Kestenholz is a municipality in the district of Gäu in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.

[3] Kestenholz has an area, as of 2009[update], of 8.58 square kilometers (3.31 sq mi).

Of the rest of the land, 0.81 km2 (0.31 sq mi) or 9.4% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.02 km2 (4.9 acres) or 0.2% is either rivers or lakes.

[4] The municipality is located in the Gäu district, on the southern edge of the Dünnern.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Chestnut Tree Maroon leaved Vert issuant from a Bar wavy Gules.

[8] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (1,550 or 95.9%), with Italian being second most common (18 or 1.1%) and Albanian being third (15 or 0.9%).

[7] The age distribution, as of 2000[update], in Kestenholz is; 163 children or 10.1% of the population are between 0 and 6 years old and 258 teenagers or 16.0% are between 7 and 19.

[8] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 34.06% of the vote.

In the federal election, a total of 698 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 58.0%.

[8] There were 927 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.0% of the workforce.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 37, of which 31 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 211 or 47.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 13 or 2.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 22 or 4.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was in the information industry, 4 or 0.9% were the insurance or financial industry, 165 or 36.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 14 or 3.1% were in education and 8 or 1.8% were in health care.

[8] From the 2000 census[update], 1,181 or 73.0% were Roman Catholic, while 289 or 17.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

The education system in the Canton of Solothurn allows young children to attend two years of non-obligatory Kindergarten.

All the lower secondary students from Kestenholz attend their school in a neighboring municipality.

[18] As of 2000[update], there were 94 students from Kestenholz who attended schools outside the municipality.