Photo: Eli Pousson · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Lake Forest earn more than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. 8.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. For jobs and income Lake Forest is better than 81% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Lake Forest stands out on work
Why Lake Forest gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Job access by car holds Lake Forest’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Forest could be anywhere from B+ to A.
19% of working residents work in Irvine
Where Lake Forest clocks in
19% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who works in Lake Forest, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 37,337 residents head out to work, 3,196 work right here, and 30,213 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.82 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
67% of the jobs in Lake Forest pay over $3,333 a month
33,409 jobs are based in Lake Forest.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Forest, 2013 → 2023: 32,223 → 33,409. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Forest’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Lake Forest: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Forest workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34,154 commuters (the 24% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Lake Forest goes to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Lake Forest
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 45,194 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 79% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.4% of Lake Forest households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lake Forest’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lake Forest is 138th of 540 U.S. towns of 60,000 to 117,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 136 | Atascocita TX | 99,354 | $118K | 7.4% | 4.8% | 2% | A− |
| 137 | Pleasant Township IN | 68,110 | $84K | 7.8% | 2.6% | 17% | A− |
| 138 | Lake Forest CA | 86,333 | $135K | 8.5% | 4.9% | 8% | A− |
| 139 | Union City CA | 65,282 | $134K | 7.2% | 5.3% | 8% | A− |
| 140 | Palatine IL | 65,842 | $98K | 8.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 540 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lake Forest, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Lake Forest and its neighbors: 23% work next door
The biggest share goes to Irvine (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Forest workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Forest | – | A− | A− | 26 min | $135,175 |
| Mission Viejo | 4% | A | A− | 27 min | $136,123 |
| Trabuco Canyon | under 3% | A | C− | 35 min | $229,239 |
| Irvine | 19% | B+ | A | 25 min | $136,719 |
| Laguna Hills | under 3% | A− | B+ | 27 min | $128,851 |
| Modjeska | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Modjeska: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Forest’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Lake Forest: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Forest?
$135,175 (±$4,503) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Forest?
8.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Forest?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Forest work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (19%, 6 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 49 mi), Santa Ana (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Forest walkable?
Lake Forest is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Forest without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Forest, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Forest
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.