Chester vs Manchester

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

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

Chester has the higher population (23,519 vs 12,347 in Manchester). Chester has the higher median household income ($88,455 vs $72,465 in Manchester). Chester has the higher median home value ($290,600 vs $286,900 in Manchester).

Population, income & housing

	Chester	Manchester
Population	23,519	12,347
Median age	41.2 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$88,455	$72,465
Median home value	$290,600	$286,900
Median gross rent	$1,463	$1,444
Housing units	9,697	5,662
Homeownership rate	72.9%	58.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	39.1%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chester	Manchester
Population	22,032 → 23,519 (+6.7%)	10,919 → 12,347 (+13.1%)
Median household income	$70,519 → $88,455 (+25.4%)	$63,112 → $72,465 (+14.8%)
Median home value	$221,900 → $290,600 (+31.0%)	$188,500 → $286,900 (+52.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,197 → $1,463 (+22.2%)	$1,184 → $1,444 (+22.0%)

Chester

Population

22,03223,519

Median household income

$70,519$88,455

Median home value

$221,900$290,600

Median gross rent

$1,197$1,463

Manchester

Population

10,91912,347

Median household income

$63,112$72,465

Median home value

$188,500$286,900

Median gross rent

$1,184$1,444

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chester	Manchester
Under 5	5.6%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.2%	19.3%
18 to 24	8.0%	7.6%
25 to 34	10.5%	18.1%
35 to 44	13.7%	14.7%
45 to 54	15.7%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.5%	8.4%
65 to 74	9.4%	9.8%
75 and over	6.3%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chester	Manchester
White (non-Hispanic)	54.2%	43.1%
Black or African American	28.0%	36.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.0%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.2%
Some other race	0.8%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	15.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chester	Manchester
No high school diploma	7.2%	10.9%
High school graduate	27.5%	19.1%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	21.4%	27.2%
Graduate or professional degree	11.2%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chester	Manchester
Drove alone	73.3%	69.1%
Carpooled	7.1%	9.6%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.1%	19.6%
Other means	1.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chester	Manchester
1-unit, detached	70.4%	56.0%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	8.7%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	18.5%
20 or more units	7.2%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	2.0%

Poverty & households

	Chester	Manchester
Poverty rate	7.8%	13.6%
Average household size	2.56	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	28	22
Median year structure built	1990	1981