Work & commute · Chester

Work & commute in Chester, MI

Most working residents leave Chester for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Grand Rapids (16%), Walker (8%) and Wright (7%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2021 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

14 of 938 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 924 Chester residents head out of town to work, 14 work right here, and 291 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Chester.

924live here, work elsewhere

14live and work here

291work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Chester goes to work

Grand Rapids17 mi away

16%154

Walker12.5 mi away

8%77

Wright6.1 mi away

7%63

Coopersville8.2 mi away

5%46

Kentwood23.2 mi away

4%38

Wyoming20.2 mi away

4%37

Alpine8 mi away

4%35

Cascade25.7 mi away

3%26

Sparta6 mi away

3%24

Muskegon21.2 mi away

2%21

Everywhere elseother towns and states

44%417

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Chester commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

20%

60%

13%

20%Under 10 mi

60%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

13%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Chester is a commuter town

0.33jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.33 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Chester are

305 jobs are based in Chester. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chester’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Chester

305 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)67%

Trade, transport & utilities2%

Services (health, schools, offices…)31%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month49%

Jobs Chester residents hold

938 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)35%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)48%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month58%

+170%

Jobs based in Chester, 2011 → 2021: 113 → 305. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2021. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2021, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.