Best PlacesChester, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chester, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chester ranks 2,089th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chester
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Chester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chester ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 93% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
- Short commute22.6 minutes each way, better than 74% of cities
Where Chester ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$43,710 median, better than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Chester
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,710, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Chester's effective rate of 1.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Chester
Chester runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chester.
Who works in Chester, and how
Work in Chester centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Chester
Chester has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. The coast is about 38 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chester, month by month
Chester sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Chester
Philadelphia International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Chester
Schools across Chester average a D−, better than 2% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Parkside El SchA · 70% proficient
- Linwood El SchB− · 40% proficient
- Eddystone El SchB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northley MsC · 35% proficient
- Toby Farms Intermediate SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Strath Haven HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Sun Valley HsA− · 60% proficient
- Stem At ShowalterD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chester measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Chester against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Chester suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Chester
Is Chester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chester ranks 2,089th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and transit, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,217. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $43,710 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is Chester safe?
Chester is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $685 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chester?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 27. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
Is Chester good for families?
Schools beat 2% of cities, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $1,032 a month.
Compare Chester with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chester represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Chester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chester detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.