Work & commute · Chester

Work & commute in Chester, SC

Most working residents leave Chester for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Rock Hill (14%), Charlotte (8%) and Greenville (3%). Half commute less than 27 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

148 of 2,259 working residents

Typical commute

27 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 2,111 Chester residents head out of town to work, 148 work right here, and 1,846 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Chester.

2,111live here, work elsewhere

148live and work here

1,846work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Chester goes to work

Rock Hill19.4 mi away

14%310

Charlotte, NC41 mi away

8%185

Chester (in town)right here

7%148

Greenville66.2 mi away

3%61

Lancaster24.4 mi away

2%46

Columbia49 mi away

2%34

Eureka Mill1.4 mi away

2%34

Fort Mill25.9 mi away

1%30

York20.4 mi away

1%24

Spartanburg44.1 mi away

1%20

Everywhere elseother towns and states

61%1,367

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.

19%

28%

31%

22%

19%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

31%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Chester is balanced between jobs and homes

0.88jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Chester are

1,994 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

1,994 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)1%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month51%

Jobs Chester residents hold

2,259 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month45%

+67%

Jobs based in Chester, 2013 → 2023: 1,197 → 1,994. 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 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.