Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Forest Park
Working from home is the commute for 24% of workers; Illinois has 16%. For jobs and income Forest Park is better than 65% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+). Only 5% work in Forest Park itself; outside it, Chicago draws the most (38%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Forest Park
Forest Park and Chicago trade workers both ways
Chicago is the top workplace for Forest Park residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Forest Park come from (34% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Forest Park residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Forest Park has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Forest Park went from 5,991 in 2013 to 8,674 in 2023, +45%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Forest Park works from home
24% of Forest Park workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Time on the road ↓
Forest Park makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Forest Park are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Forest Park residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 9%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Forest Park
Job access by car holds Forest Park’s grade up (among the top U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Forest Park could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where people from Forest Park work
Where Forest Park clocks in
38% of workers
5% of workers
2% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Forest Park
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.
Making and building: 36% of jobs based in Forest Park
8,674 jobs are based in Forest Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest Park, 2013 → 2023: 5,991 → 8,674. 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 Forest Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes each way for Forest Park’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,609 commuters (the 24% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In and out of Forest Park on a workday
On a workday 6,520 residents head out to work, 347 work right here, and 8,327 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Forest Park on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 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.
Forest Park is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forest Park is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #5 of 768 in Illinois. Both inputs place Forest Park near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,397 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 64% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 27.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most 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). 11.7% of Forest Park households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Forest Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Forest Park is 1,078th of 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Western Springs IL | 13,588 | $230K | 1.3% | 3.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| 31 | Riverside Township IL | 16,083 | $122K | 4.5% | 1.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,076 | Na-Au-Say Township IL | 11,233 | $128K | 8.8% | 8.7% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,077 | Oak Grove OR | 16,796 | $86K | 8.4% | 5.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,078 | Forest Park IL | 13,829 | $77K | 11.6% | 4.5% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,079 | Upper Grand Lagoon FL | 17,232 | $82K | 8.1% | 2.6% | 13% | B |
| 1,080 | Williamsburg VA | 15,861 | $76K | 18.8% | 6.8% | 21% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Forest Park, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Next door to Forest Park
The biggest share goes to Maywood (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forest Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Park | – | B+ | A+ | 27 min | $77,221 |
| Maywood | 2% | C+ | A+ | 34 min | $68,815 |
| River Forest | under 2% | A | A+ | 33 min | $146,786 |
| River Forest Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Proviso Township | 1% | B+ | A+ | 29 min | $82,097 |
| North Riverside | under 2% | A− | A | 29 min | $77,170 |
Same-state neighbors only. River Forest Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Forest Park’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 Forest Park: questions
What is the median household income in Forest Park?
$77,221 (±$12,860) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest Park?
11.6%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest Park?
27 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest Park work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (38%, 7 mi), Oak Park (5%, 2 mi), Oak Brook (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Forest Park walkable?
Forest Park is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.7 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forest Park without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 64% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Forest Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest Park
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.