Berks County vs Chester County

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

Berks County and Chester County are counties in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chester County has the higher population (540,896 vs 429,989 in Berks County). Chester County has the higher median household income ($123,041 vs $77,684 in Berks County). Chester County has the higher median home value ($461,800 vs $239,700 in Berks County).

Population, income & housing

	Berks County	Chester County
Population	429,989	540,896
Median age	39.9 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$77,684	$123,041
Median home value	$239,700	$461,800
Median gross rent	$1,143	$1,691
Housing units	171,147	210,730
Homeownership rate	71.0%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	56.6%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Berks County	Chester County
Population	418,025 → 429,989 (+2.9%)	519,560 → 540,896 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$63,728 → $77,684 (+21.9%)	$100,214 → $123,041 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$178,700 → $239,700 (+34.1%)	$357,100 → $461,800 (+29.3%)
Median gross rent	$939 → $1,143 (+21.7%)	$1,330 → $1,691 (+27.1%)

Berks County

Population

418,025429,989

Median household income

$63,728$77,684

Median home value

$178,700$239,700

Median gross rent

$939$1,143

Chester County

Population

519,560540,896

Median household income

$100,214$123,041

Median home value

$357,100$461,800

Median gross rent

$1,330$1,691

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Berks County	Chester County
Under 5	5.5%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.6%	16.9%
18 to 24	9.5%	9.0%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.4%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	13.8%	13.9%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.3%
75 and over	7.4%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Berks County	Chester County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.8%	76.3%
Black or African American	4.0%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.3%	6.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	24.0%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Berks County	Chester County
No high school diploma	11.6%	5.1%
High school graduate	36.9%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	24.4%	19.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.4%	32.9%
Graduate or professional degree	9.8%	23.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Berks County	Chester County
Drove alone	75.3%	66.9%
Carpooled	8.3%	6.6%
Public transit	1.0%	1.4%
Walked	2.8%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.6%	21.7%
Other means	1.9%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Berks County	Chester County
1-unit, detached	56.2%	60.4%
1-unit, attached	23.2%	19.1%
2 to 4 units	8.1%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	7.3%
20 or more units	4.5%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Berks County	Chester County
Poverty rate	11.7%	5.9%
Average household size	2.57	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1968	1983