Chester vs Portola

A side-by-side comparison of Chester and Portola: population, income, housing, and more.

Chester and Portola are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Portola has the higher population (2,462 vs 2,022 in Chester). Chester has the higher median household income ($80,142 vs $42,385 in Portola). Chester has the higher median home value ($241,400 vs $232,100 in Portola).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Portola
Population	2,022	2,462
Median age	46.5 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$80,142	$42,385
Median home value	$241,400	$232,100
Median gross rent	$798	$837
Housing units	1,303	1,292
Homeownership rate	81.6%	47.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.5%	12.4%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	17.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Portola
Population	2,145 → 2,022 (-5.7%)	1,913 → 2,462 (+28.7%)
Median household income	$57,125 → $80,142 (+40.3%)	$50,956 → $42,385 (-16.8%)
Median home value	$207,100 → $241,400 (+16.6%)	$160,600 → $232,100 (+44.5%)
Median gross rent	$636 → $798 (+25.5%)	$734 → $837 (+14.0%)

Chester

Population

2,1452,022

Median household income

$57,125$80,142

Median home value

$207,100$241,400

Median gross rent

$636$798

Portola

Population

1,9132,462

Median household income

$50,956$42,385

Median home value

$160,600$232,100

Median gross rent

$734$837

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Portola
Under 5	4.3%	8.9%
5 to 17	13.7%	18.2%
18 to 24	6.0%	5.2%
25 to 34	14.2%	12.1%
35 to 44	9.6%	15.3%
45 to 54	5.3%	7.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	11.6%
65 to 74	23.9%	13.4%
75 and over	9.1%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Portola
White (non-Hispanic)	81.5%	71.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.1%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	16.4%	22.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Portola
No high school diploma	9.9%	10.1%
High school graduate	23.0%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	45.6%	48.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.8%	9.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	2.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Portola
Drove alone	84.1%	70.1%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.1%	17.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	2.3%
Worked from home	6.9%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Portola
1-unit, detached	75.2%	69.0%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	5.9%
20 or more units	8.1%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	7.8%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Portola
Poverty rate	5.9%	27.3%
Average household size	2.28	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	17	20
Median year structure built	1975	1971