Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Because it does well by almost any measure. Lake Forest earns an A+, ranked 12th of 767 in Illinois. The median household earns $235K, it is healthier than 98% of U.S. towns, and its public schools beat 94% of Illinois towns on state tests and graduation. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.3 million, 13.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income. 81% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Lake Forest, above both Illinois’ towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). Its National Register listings include Ragdale and Lake Forest Historic District. Lake Forest is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 91% of U.S. towns.
Where Lake Forest beats most towns.
Ragdale| Widest gap | Lake Forest | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.3% | 15.9% |
Its 20 National Register listings are more than in 97% of Illinois towns with a listing.
Census counts: 877 in 1880, 19,367 in 2020. The archive holds 23 old photos and papers going back to 1895 and 4 maps from 1960 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Illinois), ordered by how far Lake Forest is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for jobs and income (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 10%), so the A+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lake Forest. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaWrigley Field
Big draw29 mi Stadium & arenaSoldier Field
Big draw10 mi Theme parkSix Flags Great America3.0M visitors a year
Big draw34 mi MuseumBarack Obama Presidential Center
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaRate Field
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaUnited CenterWrigley Field: Ryan Dickey, CC BY 2.0 · Soldier Field: Photo by Joon Han Contact: [email protected], CC BY-SA 3.0 · Six Flags Great America: Feather Better, CC BY 4.0 · Barack Obama Presidential Center: AlphaBeta135, CC0 · Rate Field: User Enoch Lai on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · United Center: User:JeremyA, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lake Forest, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 12, 2025.
Ordered by what stands out in Lake Forest.
Lake Forest draws workers from Chicago and beyond and has less food insecurity than most of Illinois, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Illinois.
At 13.9 years of the Chicago metro’s $91K median household income, the typical home (about $1.26M) costs more against local pay than in any other Illinois town; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living. Home values rose 47% in five years, to about $1.26M, against 30% across Illinois.
The median rent in Lake Forest is $1,815 a month. Typical home values rose 11% in the year to September 2026. 89% of Lake Forest households own their home.
| Lake Forest | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,815 a month | $1,128 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 89% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #19 of 768 in Illinois.
Lake Forest’s trail density is 2.0 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Prairie Wolf Forest Preserve, 321 acres with 4.6 miles of trail. 35 miles of trail in 25 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prairie Wolf Forest Preserve | 4.6 mi | 321 |
| 2. Skokie River Nature Preserve | 3.2 mi | 84 |
| 3. Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve | 2.3 mi | 179 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its widest gap with Illinois is food insecurity: 5.3% of its 15,233 adults worry about having enough food, against 15.9% statewide. Against the 539 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lake Forest’s, it is healthier than 60%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
27% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Lake Forest. Among 767 Illinois towns, just 9 have a lower share of adults who get no exercise outside work than Lake Forest. 6.4% of adults smoke cigarettes in Lake Forest.
| Lake Forest | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 35% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.4% | 13% | 14% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 33% |
| What stands out | Lake Forest | IL |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.3% | 15.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 4.9% | 13.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.7% | 7.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
13,355 jobs are based in Lake Forest, 1.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 30.3% of workers work from home, against 15.9% across Illinois.
Most working residents leave Lake Forest for work: only 12% work in town. Since 2013, Lake Forest has added 1,553 jobs, to 13,355 in 2023. Only 6 of the 768 Illinois towns we compare have a higher median household income than Lake Forest.
| Lake Forest | Illinois towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 30% | 11% | 11% |
| Median household income | $235,000 | $83,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 3.5% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 137 to 99 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 74% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 23 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lake Forest.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Lake Forest has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 17° and about 34 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
7 within 15 miles of the center of Lake Forest
About 11 of every 100 Lake Forest residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Illinois.
13.8% of the town is conserved land, across 25 parks and preserves.
20 places in Lake Forest on the National Register of Historic Places.
34 notable people were born in Lake Forest.
City in Illinois, United States
Lake Forest is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States, 31 miles (50 km) north of downtown Chicago. The population was 19,367 at the 2020 census. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded with Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in 1857, a stop for travelers making their way south to Chicago. The Lake Forest City Hall, designed by Charles Sumner Frost, was completed in 1898. It originally housed the fire department, the Lake Forest Library, and city offices.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Lake Forest.
At #12 in IL, it grades higher overall than all 5 graded towns on its borders; Lake Bluff (A+) comes closest.
| Town | IL rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Forest | #12 | A+ | D | A− | A | A+ |
| Shields Township | #209 | A− | D | — | B+ | A |
| Moraine Township | #58 | A | D | — | A | A+ |
| Highland Park | #57 | A | D− | — | A | A+ |
| Mettawa | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lake Bluff | #15 | A+ | D | B+ | A+ | A+ |
| Highwood | #298 | B+ | D | — | A | B+ |
| Bannockburn | — | — | — | B+ | A+ | A+ |
Bannockburn has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Shields Township, Moraine Township, Highland Park and Highwood report no FBI crime data of their own. Mettawa isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lake Forest with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Lake Forest grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #12 of 767 in Illinois. It grades A+ for health, A− for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
34 notable people were born here, including Matt Grevers and Pete Wilson.
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