Chester vs Monson Center

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

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

Monson Center has the higher population (1,794 vs 692 in Chester). Chester has the higher median household income ($86,042 vs $58,603 in Monson Center). Monson Center has the higher median home value ($279,500 vs $203,300 in Chester).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Monson Center
Population	692	1,794
Median age	42.6 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$86,042	$58,603
Median home value	$203,300	$279,500
Median gross rent	$1,095	$770
Housing units	283	906
Homeownership rate	70.5%	59.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.1%	24.8%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	16.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Monson Center
Population	787 → 692 (-12.1%)	1,881 → 1,794 (-4.6%)
Median household income	$65,250 → $86,042 (+31.9%)	$64,673 → $58,603 (-9.4%)
Median home value	$175,700 → $203,300 (+15.7%)	$220,000 → $279,500 (+27.0%)
Median gross rent	$989 → $1,095 (+10.7%)	$903 → $770 (-14.7%)

Chester

Population

787692

Median household income

$65,250$86,042

Median home value

$175,700$203,300

Median gross rent

$989$1,095

Monson Center

Population

1,8811,794

Median household income

$64,673$58,603

Median home value

$220,000$279,500

Median gross rent

$903$770

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Monson Center
Under 5	0.6%	5.4%
5 to 17	31.2%	11.4%
18 to 24	5.3%	9.4%
25 to 34	5.2%	8.2%
35 to 44	9.2%	14.0%
45 to 54	23.8%	10.2%
55 to 64	15.9%	16.8%
65 to 74	5.6%	17.2%
75 and over	3.0%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Monson Center
White (non-Hispanic)	98.4%	92.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Monson Center
No high school diploma	2.1%	9.3%
High school graduate	59.1%	41.4%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	24.5%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Monson Center
Drove alone	91.2%	75.2%
Carpooled	2.3%	6.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.8%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.6%
Worked from home	1.8%	15.0%
Other means	0.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Monson Center
1-unit, detached	75.6%	50.2%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	17.0%	34.8%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	13.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Monson Center
Poverty rate	2.9%	26.7%
Average household size	3.09	2.11
Mean commute (minutes)	30	44
Median year structure built	1938	1938