In Forest, the typical household income is $40,000. Just 1% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. The average trip to work for Forest comes to 20 minutes, below both the Louisiana town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). For half of commuters, work is under 28 miles away.

1%work in town

	Forest	Louisiana towns	U.S. towns
Median household income	$40,000	$56,000	$80,000
Average trip to work	20 minutes	25 minutes	25 minutes
Working residents who work in town	1%	9.8%	8%
Below the poverty line	20%	20%	9.6%

Where working residents work

In Forest1%

Oak Grove30%

Baton Rouge7%

Monroe5%

West Monroe4%

28 mi

median commute distance

jobs based in Forest

A commuter town

jobs vs. working residents

Full pageForest’s work & commute pageOpen the page

The jobs here30 jobs based here · A commuter town Where people work1% work in Forest Commute times20 minutes · The average commute How far they goHalf commute less than 28 miles

Census LEHD 2023 · ACS

Schools

The schools Forest’s kids attend

The largest public high school is Forest School, with 460 students. Public schools: the West Carroll Parish school district. Its one school is below.

School	Level	Students	Letter
Forest SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12	Grades PK–12	460	C⁺

Full pageForest’s schools pageOpen the page

The districtsWest Carroll Parish Every school1 school · Forest School Questions“Are Forest’s schools good?”

NCES · EDFacts

Natural hazards

Natural hazards: low risk in Forest, mostly drought

Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 69% of U.S. communities. 21% of Forest’s expected losses from natural hazards come from drought, followed by inland flooding at 21%. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Forest once, in 2008.

31risk score of 100

FEMA risk score

DroughtInland floodingTornadoes

federal disasters paid out here

Full pageForest’s hazards pageOpen the page

What it facesLow risk Flood claims0 paid flood claims · No paid flood claims on record Past disasters1 federal disaster · Paid out in Forest Get ready20 events a year, on average · Ready for drought

FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA

Climate

Forest has mild winters and hot summers

The midsummer high for Forest comes to 92°F, close to Louisiana’s towns (92°F) and above U.S. towns (85°F).

93°summer high

Typical low → high °F

Winter38–58°

Spring54–76°

Summer71–92°

Fall54–78°

Nov 24

typical first frost

Mar 5

typical last frost

+1.0°

vs. the 20th-century average

93°

typical summer high

Full pageForest’s climate pageOpen the page

A year of weatherJuly highs 92°, January lows 36°Rain & snow57″ of rain a year · Snow is almost unheard of Heating & coolingBoth heating and cooling Then and now+1.0° vs. the 20th century · Warmer than the 20th-century average

NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020

Health

How healthy Forest is

For adults in Forest, the share who have obesity is 39%. Of 32 CDC measures, Forest beats the Louisiana average on 3 and trails it on 4. Two figures for adults locally: 17% report frequent physical distress, 19% worry about having enough food.

	Forest	Louisiana towns	U.S. towns
Depression (CDC PLACES)	28%	27%	23%
Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES)	17%	16%	14%
Food insecurity (CDC PLACES)	19%	26%	14%
High blood pressure (CDC PLACES)	44%	44%	35%

32 measures vs. Louisiana

3 better25 too close to call4 worse

What stands out	Forest	LA
Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off	9.3%	12.4%
Fewer adults facing housing insecurity	13.2%	16.8%
More adults who have had cancer	9.7%	7.5%

West Carroll Memorial Hospital

5.5 mi away · emergency room

2 of 3

care shortages: dental, mental health

Full pageForest’s health reportOpen the page

Everyday habitsMore smokers Hospitals & doctors nearby5.5 miles to an ER · West Carroll Memorial Hospital How adults are doingMore adults in frequent physical distress Every CDC estimateBetter than LA on 3 of 32

CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA

Keep exploring

Everything we know about Forest

17pages on Forest

The big questions

Schools1 school HealthBetter than LA on 3 of 32 CDC measures Cost of livingWork & commute$40K median household income · 30 jobs here Natural hazardsFEMA risk higher than 31% of U.S. communities · drought

Out and about

PlacesAttractions12 nearby · Poverty Point National Monument 9 mi LibraryWest Carroll Parish Library Colleges

The story

HistorySettled 1888 Town Hall & politicsOne full-time town employee per 71 residents Climate93° summer highs · 1″ of snow

Day to day

NewsWeatherHandbookZIP code 71242 Town SquareNeighbors

After high school

Colleges nearby

None within 15 miles of Forest; the nearest are

Louisiana Delta Community CollegeCommunity college · Public · Monroe41.5 mi$4,159 in-state tuition University of Louisiana at MonroeUniversity or college · Public · Monroe42.6 mi$9,190 in-state tuition

About 3 of every 100 Forest residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Louisiana.

Prices by family income, graduation and earnings →

A commuter town

99% of working residents leave Forest for work

Where Forest’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.

30jobs based in Forest

1%of working residents work in town

28 mimedian commute distance

Census LEHD 2023

About Forest

Village in Louisiana, United States

Forest is a village in West Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 census, Forest had a population of 304. Forest Police Chief James Robert "Bob" Smith (Independent; born June 1931), with service since 1998 is the oldest elected official in the State of Louisiana, as of 2017. After thirty years as a mechanic for the United States Air Force, Smith began a civilian career with International Oil Company, based in Saudi Arabia. A North Carolina native, he retired to Forest, where his wife had formerly resided.

From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)

Area: 1.7 sq mi
Elevation: 125 ft
ZIP code: 71242
Area code: 318

Questions about Forest

Short answers, built from the data on this page.

Is Forest, LA a good place to live?

Forest has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.

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Is Forest a good place to live?

285 people, and everyone knows the way

138 years in pictures

Moving to Forest: who provides what

The data

With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Forest’s workers commute out