Chester, Illinois.
Typical home $113,528 (-1.8% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$315 (+112%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $2,035 -2%
- $115,562$113,528 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $29,536 +35%
- $83,992$113,528 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$596
- Illinois$1,553
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Chester, IL fell 1.8% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Chester, Randolph County, Illinois
Chester is a city of 6,814 people in Randolph County. Half its households earn more than $80,625 a year and half less, against $68,131 across Randolph County; 22% of its people live below the poverty line. 74% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 26% are rented. Unemployment in Randolph County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then government.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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 city in Randolph County, Illinois, with residents who are older than in much of the country. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and typical home values are modest. Household incomes run above the county's, though a fair number of residents live below the poverty line, and few adults hold a four-year degree.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with government, manufacturing, and restaurants and hotels also employing a good share. Among the largest workplaces in Chester are Chester Mental Health Center, Memorial Hospital and the Chester CUSD school district. Commutes are short, and very few people work from home. Across Randolph County, unemployment is lower than a year ago, though the number of jobs has slipped slightly.
Things to do. The Chester Opera House, a theatre in or beside town, is a local place to catch a show. A short drive away are the Kaskaskia River and Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site, a protected area with historical interest. Fults Hill Prairie State Natural Area is another protected area a short drive away, a quiet spot for a walk. Winters are cold, with only a little snow, and summers are hot, with a fair amount of rain through the year.
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- 1,827households
- 10%of adults have a degree
- 22%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 2%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Randolph County had 11,252 jobs in 2025, 1.2% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 40° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 89° and lows near 68°. About 4 inches of snow and 43 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Kaskaskia River Navigation Lock weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Chester
- Chester Mental Health CenterHospitals, psychiatric convalescent495
- Memorial HospitalCritical access hospital189FTE
- Chester CUSD 139School district162FTE
- WalmartDiscount department stores89
- Construction Supply - Chester YardHome centers, building materials74
- Randolph CountyAuditor's offices, government74
- City of ChesterMayor's offices51
- Randolph County SheriffAuditor's offices, government38
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 9 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,166 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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
- Strong windVery high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- HailRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
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 high. 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 Randolph 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$113,528
- Illinois$295,943
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Chester18
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.