Chester, California.
Typical home $371,579 (+0.1% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$957 (+96%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $284 +0%
- $371,295$371,579 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $29,150 +9%
- $342,428$371,579 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Chester$1,950
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 42 years.
Typical home values in Chester, CA rose 0.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Chester, Plumas County, California
Chester, in Plumas County, had 2,187 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $47,129 a year and half less, against $66,031 across Plumas County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Plumas County was 5.7% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Plumas County work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Chester is a small mountain community where winters are cold and heavy with snow, and summers are warm without being hot. The town's incomes run well below the county's, though the typical home is worth more than many people might expect for a place this size. Fewer adults here hold a four-year degree than you might find in larger cities, and almost no one works from home.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, then restaurants, hotels and entertainment, and government. Across Plumas County, some of the largest workplaces are the California Department of Transportation, Sierra Pacific Industries' Quincy Division and Plumas Unified. The county has lost a few jobs over the past year, and unemployment has stayed close to where it stood a year earlier.
Things to do. Lake Almanor, a large reservoir, is a short drive away, and so is the Mount Harkness Fire Lookout, a tourist attraction. Lassen Volcanic National Park is a longer drive, and it is the best known destination nearby, with lakes and trails in the surrounding mountains.
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- 877households
- 19%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 0%work from home
What people in Plumas County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Plumas County had 6,610 jobs in 2025, 1.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 41° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 48°. About 110 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chester weather station, under a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Plumas County
- Sierra Pacific Industries, Quincy DivisionWood chips made in sawmills289
- Plumas UnifiedSchool district200FTE
- Feather River Community College DistrictUniversity or college190
- Eastern Plumas Health CareCritical access hospital144FTE
- Plumas District Hospital CAHCritical access hospital129FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture117
- Seneca District HospitalCritical access hospital93FTE
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture72
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,074 people in all across the county; Chester has two of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- WildfireRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Volcanic activityRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Chester’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Plumas County.
Chester home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Chester$371,579
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Chester listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Chester25.39%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Chester39
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Chester4
Zip codes with a Chester address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Chester — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.