, IL ($361.4K in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Chester is mostly in Randolph County.

See federal money in Randolph County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Chester, Illinois is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Mike BostR-IL-12 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 1.6%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Randolph County53100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Randolph County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/1713139

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends