Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch:Tscheschter Kaundi), colloquially referred to asChesco, is acounty in theCommonwealth ofPennsylvania. It is located in theDelaware Valley region, located in the southeastern part of the state. As of the2020 census, the population was 545,823.[3] increasing by 7.1% from 498,886 in2010.[4] Thecounty seat isWest Chester.[5] The most populous of the county's 73 municipalities, including cities, boroughs, and townships,) isTredyffrin Township. The most populous boroughs are West Chester andPhoenixville.Coatesville is the only municipality in the county that is classified as a city. The county is part of theSoutheast region of the commonwealth.[a]
At the time, Chester County's borders were Philadelphia County to the north, the ill-defined western edge of the colony, located approximately at theSusquehanna River to the west, theDelaware River to the east, andDelaware andMaryland to the south. Chester County replaced the Pennsylvania portion ofNew Netherland's upland inNew York, which was officially eliminated when Pennsylvania was chartered on March 4, 1681, and ceased existing in June of that year.[8][9] Much of theWelsh Tract was in eastern Chester County, and Welsh place names, given by early settlers, continue to predominate there.
The fourth county in the state,Lancaster County, was formed from Chester County on May 10, 1729. On March 11, 1752,Berks County was formed from the northern section of Chester County and parts of Lancaster and Philadelphia counties.
The southern border of Chester County is theMason-Dixon Line, surveyed in 1765. An error in surveying resulted inthe Wedge, extending south of the line. Chester County claimed the Wedge until 1921, when it was ceded to Delaware.[citation needed]
The original Chester County seat was the City ofChester, a center of naval shipbuilding, at the eastern edge of the county. In an effort to accommodate the increased population of the western part of the county, the county seat was moved to a more central location in 1788; in order to mollify the eastern portion of the county, the village, known as Turk's Head, was renamedWest Chester. In response to the new location of the county seat, the eastern portion of the county separated and formed the newDelaware County in 1789 with the City ofChester as its county seat.[10]
Much of the history of Chester County arises from its location between Philadelphia and theSusquehanna River. The first "road to the West," a reference to Lancaster County, passed through the central part of Chester County, following theGreat Valley westward; with some realignments, it became theLincoln Highway and laterU.S. Route 30. This road is still named Lancaster Avenue in most of the Chester County towns it runs through. Thefirst railroad, which became thePennsylvania Railroad, followed much the same route, and theReading Railroad progressed up theSchuylkill River toReading. Industry tended to concentrate along the rail lines. Easy transportation allowed workers to commute to urban jobs, and the rise of the suburbs followed. To this day, the county's developed areas extend along major lines of transportation.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 759 square miles (1,970 km2), of which 751 square miles (1,950 km2) is land and 8.7 square miles (23 km2) (1.1%) is water.[11] The topography consists of rolling hills and valleys and it is part of the region known as thePiedmont.
Watersheds that serve Chester County include theOctoraro,Brandywine, andChester creeks, and theSchuylkill River. Many of the soils are fertile, rich loam as much as twenty-four inches thick; together with the temperate climate, this was long a major agricultural area.[12] Because of its proximity to Philadelphia, Chester County has seen large waves of development over the past half-century due to suburbanization. Although development in Chester County has increased, agriculture is still a major part of the county's economy, and the number of horse farms is increasing in the county.[citation needed] Mushroom growing is a specialty in the southern portion of the county.
Chester County is the only county to border bothDelaware andMaryland.
Elevations (in feet):High point—1020 Welsh Mt., Honeybrook Twp. Other high points—960 Thomas Hill, Warwick Twp; 960 Barren Hill, West Caln Twp. Low point—66 Schuylkill River, Chester-Montgomery county line. Cities and boroughs: Coatesville 314; Downingtown 255; Kennett Square 300; Oxford 535; Parkesburg 542; Phoenixville 127; Spring City 114; West Chester 459.[13]
U.S. Decennial Census[15] 1790–1960[16] 1900–1990[17] 1990–2000[18] 2010–2019[4] 2024[4]
As of the 2010 census, the county was 82.1% White Non-Hispanic, 6.1% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 3.9% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 1.8% were two or more races, and 2.4% were some other race. 6.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino.
As of thecensus[19] of 2000, there were 433,501 people, 157,905 households, and 113,375 families residing in the county. The population density was 573 inhabitants per square mile (221/km2). There were 163,773 housing units at an average density of 217 units per square mile (84/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 89.21%White, 6.24%Black orAfrican American, 0.15%Native American, 1.95%Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 1.35% fromother races, and 1.06% from two or more races. 3.72% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race. 18.0% were ofIrish, 17.3%German, 13.1%Italian, 10.1%English and 5.6%American ancestry. 91.4% spokeEnglish and 3.7%Spanish as their first language.
There were 157,905 households, out of which 35.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.50% weremarried couples living together, 8.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.20% were non-families. 22.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.20% under the age of 18, 7.90% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 11.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.10 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $65,295, and the median income for a family was $76,916 (these figures had risen to $80,818 and $97,894 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $51,223 versus $34,854 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $31,627. About 3.10% of families and 5.20% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 5.10% of those under age 18 and 5.50% of those age 65 or over.
The region was originally occupied by the LenniLenape people, who greeted European settlers in the seventeenth century with amity and kindness. British settlers were mostly English, Scotch-Irish and Welsh in ethnicity. From the late 19th to early 20th century, the industrial areas of the region, such as Coatesville, attracted immigrants and job seekers from Germany and Ireland, Eastern Europe, Italy, and the American rural South, with both black and white migrants coming north. Later Hispanic immigrants have included Puerto Ricans and, most recently, Mexicans.
Long a primarily rural area, Chester County is now[when?] the fastest-growing county in the Delaware Valley; it is one of the fastest growing in the entire Northeastern section of the United States.
Chester County has historically been reliably Republican at the county level. After voting Democratic in 1856 for Pennsylvania nativeJames Buchanan, it only did so three more times in the next 160 years—in 1912, 1964, and 2008. In recent elections, however, the county has been trending Democratic, although not as overwhelmingly as its fellowMain Line counties ofMontgomery andDelaware. It remains the most conservative of these three.
In 2000,George W. Bush defeatedAl Gore in the county by almost 10%, but in 2004,John Kerry cut Bush's margin of victory by over half, to just 4.5%. In 2008, Chester County voted forBarack Obama by 9%. In 2009, with a smaller turnout, Republican candidates swept all county-row offices, winning with an average margin of 20%. In 2012, the county voted for the Republican presidential candidateMitt Romney, by a very small margin of 0.2%, or about 500 votes.[22]
In 2016, despite Pennsylvania voting for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time since 1988, Chester County voted more Democratic than in 2012, withHillary Clinton leadingDonald Trump by over 25,000 votes or 9.4 percentage points; a 9.2 percentage point swing from 2012. The only two statewide winners in 2016 to carry Chester County were U.S. SenatorPat Toomey (R) and Pennsylvania State TreasurerJoe Torsella (D). Republican candidates John Brown andJohn Rafferty carried Chester County, though both lost their races for Auditor General and Attorney General, respectively (Rafferty, a State Senator whose district includes northern Chester County, carried the county by a slim margin of 50 votes[23]) Emphasizing its Democratic shift even further, Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by 17.1 points in Chester County in the 2020 election; Trump's percentage of votes was the lowest for any Republican since 1912. Such a major shift in the county was a major factor in Biden's success in flipping Pennsylvania back into the Democratic column. Although Trump gained back some ground in 2024 where he won back Pennsylvania; he still lost the county by 14 points to Kamala Harris despite matching his 2016 performance there.
On November 8, 2017, Democrats made historic inroads in Chester County by winning their first county row office seats in history, picking up four row office seats.[24] On November 5, 2019, Democrats swept the county row office seat elections and took a majority on the Board of Commissioners, both firsts in the county's history.[25] In both the 2021 and 2023 elections, Democrats followed up with another sweep of the county row offices, along with retaining their majority on the Board of Commissioners.[26]
United States presidential election results for Chester County, Pennsylvania[27][28]
Chester County is administered by a three-person Board of Commissioners who serve four-year terms. Elections take place in the odd-numbered years that precede U.S. presidential elections, with the next election scheduled for 2027. The commissioners have selective policy-making authority to provide certain local services and facilities on a county-wide basis. Accordingly, the commissioners are responsible for the management of the fiscal and administrative functions of the county. Currently, the Democrats hold a majority on the board, with Commissioners Josh Maxwell and Marian Moskowitz holding two of the three seats. County law requires the minority party to be represented with one seat, which is held byEric Roe of the Republican Party.[30]
TheChester County Library System in southeastern Pennsylvania was organized in 1965. It is a federated system composed of a District Center Library in Exton and sixteen member libraries. The system provides materials and information for life, work and pleasure.
Map of Chester County with labels showing cities (in yellow), boroughs (in red), townships (in white), and census-designated places (in blue)
Under Pennsylvania law, there are four types of incorporated municipalities:cities,boroughs,townships, and, in at most two cases,towns. Thepost office uses community names and boundaries that usually do not correspond to the townships, and usually only have the same names as the municipalities for the cities and boroughs. The names used by the post office are generally used by residents to describe where they live. The following cities, boroughs and townships are located in Chester County:
In both 2018 and 2019, deaths from drug overdoses in Chester County declined. Of the 104 drug overdoses recorded by the coroner, an estimated 77 percent involved the presence of fentanyl. One of the reasons for the decline in overdose deaths was "the saturation across the county ofNarcan, the anti-opioid nasal spray that can revive someone suffering an overdose." In 2019, any resident of Chester County could obtain a free Narcan dose at community training events across the county.[51]
^"PHMC Historical Markers Search".Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Archived fromthe original(Searchable database) on March 21, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 25, 2014.
^Armstrong, Edward, ed. (1860).Record of the Court at Upland, in Pennsylvania, 1676 to 1681. Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Volume 7. p. 196.
^Commission, Chester County Planning."Chester County Ag Council".www.chescofarming.org. RetrievedJanuary 17, 2023.
^Elevations in Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Resources, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, Information Circular 4, Fourth Series
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