Chester vs Riceville

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

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

Riceville has the higher population (795 vs 141 in Chester). Chester has the higher median household income ($57,500 vs $47,434 in Riceville). Chester has the higher median home value ($101,800 vs $92,100 in Riceville).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Riceville
Population	141	795
Median age	39.5 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$57,500	$47,434
Median home value	$101,800	$92,100
Median gross rent	$513	$1,016
Housing units	76	428
Homeownership rate	84.5%	66.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	18.9%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Riceville
Population	184 → 141 (-23.4%)	889 → 795 (-10.6%)
Median household income	$31,250 → $57,500 (+84.0%)	$44,402 → $47,434 (+6.8%)
Median home value	$63,200 → $101,800 (+61.1%)	$76,500 → $92,100 (+20.4%)
Median gross rent	$706 → $513 (-27.3%)	$613 → $1,016 (+65.7%)

Chester

Population

184141

Median household income

$31,250$57,500

Median home value

$63,200$101,800

Median gross rent

$706$513

Riceville

Population

889795

Median household income

$44,402$47,434

Median home value

$76,500$92,100

Median gross rent

$613$1,016

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Riceville
Under 5	4.3%	6.7%
5 to 17	17.7%	15.0%
18 to 24	8.5%	7.8%
25 to 34	18.4%	17.1%
35 to 44	5.0%	13.2%
45 to 54	17.0%	7.4%
55 to 64	9.2%	10.2%
65 to 74	9.9%	9.4%
75 and over	9.9%	13.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Riceville
White (non-Hispanic)	99.3%	89.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.7%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	8.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Riceville
No high school diploma	6.1%	7.3%
High school graduate	34.7%	36.2%
Some college or associate's	46.9%	37.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.2%	15.9%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Riceville
Drove alone	64.8%	82.4%
Carpooled	23.9%	9.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.2%	6.1%
Other means	7.0%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Riceville
1-unit, detached	77.6%	92.8%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	1.2%
20 or more units	2.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.3%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Riceville
Poverty rate	8.5%	11.0%
Average household size	2.43	2.01
Mean commute (minutes)	33	36
Median year structure built	1938	1945