Living in Chester, PA
Suburb in Pennsylvania
Chester is a suburb in Pennsylvania, home to about 33,000 people, with 3.3 million living within 31 mi. Day to day, you can walk or take transit almost everywhere. Life moves at a very fast pace, and homes are mostly apartments.
Is Chester a good place to live? Pros and cons
👍 Pros
- Strong healthcare: 14 top-rated (4–5★) hospitals within 31 mi
- Easy flying: PHL is 7 mi away
- Great outdoors: coast or a lake close by
- Affordable housing: a typical 3-bedroom home is about $99k and rents for $2,170 a month
👎 Cons
- Weaker public schools: test results well below the US average
- Few dog parks: 5 within 9 mi
- Higher crime: violent crime is 3.6× the US rate (FBI 2019)
- Fewer family amenities than most places
Whether it's a good place for you depends on what you value. Take the quiz to see how Chester ranks against your own priorities.
Key facts
Living in Chester: common questions
What is the cost of living in Chester?
A typical 3-bedroom home is worth about $99k, and a 3-bedroom rents for about $2,170 a month including utilities. Overall living costs are close to the US average (index 103, where the US is 100).
What are taxes like in Chester?
Pennsylvania collects about $1,376 in state income tax per resident, and homeowners here pay about 1.96% of their home's value in property tax each year.
Is Chester safe?
Violent crime is well above the national rate (3.6× in FBI 2019 data).
How are the schools in Chester?
Public schools in Chester test well below the US average in math and reading (2018–19 state tests, put on one national scale with NAEP), with about 16 students per teacher.
What is the weather like in Chester?
Chester has cool winters: winter days average around 45°F and summer days around 86°F, with roughly 23″ of snow a year.
Does Chester get natural disasters?
Natural disaster risk is low, mainly from flooding and earthquakes: 7 federally declared disasters have hit the county since 2000, and FEMA expects about 0.53 deaths or injuries per 100,000 residents a year.
What is the nearest major airport to Chester?
The nearest major airport is PHL, about 7 mi away.
How Chester scores
Each bar compares Chester with the other 1,990 places in Best Life Fit Me. A dot shows where it sits between two ends, such as major metro and small town; neither end is better. Coloured bars run from poor (red) to excellent (green).
Places like Chester
These places have the most similar overall profile across all 24 aspects.
The circle is each place's all-round score out of 100: the average of its 15 quality scores, from red (poor) to green (excellent).
Nearby
See all the best places to live in Pennsylvania.
Is Chester right for you?
Answer 27 quick questions and see how it ranks against your priorities.