Chester vs Sparta

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

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

Chester has the higher population (6,830 vs 4,070 in Sparta). Chester has the higher median household income ($74,673 vs $63,401 in Sparta). Sparta has the higher median home value ($120,500 vs $107,800 in Chester).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Sparta
Population	6,830	4,070
Median age	43.5 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$74,673	$63,401
Median home value	$107,800	$120,500
Median gross rent	$642	$722
Housing units	2,342	2,000
Homeownership rate	71.0%	59.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.8%	19.7%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	9.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Sparta
Population	8,343 → 6,830 (-18.1%)	4,351 → 4,070 (-6.5%)
Median household income	$47,885 → $74,673 (+55.9%)	$49,753 → $63,401 (+27.4%)
Median home value	$101,700 → $107,800 (+6.0%)	$90,300 → $120,500 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$535 → $642 (+20.0%)	$681 → $722 (+6.0%)

Chester

Population

8,3436,830

Median household income

$47,885$74,673

Median home value

$101,700$107,800

Median gross rent

$535$642

Sparta

Population

4,3514,070

Median household income

$49,753$63,401

Median home value

$90,300$120,500

Median gross rent

$681$722

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Sparta
Under 5	3.8%	5.6%
5 to 17	5.7%	20.9%
18 to 24	6.2%	10.3%
25 to 34	21.4%	9.3%
35 to 44	15.7%	11.4%
45 to 54	15.9%	7.8%
55 to 64	15.8%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.5%	12.4%
75 and over	6.0%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Sparta
White (non-Hispanic)	69.4%	77.8%
Black or African American	25.6%	13.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	0.5%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	3.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Sparta
No high school diploma	23.6%	6.3%
High school graduate	43.1%	39.7%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	6.3%	12.7%
Graduate or professional degree	1.5%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Sparta
Drove alone	90.5%	85.1%
Carpooled	2.8%	11.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.0%	0.4%
Bicycle	2.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	1.4%	2.0%
Other means	0.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Sparta
1-unit, detached	80.1%	61.1%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	13.6%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	3.7%
20 or more units	4.9%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	6.4%	17.5%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Sparta
Poverty rate	19.5%	19.0%
Average household size	2.07	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1958	1972