Photo: Teemu08 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes put Lake Forest near the very top of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Lake Forest is among the highest-earning towns in the country. 3.5% of residents live below the poverty line; Illinois has 11.8%. For jobs and income Lake Forest is among the top U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Forest, in a few figures
Lake Forest’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake Forest is Chicago, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (1,926) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Lake Forest works from home
30% of Lake Forest workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Time on the road ↓
Lake Forest is where the jobs are
Lake Forest has 13,355 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Lake Forest draws workers from far and wide
The 13,355 jobs in Lake Forest are filled from a wide area. Lake Forest’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 29%; the other 64% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Lake Forest’s workers comes from Chicago
1,488 of the people who work in Lake Forest live in Chicago, 29 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
The four measures behind Lake Forest’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Forest is among the top U.S. towns, #6 of 768 in Illinois. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lake Forest’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Forest stays A+.
How many miles Lake Forest commutes
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.
Time on the road from Lake Forest: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Forest workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,971 commuters (the 30% 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.
Who works in Lake Forest, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 6,503 residents head out to work, 911 work right here, and 12,444 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26,000 people are in Lake Forest on a workday afternoon, 30% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Lake Forest’s workers come from
Where Lake Forest clocks in
26% of workers
4% 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.
74% of the jobs in Lake Forest pay over $3,333 a month
13,355 jobs are based in Lake Forest.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Forest, 2013 → 2023: 11,802 → 13,355. 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.
In Lake Forest, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 26.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.8% across Illinois, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,562 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 23% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 3.5% of Lake Forest households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 18% of Lake Forest’s commuters take a bus or train.
6th of 1,860: where Lake Forest ranks among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 4 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 5 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 6 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| 7 | Powell OH | 18,269 | $195K | 1.1% | 2.0% | 3% | A+ |
| 8 | Lower Moreland Township PA | 14,116 | $154K | 2.6% | 2.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Deerfield IL | 19,642 | $182K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | La Grange IL | 15,935 | $160K | 4.6% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Geneva IL | 21,138 | $144K | 3.8% | 1.8% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | 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 Lake Forest, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
The towns around Lake Forest
The biggest share goes to Highland Park (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Forest workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Forest | – | A+ | A | 31 min | $235,081 |
| Shields Township | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 21 min | $112,865 |
| Moraine Township | under 2% | A | A+ | 28 min | $153,798 |
| Highland Park | 2% | A+ | A+ | 28 min | $168,094 |
| Mettawa | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Lake Bluff | under 2% | A+ | A | 28 min | $204,000 |
| Highwood | under 2% | B | A | 31 min | $107,875 |
| Bannockburn | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 22 min | $214,000 |
| Lincolnshire | under 2% | A+ | A | 26 min | $185,580 |
Same-state neighbors only. Mettawa: 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?
$235,081 (±$24,243) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Forest?
3.5%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Forest?
31 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Forest work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chicago (26%, 29 mi), Libertyville Township (4%, 6 mi), North Chicago (2%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Forest walkable?
Lake Forest is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 27% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Forest without a car?
18% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% 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.