Chester vs Fort Lawn

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

Chester and Fort Lawn are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chester has the higher population (5,241 vs 1,144 in Fort Lawn). Fort Lawn has the higher median household income ($54,141 vs $41,231 in Chester). Fort Lawn has the higher median home value ($189,000 vs $106,400 in Chester).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Fort Lawn
Population	5,241	1,144
Median age	37.3 yrs	29.8 yrs
Median household income	$41,231	$54,141
Median home value	$106,400	$189,000
Median gross rent	$905	$1,280
Housing units	2,601	403
Homeownership rate	54.4%	61.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.1%	17.0%
Unemployment rate	11.6%	9.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Fort Lawn
Population	5,408 → 5,241 (-3.1%)	940 → 1,144 (+21.7%)
Median household income	$26,330 → $41,231 (+56.6%)	$38,438 → $54,141 (+40.9%)
Median home value	$67,100 → $106,400 (+58.6%)	$97,100 → $189,000 (+94.6%)
Median gross rent	$580 → $905 (+56.0%)	$917 → $1,280 (+39.6%)

Chester

Population

5,4085,241

Median household income

$26,330$41,231

Median home value

$67,100$106,400

Median gross rent

$580$905

Fort Lawn

Population

9401,144

Median household income

$38,438$54,141

Median home value

$97,100$189,000

Median gross rent

$917$1,280

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Fort Lawn
Under 5	10.8%	6.2%
5 to 17	13.8%	29.4%
18 to 24	6.2%	8.2%
25 to 34	17.4%	15.1%
35 to 44	8.4%	13.5%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.2%
55 to 64	15.1%	10.6%
65 to 74	11.3%	1.7%
75 and over	6.1%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Fort Lawn
White (non-Hispanic)	31.8%	41.9%
Black or African American	64.3%	48.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.7%
Asian	0.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.3%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Fort Lawn
No high school diploma	19.7%	20.8%
High school graduate	35.3%	31.1%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.5%	4.4%
Graduate or professional degree	2.6%	12.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Fort Lawn
Drove alone	81.5%	92.8%
Carpooled	12.9%	2.4%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	1.4%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.2%	2.2%
Other means	1.2%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Fort Lawn
1-unit, detached	74.3%	49.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	11.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	2.4%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	7.2%	49.4%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Fort Lawn
Poverty rate	25.0%	13.8%
Average household size	2.29	3.13
Mean commute (minutes)	32	29
Median year structure built	1960	1990