Median real estate price in the City Center of Chester is $138,096, which is less expensive than 85.6% of Illinois neighborhoods and 90.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
The average rental price in Chester City Center is currently $1,159, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 90.9% of Illinois neighborhoods.
Chester City Center is a rural neighborhood (based on population density) located in Chester, Illinois.
Real estate in the City Center of Chester, IL is primarily made up of medium sized (three or four bedroom) to small (studio to two bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the City Center neighborhood are relatively historic, built no later than 1939, and in some cases, quite a bit earlier. A number of residences were also built between 1940 and 1969.
Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Chester City Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 21.0%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 88.8% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the Chester City Center neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the Chester City Center community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, astoundingly, the City Center neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Chester neighborhood.
Also, if you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the Chester City Center is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 8.4% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Illinois, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Illinois.
The government often provides some of the more stable jobs in the economy. From local, to state, to federal government workers, the government can also be a major employer. What NeighborhoodScout's analysis revealed, is that the Chester City Center neighborhood in particular stands out when compared nationally for the proportion of its working residents who are employed by the government. At 24.0% of its workforce, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of government workers than 99.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
While most Americans do drive to work alone each day, the Chester City Center neighborhood stands out by having 90.0% of commuters doing so, which is a higher proportion of people driving alone to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 97.2% of all American neighborhoods.
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 3.7% of residents in the Chester City Center neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 97.0% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Did you know that the Chester City Center neighborhood has more German and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 46.2% of this neighborhood's residents have German ancestry and 8.3% have French ancestry.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the City Center neighborhood in Chester are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 45.6% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the Chester City Center neighborhood, 34.1% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 28.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (24.5%), and 24.0% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
The most common language spoken in the Chester City Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 99.3% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the City Center neighborhood in Chester, IL, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (46.2%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (11.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.0%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (8.3%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (5.0%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Chester City Center neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (56.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (90.0%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.