Living in Chester, CA
Chester is a small town of 1,759 people in Plumas County, California. It's about 49 miles from Chico, CA and 120 miles from Sacramento, CA, the nearest major city. Summer highs average 86°F and winter highs 42°F, with about 110 inches of snow a year. The typical home is valued around $305k and rent runs about $1k a month.
1,759people
$305kTypical home
$1,110/moRent
86° / 42°Summer / winter
110"Snow
279Sunny days
86Rain/snow days
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Size & setting
- Small town of 1,759
- A standalone small town, not a suburb
- About 241 people per sq mi
- 120 mi to Sacramento, CA
- 49 mi to Chico, CA
- 33 mi to the nearest town of 10k+
Money
- Typical home $305k (≈$1,922/mo)
- Median rent $1,110/mo
- Median household income $47k
- Property tax about 0.8% of value
- 5.0% unemployment
Weather
- Summer highs around 86°F
- Winter highs around 42°F
- Dry summers (dew point 35°F)
- 279 sunny days a year (169 totally clear)
- 86 cloudy days a year
- 38 of 90 winter days are gray
- 86 days a year with rain or snow
- 110" of snow a year
- 19 days a year with 1"+ of snow
- Rarely hits 100°F
- 7 nights a year below 10°F
- Usually calm
Safety
- Low violent crime (299 per 100k), county-wide
- Very low property crime (819 per 100k), county-wide
People
- Median age 62
- 13% of households have kids
- 40% are 65 or older
- 20% have a college degree
- Not very diverse
- 2% of residents are college students
Getting around & homes
- Average commute 28 min
- 1% walk or take transit to work
- 58 mi to RDD airport
- 95 mi to RNO (major hub)
- 52 mi to the nearest Amtrak station
- 81% single-family homes
- Typical home built around 1974
- 92% of homes have broadband
Outdoors
- Hilly terrain
- Elevation 4,541 ft
- 142 mi to the ocean
- 40 mi to a big lake
- 6 mi to the nearest trailhead
- 82 mi to the nearest ski area
- 2 mi to the nearest campground
- 4 golf courses within 25 mi
Things to do
- 7 sit-down restaurants within 25 mi
- Few or no bars within 25 mi
- Few or no coffee shops within 25 mi
- No music venues & clubs within 25 mi
- 1 museum within 25 mi
- No breweries & distilleries within 25 mi
- 52 mi to the nearest farmers market
Everyday
- Schools in the bottom 44% of California districts (reading)
- Grocery store in town
- 2 mi to the nearest ER hospital
- 64 mi to a 4–5★ hospital
- 31 mi to the nearest vet
- 49 mi to the nearest dog park
- 8 congregations per 10k people
- 28 mi to the nearest college
Politics
- Plumas County: R+17 in 2024
- California: D+20 in 2024
Natural hazards
- Very low hurricane risk
- Very low tornado risk
- High wildfire risk
- High earthquake risk
- Very low flood risk
- High drought risk
- High winter storm risk
- Low heat wave risk
- Low volcano risk